He was born on January 5, 1779 in Lamington (now a part of Trenton), New Jersey, United States.
His father, Major Zebulon Pike, served in the Revolution and afterward as an officer in the United States Army; an ancestor, Capt. John Pike, had fought in the early colonial wars. His mother was Isabella Brown.
His childhood was spent in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
He attended country school of Pennsylvania.
While yet a boy he entered his father's company as a cadet, and at twenty was commissioned a first lieutenant. For several years he served with the frontier army, restlessly awaiting an opportunity to distinguish himself. At length it came, when Gen. James Wilkinson directed him to lead an exploring party to the source of the Mississippi. At the head of a company of twenty men Pike set out from St. Louis on August 9, 1805, with four months' provisions stored away in his seventy-foot keelboat.
When they were some distance beyond the Falls of St. Anthony, winter weather set in. Leaving some of the men in a rude stockade, Pike and the others continued the journey, dragging their goods on sleds. They reached what Pike mistakenly took for the source of the river, and after visiting some British trading posts and holding councils with the Indians of the region, returned to St. Louis on April 30, 1806.
The young lieutenant was soon dispatched upon a longer and more important expedition, setting out from St. Louis on July 15, 1806. He was instructed to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers and to reconnoitre the Spanish settlements of New Mexico, being warned to "move with great circumspection and to prevent any alarm or offence". After visiting the Pawnee villages on the Republican River, Pike (whose promotion to a captaincy occurred by routine on August 12, 1806) moved up the Arkansas to the site of the present Pueblo, Colorado. Here, on a side trip, he made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the summit of the peak that bears his name.
After exploring South Park and the head of the Arkansas, he turned southward, seeking the source of the Red River. He crossed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and on the Conejos branch of the Rio Grande constructed a fort of cottonwood logs. The Spaniards of New Mexico, learning of his presence within their territory, sent a body of troops to fetch him to Santa Fé. He acceded without opposition, for he desired to visit the region and study its geography and resources. From Santa Fé he was taken on to Chihuahua, where he was examined by the commandante general. Here he was well treated, except that his papers were taken from him.
After returning to the United States, Pike found his name coupled, in some quarters, with the Burr-Wilkinson scheme for empire in the Southwest. There seems little doubt that Wilkinson ordered the tour with the expectation that its findings would be helpful in promoting his designs, but whether or not young Pike was aware of the connection cannot be determined. He protested his innocence and Henry Dearborn, the secretary of war, in a formal statement gave him a clean slate.
He was commissioned major in 1808, colonel in 1812, and, following the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain, brigadier-general in 1813. When the attack on York (now Toronto), Canada, was launched in April of that year the immediate command of the troops was entrusted to Pike. He led his men to victory, but was killed in the assault (April 27) when the enemy's powder magazine exploded. He died in 1813.
Zebulon Montgomery Pike was famous as he led two expeditions under authority of third President Thomas Jefferson through the new Louisiana Purchase territory. He published an account of his expeditions "An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi and through the Western Parts of Louisiana", a book so popular that it was translated into Dutch, French, and German languages, for publication in Europe. He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the American Army and served during the War of 1812 with distinction. Pikes Peak in Colorado was named in his honour.
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He had married in 1801 Clarissa Brown, daughter of Gen. John Brown of Kentucky. Several children were born to them, only one of whom, a daughter, reached maturity. She married Symmes Harrison, a son of William Henry Harrison.
