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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Albert Pike was an American lawyer, soldier, author.
Background
He was born on December 29, 1809 in Boston, Massachussets, United States, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Andrews) Pike. He was a descendant of John Pike, born in Landford, England, who emigrated to America with his wife, Dorothy Daye, and five children in 1635, and died at Salisbury, Massachussets.
Soon after Albert's birth the Pikes returned to the family home in Byfield, and later moved to Newburyport.
Education
He received his early education in the schools of Byfield and Newburyport and at an academy in Framingham, Massachussets.
He stated that he spent a year at Harvard, but there is no record of his enrollment there, though in 1859 Harvard conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M.
Career
As a teacher he was connected with schools in Gloucester, Fairhaven, and Newburyport. In March 1831, with little money and no very definite plans, he started West. Reaching St. Louis by various means of transportation, he then went to Independence, where he joined a party of hunters and traders going to Santa Fé.
After some time in St. Louis he accompanied another expedition into the Staked Plains, and finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas, having passed through many hardships and exciting experiences. In 1833 he was teaching school in Pope County, Arkansas. During this year, under the nom-de-plume of "Casca, " he wrote for the Arkansas Advocate of Little Rock a series of political articles, entitled "Intercepted Letters". These articles were of such merit that through Crittenden's influence the editor of the paper, Charles P. Bertrand, invited Pike to become his associate. He accepted the position and was also made an assistant clerk in the territorial legislature, then in session.
After marriage he sold the property of his wife and purchased an interest in the Advocate, and in 1835 he became sole owner and editor. In 1834 there was published in Boston his Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country. It contained a vividly written account of his recent adventures, "Narrative of a Journey in the Prairie, " which also appeared as a serial in the Advocate, April 17 to 19, 1835.
In 1837 he sold the Advocate, having in the meantime been licensed to practise law. His work appearing in the first five volumes of Reports (1840 - 45). That same year he was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
He took an active part in the Mexican War as commanding officer of a cavalry troop which he had recruited. His criticism of the conduct of the regiment commanded by Col. Archibald Yell, published in the Arkansas Gazette in 1848, involved Pike in a duel with Lieutenant-Colonel John Selden Roane. Two shots were fired by each participant without either being hit, after which, through intervention of the surgeons, the affair was settled peaceably.
In 1853 he transferred his practice to New Orleans but returned to Little Rock in 1857. Throughout these years his feelings frequently found expression in published verse. His career during the Civil War was an unfortunate one.
In the summer of 1861 he was sent as a commissioner to negotiate treaties with the Indian tribes west of Arkansas. In this enterprise he was partially successful. Later he was commissioned brigadier-general, and under orders of November 22, 1861, the Indian country west of Arkansas and north of Texas was constituted the department of Indian Territory and Pike was assigned to command the same. It was his understanding, he claimed, that the Indians recruited would be used only in defense of their own territory. They were employed, however, in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 7-8, 1862, where they played an inglorious part and committed some atrocities for which Pike was unjustly criticized.
Feeling that he occupied an independent command and that the safety of the Indians was in his keeping, he resented exercise of authority over his area by Gen. Thomas C. Hindman, in command of the Trans-Mississippi district. This resentment led to much friction between the two, and on July 3, 1862, Pike issued a printed circular regarding the situation, entitled Letter to the President of the Confederate States. President Davis wrote him under date of August 9, that the publication of this circular was a grave military offense, and that if the purpose was to abate an evil "the mode taken was one of the slowest and worst that could have been adopted".
On July 12, 1862, Pike resigned his commission, but his resignation was not accepted until November 5. In the meantime he aired his grievances in letters to various officials, and under date of July 31, 1862, wrote an address to the chiefs and people of the Indian tribes. The character of this address was such that Col. Douglas H. Cooper ordered his arrest and wrote President Davis that Pike was "either insane or untrue to the South". The arrest was never actually effected, however, and he was granted leave and permitted to return to his home.
At the expiration of his leave, he attempted to resume command of the Indian department. On November 3, General Hindman ordered his arrest, which in this instance was effected, for on November 19 he wrote President Davis from Warren, Texas, that he was there a prisoner. His resignation had before this been accepted and he was later released.
During much of the remainder of the war he seems to have been in retirement in Arkansas and probably for a time in Texas. For several years after the war he was something of a wanderer. His property had been confiscated and he was looked upon with suspicion both in the South and in the North. He went to New York in 1865, but fearing arrest on the charge of inciting the Indians to revolt, he fled to Canada. His friends made persistent efforts to secure his pardon, and on August 30, 1865, President Johnson issued an order permitting him to return to his home on condition that he take the oath of allegiance and give his parole of honor that he would conduct himself as a loyal citizen.
In 1867-68 he was in Memphis, where he practised law and for a time was editor of The Memphis Appeal. In 1868 he moved to Washington. Here he continued his practice, was associate editor of The Patriot (1868 - 70), studied much and wrote much, and devoted a large part of his attention to the interests of Freemasonry. He had been made a Mason in 1850, a Scottish Rite Mason in 1853, and in 1859 he was elected sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Grand Council, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, an office which he held for thirty-two years.
His reputation as a poet was considerable. Early in his Arkansas career he had sent to Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, "Hymns to the Gods, " which the editor, Christopher North (Dr. John Wilson), published in June 1839. He issued Nugæ (1854), and after his death three volumes of selections - Gen. Albert Pike's Poems (1900), Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems (1916), and Lyrics and Love Songs (1916) - were published by his daughter, Lilian Pike Roome.
Pike died in the house of the Scottish Rite Temple, Washington, in his eighty-second year.
He was a stanch Whig in a Democratic stronghold, and later one of the prominent promoters of the Know-Nothing party in his section of the country. He believed himself to be the first to suggest a Pacific railroad convention and he vigorously advocated the building of a Southern line.
Personality
He had unbounded physical energy, an avid mind, an adventurous disposition, marked independence, and great determination.
More than six feet tall, of large frame and Jovian countenance, with flowing locks reaching to his shoulders, and a long beard, Pike presented an impressive appearance. His genius was manysided and his mind ranged over a wide field of subjects. He had a working knowledge of Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French, and in his later days he spent much time in studying and translating Eastern writings.
Connections
On October 10, 1834, he married Mary Ann, daughter of James Hamilton. His wife had died in 1876 and he had lost three children, one son having been killed in the Confederate service and one drowned in the Arkansas; two sons and a daughter survived him.