02/13/2026
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The Zebulon M. Pike Expedition in the Southwest, 1806-1807
Following a tour to duty in 1805-1806 to investigate the upper reaches of the Mississippi River, Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike, U.S. Army, received orders from General James Wilkinson to explore westward from St. Louis across the Great Plains.
Pike and his detachment left St. Louis on July 15, 1806, with instructions to observe the geographical and scientific features of the land and establish friendly relations with the native inhabitants of the American Southwest. After reaching the Arkansas River, Pike was to ascend that stream to the Rocky Mountains and in time return to the settled area of the United States by way of the Red River.
When he reached the Rocky Mountains, Pike explored along the front range, then journeyed west to the Rio Grande in present-day Colorado, where he became lost in a snowstorm. Spanish soldiers captured the Americans and took them to Santa Fe.
Uncertain what to do with the intruders, the New Mexican officials es**rted Pike and his men as prisoner-guests southward. Spanish soldiers took them to El Paso del Norte (now Juárez, Mexico), then to Chihuahua, and on June 1, 1807, they reached the Presidio del Rio Grande near modern-day Eagle Pass, Texas.
Their journey across Texas was accomplished in four weeks, with several days of partying in San Antonio as guests of local officials. The Americans, under constant Spanish military es**rt, continued along the Camino Real, the Old San Antonio Road, past the locales of the present-day communities of New Braunfels, Lockhart, Bastrop, Bryan, Madisonville, Crockett, Nacogdoches, and San Augustine. On July 1, 1807, after a year's absence from the United States, Pike and his men arrived at Natchitoches in present-day Louisiana, then the westernmost U.S. military outpost.
Pike's papers and baggage had been confiscated by the Spanish. When he left Chihuahua, Pike had been ordered not to take notes. But he soon developed the technique of excusing himself frequently for privacy in the bushes, where he would record his observations about the people and terrain of northern Mexico and Texas. To avoid detection of his notes, he rolled them and stuffed them down the barrels of the rifles of his men. Following his arrival in the United States, Pike retrieved the notes and, with additional observations from memory, published his memoirs.
His description of Texas as a good place to farm excited many Americans. Pike wrote about well-watered, well-wooded fertile soil for farming, grassy meadows for grazing, immense herds of wild horses, and abundant game. He claimed that Texas had one of the most delightful climates in the world. The Pike report contributed to the land hunger and profit seeking for which Americans were noted. These scientific and geographical observations made the Pike expedition second only to the Lewis and Clark expedition in contributing to the knowledge of the American frontier.
