Zebulon Montgomery Pike

Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions through the Louisiana Purchase territory, first in 1805–1806 to reconnoiter the upper northern reaches of the Mississippi River, and then in 1806–1807 to explore the southwest to the fringes of the northern Spanish-colonial settlements of New Mexico and Texas. Pike's expeditions coincided with other Jeffersonian expeditions, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Red River Expedition in 1806. Pike's second expedition crossed the Rocky Mountains into what is now southern Colorado, which resulted in his capture by the Spanish colonial authorities near Santa Fe, who then sent Pike and his men to Chihuahua (present-day Mexico) for interrogation. Later in 1807, Pike and some of his men were escorted by the Spanish through Texas and released near U.S. territory in early Louisiana. In 1810, Pike published an account of his expeditions, a book so popular that it was translated into several languages for publication in Europe. He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the United States Army, and served in the War of 1812 until he was killed in April 1813 by an explosion at a gunpowder magazine outside the British colonial capital of Upper Canada during the Battle of York.