October 9, 2025 • 29 mins
Hear the captivating history of Lieutenant Zebulon Pike's 1806 journey into what is now Nebraska and Kansas. Sent to solicit the allegiance of the Pawnee, Pike was instructed to persuade them to lower the Spanish flag, leading to a tense standoff as he continued his westward journey. Discover the story that later would give rise to the description of Nebraska's landscape as the "Great American Desert," and the dispute between Kansas and Nebraska over the exact location of Pike's council with the Pawnee chief.
This episode is from the 1966 Nebraska History Magazine article titled "Zebulon Pike and Nebraska," written by Donald Jackson.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
The following episode features ahistoric article from the
Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
valuable insight into the past, may contend expressions or
viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Welcome to the Nebraska History podcast.
I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles
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written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
In 18 O 6, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike LED an expedition to the
Pawnee country to solicit their allegiance and convince them to
lower the Spanish flag. Pike's journey was not without
its challenges. On this episode we look back at
Pike's published accounts duringhis travels in Nebraska and
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Kansas through the 1966 NebraskaHistory Magazine article Zebulon
Pike and Nebraska, written by Donald Jackson.
Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sat on the ground on a hillside
overlooking the Republican Riverand, using the backside of a
book as a writing desk, penned aletter to the Secretary of War.
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The time was October 1st 18 O 6,and for the past week young Pike
had been holding councils with the band of Indians called the
Republican Pawnee. His white linen trousers may
have become rather grimy by thistime, and his blue coat with the
scarlet cuffs could not have looked its best.
His small band of soldiers, a detachment from the First
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Infantry Regiment, surely lookedeven less dapper than he, and
the matter was of some importance, for Pike and his men
were there to influence the Pawnee.
As Pike was now saying to the Secretary of War, the task of
impressing these Indians would have been easier if they had not
recently been visited by a most impressive troop of Spanish
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soldiers. 300 dragoons and militia men from Mexico, under
the command of Lieutenant Facundo Melgarez, had come into
the Pawnee camp with a display of affluence and military pomp,
drums rolling and flags aloft. They had been visiting other
tribes on the plains, and they were there, as Pike said, quote,
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for the purpose of striking A dread into those different
nations of the Spanish power andto bring about a general
combination in their favor. End Quote.
Now here was Pike with the detachment of only 18 men,
hoping to undo the effect of theSpanish visit on the people who
love finery, pageantry, and above all, power.
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To the chiefs who had seen the Spanish riding on fine cavalry
mounts. Pike was actually applying for
the purchase of additional horses so that he could continue
his journey to the chiefs, who had seen hundreds of Spanish
footmen armed with European muskets, the cavalry men with
excellent swords and pistols. Pike now represented the United
States with little more than an indifferent armed bodyguard. the
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United States had owned the Louisiana Territory for only
three years, and its leaders were probing it as vigorously as
possible. The Spanish from the land they
called New Spain. We're not only prepared to
resist this advance and dispute the boundaries and even the
legality of the purchase itself,but we're still doing some
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probing of their own, testing the loyalty of the tribes on the
Great Plains. Between these two powers, which
would be at odds for many more years.
The Pawnee were in a key position.
The tribe was divided into 4 divisions at this time.
The Republican, the Grand, the Depage, and the Skidie, all on
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the waters of the Republican andPlatte rivers.
Further W another powerful tribeheld forth the Comanche, even
more thoroughly dominated by theSpanish than were the Pawnee.
They, too, were on Zebulon Pike's agenda.
The instructions given to Pike in Saint Louis were
wide-ranging. He was to conduct some Osage
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Indians to their home in what isnow southwest Missouri.
He was to try to make peace between the Osage and the Kansa
tribes. Then he was to head for the
Pawnee country on a dual mission.
First was to solicit the allegiance of the Pawnee, then
get them to help him contact theComanche by supplying him with
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horses and interpreters. Pike's letter to the Secretary
of War, Henry Dearborn and 1 he wrote the next day to the
commanding general of the Army, James Wilkinson, reveal the
meagerness of his success with the Pawnee.
First, they were most reluctant to sell him any horses, and
indeed the principal chief was insisting that he turn back and
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go no further into Spanish territory.
Also, Pike had been unable to persuade the Pawnee to provide
him with an interpreter for his dealings with the Comanche, not
even a Comanche prisoner who might conveniently have been
freed for the purpose. Neither had he been able to
convince the chief that he should appoint some influential
men to accompany the expedition back to Washington, where they
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might parlay with President Jefferson and other officials.
His only real success, and a temporary one, was in persuading
the chief to pull down the Spanish flag and substitute the
United States flag. Zebulon Pike was a highly
patriotic man. Some have said he was over
patriotic and it bothered him tosee foreign flags waving above
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soil that he thought belonged tohis country.
On his earlier expedition up theMississippi in 1805 to 1806, he
had become so incensed at the sight of the British flag flying
over a Northwest Company training post that he had
personally severed the howl way with a rifle shot and brought
the banner to the ground. The Spanish colors aroused him
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in much the same way. This is how Pike recounted the
story of his Pawnee flag raisingin his journal.
He wrote after the chiefs had replied to various parts of my
discourse, but were silent as tothe Spanish flag.
I again reiterated the demand for the flag, adding that it was
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impossible for the nation to have two fathers, that they must
either be children of the Spaniards, or acknowledge their
American father. After a silence of some time, an
old man rose, went to the door and took down the Spanish flag
and brought it and laid it at myfeet, and then received the
American flag and elevated it onthe staff which had lately borne
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the standard of his Catholic Majesty.
This gave great satisfaction to the Osage in the Kansa, both of
whom decidedly avowed themselvesto be under the American
protection. Perceiving that every face in
the Council was clouded with sorrow, as if some great
national calamity was about to befall them, I took up the
contested colors and told them that as they had now shown
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themselves dutiful children in acknowledging their Great
American father, I did not wish to embarrass them with the
Spaniards. For it was the wish of the
Americans that their red brethren should remain peaceably
around their own fires and not embroil themselves in any
disputes between the white people, and that for fear the
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Spaniards might return there in force again, I returned them
their flag, but with an injunction that it should never
be hoisted during our stay. At this there was a general
shout of applause, and the charge particularly attended to.
Not exactly a tremendous victoryfor American diplomacy, perhaps,
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but it was a beginning. The Stars and Stripes were
flying, not from Pike's own Flagstaff, but from that of a
Pawnee chief who had long been under Spanish influence.
And who placed a heavy emphasis on flags, metals, and other
tangibles which represented authority.
A few days later, when the expedition was preparing to
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leave the Indian village and push on toward its next
objective, another significant incident occurred.
Acting under instructions from the Spanish commander, the old
chief of the Pawnee was preparedto prevent Pike from continuing
his westward journey. The story of what happened was
told by the chief himself to an Indian agent a few years later,
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and the agent sat down in his journal writing.
The morning came, and the risingsun found Pike with his men, all
mounted, well armed and equipped, their heavy
broadswords drawn. The old warrior chief had
summoned his forces also, and there they stood, more than 500
in number, armed with bows and arrows, Spears and Tomahawks, in
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gloomy silence, each party waiting in painful suspense the
orders of their respective chiefs.
The chief recalled that he had approached Pike and earnestly
urged him to cancel his journey.Pike pointed to a spot in the
sky just above the eastern horizon, and told the chief that
he would set out when the sun reached that spot, saying that
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quote, Nothing but death can stop us.
It is my duty, as I have alreadyfully explained to you, if you
think it is yours, to obey the Spaniard, so to stop me.
Be it so, but be assured that the attempt will cost the lives
of many brave men. This you may be sure of.
End Quote. Pike's detachment was completely
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surrounded by Indians with theirbows strung, some with arrows
ready and some with firearms. Pike's hand was on the hilt of
his sword. He was ready to signal by
drawing his sword that his men were to attack.
Quote. Wait a moment.
In a few minutes probably 100 men or more would bite the dust.
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One word from the Pawnee chief was only wanting to prevent this
senseless waste of human life. The good sense of humanity of
the chief prevailed. He ordered his people to put up
their arms to open the way and permit the little band to pass
freely and go unmolested in whatever direction their young
chief chose to lead them. End Quote.
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This was written by the agent recounting the story.
Pike tells the story somewhat differently in his own journal.
But there can be no doubt that the Indians contemplated
stopping the expedition by force.
And so, because the US Army Lieutenant did not blink in the
face of danger, a Pawnee chief disobeyed the injunction of the
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Spanish government. The inevitable domination of the
Pawnee by the United States was underway.
Pike left the Pawnee on October 7th, 18 O 6, and he later wrote
that when he had reached the summit of the hill which
overlooked the village, quote, Ifelt my mind as if relieved of a
heavy burden. End Quote.
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He let his party almost due South to the vicinity of Great
Bend, KS, and spent several dayspreparing to ascend the Arkansas
River. His detachment was then divided.
Lieutenant James B Wilkinson, the general son, and five
soldiers returned down the Arkansas to civilization, while
Pike and the rest started up theriver toward the Rockies.
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During the fall and winter. The expedition saw and
approached a great mountain, later to be called Pike's Peak,
then wandered up into the South Park area of Colorado, touched
on the waters of the S Platte, and came back down the upper
reaches of the Arkansas in the mistaken belief that it was the
Red River. After a winter of incredible
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hardship, including a partial descent of the Royal Gorge, and
about with cold and hunger in the Wet Mountain Valley, the men
crossed the Sangre de Cristo Range and built a stockade on a
branch of the Rio Grande. Believing that they were on the
Red River and thus still in United States territory.
They had found not a single Comanche with whom to parlay.
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On February 26th, 18 O 7A detachment of Spanish regulars
and militiamen discovered Pike, informed him he was encamped and
flying the American flag on Spanish soil, then escorted him
down to Santa Fe. After interrogation by the
Governor of New Mexico, Joaquin del Real Alan Castor, he was
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sent on down to Camino Real to Chihuahua.
Some of his men were left to follow him later also in arrest,
and during this period the only fatality of the expedition
occurred when Sergeant William Meek killed Private Theodore
Miller with a bayonet in Chihuahua.
Pike was confronted by Nemesio Salcedo, Commandant General of
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the Interior provinces of New Spain, who had grave suspicions
about the young officers motives.
After opening a three-way correspondence with his
superiors in Spain and with suchUnited States officials as
Secretary of State James Madison, the Commandant General
decided to release Pike and escort him to the Mexican border
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at Hakadesh, Louisiana, but to retain his maps, letters and
other papers. Many aspects of Pike's
expedition and its aftermath arenot pertinent here.
The question of whether he was spying, whether he told the
truth when he claimed he was lost on the Rio Grande, whether
he was in league with General James Wilkinson or even Aaron
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Burr in schemes which might havedisrupted the federal union and
brought turmoil to the West. We are more particularly
concerned with the effects of the expedition on the later
formation and development of Nebraska and her neighboring
states. When Pike's journal was
published in 1810, it contained 1 observation which may have had
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a deterrent effect on the settling of the Trans Missouri
West. His famous pronouncement on the
so-called Great American Desert.One section of his journal was
called A Dissertation on the Soil, Rivers, Productions,
Animal and Vegetable, with general notes on the internal
parts of Louisiana. In this section Hike wrote in
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part as follows. Numerous have been the
hypotheses formed by various naturalists to account for the
vast tract of untimbered countrywhich lies between the waters of
the Missouri, Mississippi, and the Western Ocean.
From the mouth of the latter river to the 48th N latitude.
I would not think I had done my country justice did I not give
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birth to what few lights my examination of those internal
deserts had enabled me to acquire.
In that vast country of which wespeak we find the soil generally
dry and sandy with gravel, and discover that the moment we
approach a stream the land becomes more humid with small
timber. These vast plains of the Western
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Hemisphere may become in time equally celebrated as the sandy
deserts of Africa, For I saw on my route, in various places,
tracks of many leagues where thewind had thrown up the sand in
all fanciful forms of the Ocean's rolling wave, and on
which not a speck of vegetable matter existed.
But from these immense prairies may arise 1 great advantage to
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the United States, the restriction of our population to
some certain limits, and therebya continuation of the Union.
Our citizens being so prone to rambling and extending
themselves on the frontiers, will through necessity be
constrained to limit their extent on the West to the
borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, where they leave
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the prairies incapable of cultivation to the wandering and
uncivilized Aborigines in the country.
Pike was speaking as one who hadnever been West of the
Mississippi before his expeditions and who could not
predict the potentials for development in the regions he
had seen. He was, moreover, not alone in
his pessimistic appraisal. Several years later, explorer
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and engineer Steven H Long wroteof the same area.
Quote. I do not hesitate in giving the
opinion that it is almost whollyunfit for cultivation, and of
course, uninhabitable by a people depending on agriculture
for their sustenance. End Quote.
Pronouncements by men such as these who had crossed the Plains
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could not but reinforce the official view of the government
during this period that the Trans Mississippi W could best
be used as an enormous reserve for the Indians.
Thomas Jefferson, who was still president when Pike returned but
not when he published his journal, had once seriously
considered barring white migration into the Louisiana
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Purchase and instead transporting all Indians
westward across the Mississippi where they could not hinder the
development of previously settled areas.
Pike made another statement, notas well known as his comment on
the Great American Desert. In a letter he wrote to Albert
Galatine in 18 O 9, he suggestedthat the United States return to
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the Spanish all of the lands West of the Mississippi River in
exchange for Florida, He wrote. Florida to us is necessary and
will in time become quite as much so as New Orleans was
previous to our obtaining possession of it.
Should Spanish America declare themselves independent, we would
naturally turn our eyes to Mexico, the seat of government,
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to seal the negotiations for Florida, where, I am sincerely
of an opinion, it might be done by ceding all of the West Bank
of the Mississippi, making the Missouri the line.
I have not paid due attention tothe question, therefore will not
presume to decide if we could constitutionally transfer Upper
Louisiana and all the people of the West Bank to a foreign power
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and domination. But the policy of the measure
cannot for a moment be doubted, as our territorial limits are
now immense, and the Mississippiis a natural barrier with which
we could always keep an open communication if we possess the
Floridas and Cuba. It is ironic that Pike expressed
this view to Albert Gallatin, who had been Jefferson's
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Secretary of the Treasury when the Louisiana Purchase was
negotiated, had been instrumental in launching the
Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific, and who was an avid
student of everything concerningthe West.
Pikes positive contributions to the region far outweigh the
negative ones. If the American people were
deterred for a while from migrating across the Mississippi
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and Missouri by Pikes tales of agreat desert, they were not
deterred long, and they were immediately aroused by the
prospects of trade with the Indians and the Spanish, The
opening of the Santa Fe Trail, an increase in trade with the
plains and mountain tribes and increased use of waterways,
including the plat, and a general quickening of the
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inevitable westward expansion. These things were brought about
in no small measure by Pikes published reports.
Even if he had little regard forthe vast land through which he
had struggled, he put the fever for westward migration into the
hearts of men with greater vision.
One aspect of Pikes Expedition has remained a topic of
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speculation for Nebraskans and Kansas down to this day.
The boundary between the states of Nebraska and Kansas runs
along the 40th parallel. On the South side of the line in
Republic County, Kansas is the site of a large Pawnee Indian
village. On the north side of the line in
Webster County, Nebraska lies the site of another such
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village. Until recently, our knowledge of
Pikes route was imprecise, basedon rather sketchy map which he
published with his journal in 1810.
And since the 2 village sites are only about 30 miles apart,
it was natural that residents ofthe two states should reach
differing conclusions about which Pawnee village Pike
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visited. Did the Spanish flag come down?
Did the Stars and Stripes go up?Was it in Kansas or in Nebraska?
The Kansas site was known long before the Nebraska site, and
Pike's map of 1810 seemed to some scholars to lead directly
to it. So in 19 O1 the people of Kansas
erected a granite shaft on a handsome hillside in Republic
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County to commemorate Pike's visit.
The so-called Pike site belongedto Kansas exclusively until the
early 1920s when the Pawnee sitewas found in southern Nebraska.
Interested persons in both states began to re examine the
evidence, look at artifacts which had come from these
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locations, and re evaluated Pikes, journals, and maps.
An unfortunate term came to use.Quote the war between Nebraska
and Kansas. End Quote.
Publications of the historical societies in both states during
this period reflected the friendly but determined efforts
of all parties to settle the matter in favor of local
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interest. For example, writing on behalf
of Kansas State Historical Society, George P Morehouse
said, quote, No fair person can read Pike's account of his
approach to his experience in and his description of the
Pawnee Republic Village, then fully examine the ruins and
environments of the Kansas site and not come to the conclusion
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that Kansas and the Kansas StateHistorical Society marked the
right place beyond any doubt. It was the place Lieutenant Pike
visited them from September 25thto October 7th, 18 O 6.
For another point of view, here is Addison E Sheldon riding in
the Nebraska History Magazine. Quote.
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It is the judgment of the Nebraska State Historical
Society Board that the true siteis in Nebraska, between the
towns of Guide Rock and Red Cloud, on the South side of the
Republican River, about 30 milesnorthwest of the Kansas
Monument. It is the belief of Nebraska
that the original Pike documentsthe topography of the country,
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and the Indian village remains proof that Nebraska's case is
beyond a doubt. End Quote.
And now the narrative becomes personal, although the historian
is ever reluctant to make himself a part of his story.
No one can satisfactorily prepare a set of explorers
journals for publication from within the stacks of a library
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or a manuscript repository. The editor must withdraw his
head from the dark confines of amicrofilm reader and prepare to
get his face sunburned. In the spring of 1964, I set out
to follow as much of Pikes Routeon both his Mississippi River
and Western expedition as would be practicable and useful.
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I was not on a pilgrimage, but rather on a tour of discovery,
as Pike himself might have said.So I improved upon his means of
transportation wherever possible.
For example, on the middle reaches of the Mississippi, I
traveled on a tow boat through the courtesy of the federal
barge lines in the valley of theUpper Arkansas and the region
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around Pike's Peak, I took to the air for a faster, more
accurate surveillance of the land.
But mainly I traveled in the station wagon with a sleeping
bag and a camping stove, a bundle of US Geological Survey
maps, and that handiest of all traveling accessories, the
credit card. I had one other tool, also very
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important, a set of photo stats of the field notebook, which was
confiscated from Pike in Chihuahua in 18 O 7 and not
returned to the United States for a century.
This book would have been available to those involved in
the controversy of the 1820s over the location of the Pike
Council site, but no one directly concerned with that
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inquiry seemed to have consultedit.
The manuscript maps in the notebook are not as crystal
clear delineation of his route, for Pike was poorly trained in
cartography. Rather, they are a puzzle to be
solved. Each day Pike set down in this
notebook a series of sketches purporting to show the creeks
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and rivers that he had crossed and the land that he had
traversed. Of course, there were no place
names for smaller streams. His courses and distances were
mere estimates, and his observations often were made
during extremes of fatigue. With these variables in mind, I
trailed him from the two villages of the Great and Little
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Osage in southwest Missouri up to the village of the Pawnee on
the Republican River. Pike left the Osage villages on
September 1st, following the South Bank of the Little Osage
River, and three days later was about on the future boundary
line between Missouri and Kansasin Bourbon County, Missouri.
A couple of days later, with some of his Osage guides leaving
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him and others showing a strong fear of the Kansas Indians, he
began a wide swing to the West of the Kansas stronghold.
By the evening of September 7th,he was encamped on Deer Creek,
an affluent of the Neosho River,southwest of Carlisle, Kansas.
By the 13th he was proceeding northwest in the vicinity of
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Marion. On the 17th he struck the Smoky
Hill River at about 12 miles South of Salina, still traveling
northwest. Then he crossed Saline River,
camped 3 days near Minneapolis in Ottawa County.
On the 23rd he crossed the Solomon near Beloit, and on the
25th he camped between Salem andBurr Oak on White Rock Creek in
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Jewel County, Kansas. Pike's tables, of course and
distance, show that on September26th, in order to reach the
Pawnee village, he traveled 12 miles northwest.
By my calculations, and allowingfor Pike's usual errors in
computing distance, this would put him on the Republican River
in Webster County, Nebraska. As I have observed many times,
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nobody knows more about the lay of the land in his own county
than an official of the Soil Conservation Service.
I was pleased to learn that Ralph Farabee was no exception.
Not only was he informed about the location of the Pawnee site,
but he was also interested in Indian lore himself.
He soon had me pointed in the right direction.
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I found no marker there nor on the highway nearby to inform the
public that here was believed tobe one of the great historic
sites of the American West. But now there is a marker on the
highway near the site, and the site has been designated by the
National Park Service as a registered National Historic
Landmark. All the data available to me in
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determining the location of the Pike Council site is now
available to anyone for Pike's field notebook and traverse
tables are in print for the first time.
I am not the first researcher totrail Pike up across Kansas to
the banks of the Republican, noram I the first to conclude that
he entered Nebraska. I believe I am probably the
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first to so conclude on the basis of Pike's own detailed
maps and data. Earlier researchers had to rely
upon that faulty map, the descriptions of the lay of the
land set down in the journals ofPike and Lieutenant Wilkinson,
and a good deal of geographers. Logic and common sense.
Let us consider for a moment theplight of Eliot Coos, one of the
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great editors of travel narratives in the late 19th
century. In 1895 he published an edition
of Pike's journals, the first full edition since 1810, and
without covering the ground in person, he traced Pike to
Nebraska. He had no knowledge of the
Nebraska Pawnee site, for he hadnot yet been discovered, but he
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said, quote, the place where Pike struck it.
The Republican was certainly in that portion of its course which
runs in Nebraska. For the present I can only
tentatively assume the longitudelocation.
End Quote. This reading would have placed
the site a short distance southeast of Red Cloud.
After the Coos edition appeared,however, Kansans pointed out the
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Pawnee site in their state as the location of Pikes Council.
So Coos reversed himself and told his correspondence that he
had erred and wrote Quote. At present, I see no reason to
doubt that you have it right after all, and that when you
have fully formulated your results, there will be remaining
no questions of the exact location of the Pawnee village
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or of Pikes memorable camp. End Quote.
So nothing can ever be completedfor all time in the world of
history ography. That is why I have been so
presumptuous as to re edit Elliot Cous's fine edition of
Pike's journals published 70 years ago.
And it is also why some future historian, shaking his head
sadly over the shortcomings of my edition, will turn once more
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to the task of presenting Zebulon Pike to a new
generation. May he realize one important
thing to do the job adequately, he must be prepared to get his
face sunburned. Thank you for listening to the
Nebraska History Podcast. To learn more about the Nebraska
History Magazine, to listen to more podcast episodes, or to
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support our podcast by becoming a member of the Nebraska State
Historical Society, go to history.nebraska.gov/podcast.
And don't forget to subscribe tothe podcast and get notified
when we release new episodes on your favorite podcast platform.
Until next time, I'm Chris Goforth.
The following episode features ahistoric article from the
Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
valuable insight into the past, may contend expressions or
viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Welcome to the Nebraska History podcast.
I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles
(00:21):
written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
In 18 O 6, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike LED an expedition to the
Pawnee country to solicit their allegiance and convince them to
lower the Spanish flag. Pike's journey was not without
its challenges. On this episode we look back at
Pike's published accounts duringhis travels in Nebraska and
(00:42):
Kansas through the 1966 NebraskaHistory Magazine article Zebulon
Pike and Nebraska, written by Donald Jackson.
Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sat on the ground on a hillside
overlooking the Republican Riverand, using the backside of a
book as a writing desk, penned aletter to the Secretary of War.
(01:03):
The time was October 1st 18 O 6,and for the past week young Pike
had been holding councils with the band of Indians called the
Republican Pawnee. His white linen trousers may
have become rather grimy by thistime, and his blue coat with the
scarlet cuffs could not have looked its best.
His small band of soldiers, a detachment from the First
(01:25):
Infantry Regiment, surely lookedeven less dapper than he, and
the matter was of some importance, for Pike and his men
were there to influence the Pawnee.
As Pike was now saying to the Secretary of War, the task of
impressing these Indians would have been easier if they had not
recently been visited by a most impressive troop of Spanish
(01:47):
soldiers. 300 dragoons and militia men from Mexico, under
the command of Lieutenant Facundo Melgarez, had come into
the Pawnee camp with a display of affluence and military pomp,
drums rolling and flags aloft. They had been visiting other
tribes on the plains, and they were there, as Pike said, quote,
(02:09):
for the purpose of striking A dread into those different
nations of the Spanish power andto bring about a general
combination in their favor. End Quote.
Now here was Pike with the detachment of only 18 men,
hoping to undo the effect of theSpanish visit on the people who
love finery, pageantry, and above all, power.
(02:32):
To the chiefs who had seen the Spanish riding on fine cavalry
mounts. Pike was actually applying for
the purchase of additional horses so that he could continue
his journey to the chiefs, who had seen hundreds of Spanish
footmen armed with European muskets, the cavalry men with
excellent swords and pistols. Pike now represented the United
States with little more than an indifferent armed bodyguard. the
(02:56):
United States had owned the Louisiana Territory for only
three years, and its leaders were probing it as vigorously as
possible. The Spanish from the land they
called New Spain. We're not only prepared to
resist this advance and dispute the boundaries and even the
legality of the purchase itself,but we're still doing some
(03:17):
probing of their own, testing the loyalty of the tribes on the
Great Plains. Between these two powers, which
would be at odds for many more years.
The Pawnee were in a key position.
The tribe was divided into 4 divisions at this time.
The Republican, the Grand, the Depage, and the Skidie, all on
(03:38):
the waters of the Republican andPlatte rivers.
Further W another powerful tribeheld forth the Comanche, even
more thoroughly dominated by theSpanish than were the Pawnee.
They, too, were on Zebulon Pike's agenda.
The instructions given to Pike in Saint Louis were
wide-ranging. He was to conduct some Osage
(04:00):
Indians to their home in what isnow southwest Missouri.
He was to try to make peace between the Osage and the Kansa
tribes. Then he was to head for the
Pawnee country on a dual mission.
First was to solicit the allegiance of the Pawnee, then
get them to help him contact theComanche by supplying him with
(04:21):
horses and interpreters. Pike's letter to the Secretary
of War, Henry Dearborn and 1 he wrote the next day to the
commanding general of the Army, James Wilkinson, reveal the
meagerness of his success with the Pawnee.
First, they were most reluctant to sell him any horses, and
indeed the principal chief was insisting that he turn back and
(04:42):
go no further into Spanish territory.
Also, Pike had been unable to persuade the Pawnee to provide
him with an interpreter for his dealings with the Comanche, not
even a Comanche prisoner who might conveniently have been
freed for the purpose. Neither had he been able to
convince the chief that he should appoint some influential
men to accompany the expedition back to Washington, where they
(05:06):
might parlay with President Jefferson and other officials.
His only real success, and a temporary one, was in persuading
the chief to pull down the Spanish flag and substitute the
United States flag. Zebulon Pike was a highly
patriotic man. Some have said he was over
patriotic and it bothered him tosee foreign flags waving above
(05:29):
soil that he thought belonged tohis country.
On his earlier expedition up theMississippi in 1805 to 1806, he
had become so incensed at the sight of the British flag flying
over a Northwest Company training post that he had
personally severed the howl way with a rifle shot and brought
the banner to the ground. The Spanish colors aroused him
(05:53):
in much the same way. This is how Pike recounted the
story of his Pawnee flag raisingin his journal.
He wrote after the chiefs had replied to various parts of my
discourse, but were silent as tothe Spanish flag.
I again reiterated the demand for the flag, adding that it was
(06:14):
impossible for the nation to have two fathers, that they must
either be children of the Spaniards, or acknowledge their
American father. After a silence of some time, an
old man rose, went to the door and took down the Spanish flag
and brought it and laid it at myfeet, and then received the
American flag and elevated it onthe staff which had lately borne
(06:37):
the standard of his Catholic Majesty.
This gave great satisfaction to the Osage in the Kansa, both of
whom decidedly avowed themselvesto be under the American
protection. Perceiving that every face in
the Council was clouded with sorrow, as if some great
national calamity was about to befall them, I took up the
contested colors and told them that as they had now shown
(07:00):
themselves dutiful children in acknowledging their Great
American father, I did not wish to embarrass them with the
Spaniards. For it was the wish of the
Americans that their red brethren should remain peaceably
around their own fires and not embroil themselves in any
disputes between the white people, and that for fear the
(07:21):
Spaniards might return there in force again, I returned them
their flag, but with an injunction that it should never
be hoisted during our stay. At this there was a general
shout of applause, and the charge particularly attended to.
Not exactly a tremendous victoryfor American diplomacy, perhaps,
(07:41):
but it was a beginning. The Stars and Stripes were
flying, not from Pike's own Flagstaff, but from that of a
Pawnee chief who had long been under Spanish influence.
And who placed a heavy emphasis on flags, metals, and other
tangibles which represented authority.
A few days later, when the expedition was preparing to
(08:03):
leave the Indian village and push on toward its next
objective, another significant incident occurred.
Acting under instructions from the Spanish commander, the old
chief of the Pawnee was preparedto prevent Pike from continuing
his westward journey. The story of what happened was
told by the chief himself to an Indian agent a few years later,
(08:25):
and the agent sat down in his journal writing.
The morning came, and the risingsun found Pike with his men, all
mounted, well armed and equipped, their heavy
broadswords drawn. The old warrior chief had
summoned his forces also, and there they stood, more than 500
in number, armed with bows and arrows, Spears and Tomahawks, in
(08:47):
gloomy silence, each party waiting in painful suspense the
orders of their respective chiefs.
The chief recalled that he had approached Pike and earnestly
urged him to cancel his journey.Pike pointed to a spot in the
sky just above the eastern horizon, and told the chief that
he would set out when the sun reached that spot, saying that
(09:09):
quote, Nothing but death can stop us.
It is my duty, as I have alreadyfully explained to you, if you
think it is yours, to obey the Spaniard, so to stop me.
Be it so, but be assured that the attempt will cost the lives
of many brave men. This you may be sure of.
End Quote. Pike's detachment was completely
(09:31):
surrounded by Indians with theirbows strung, some with arrows
ready and some with firearms. Pike's hand was on the hilt of
his sword. He was ready to signal by
drawing his sword that his men were to attack.
Quote. Wait a moment.
In a few minutes probably 100 men or more would bite the dust.
(09:52):
One word from the Pawnee chief was only wanting to prevent this
senseless waste of human life. The good sense of humanity of
the chief prevailed. He ordered his people to put up
their arms to open the way and permit the little band to pass
freely and go unmolested in whatever direction their young
chief chose to lead them. End Quote.
(10:13):
This was written by the agent recounting the story.
Pike tells the story somewhat differently in his own journal.
But there can be no doubt that the Indians contemplated
stopping the expedition by force.
And so, because the US Army Lieutenant did not blink in the
face of danger, a Pawnee chief disobeyed the injunction of the
(10:34):
Spanish government. The inevitable domination of the
Pawnee by the United States was underway.
Pike left the Pawnee on October 7th, 18 O 6, and he later wrote
that when he had reached the summit of the hill which
overlooked the village, quote, Ifelt my mind as if relieved of a
heavy burden. End Quote.
(10:54):
He let his party almost due South to the vicinity of Great
Bend, KS, and spent several dayspreparing to ascend the Arkansas
River. His detachment was then divided.
Lieutenant James B Wilkinson, the general son, and five
soldiers returned down the Arkansas to civilization, while
Pike and the rest started up theriver toward the Rockies.
(11:16):
During the fall and winter. The expedition saw and
approached a great mountain, later to be called Pike's Peak,
then wandered up into the South Park area of Colorado, touched
on the waters of the S Platte, and came back down the upper
reaches of the Arkansas in the mistaken belief that it was the
Red River. After a winter of incredible
(11:37):
hardship, including a partial descent of the Royal Gorge, and
about with cold and hunger in the Wet Mountain Valley, the men
crossed the Sangre de Cristo Range and built a stockade on a
branch of the Rio Grande. Believing that they were on the
Red River and thus still in United States territory.
They had found not a single Comanche with whom to parlay.
(12:00):
On February 26th, 18 O 7A detachment of Spanish regulars
and militiamen discovered Pike, informed him he was encamped and
flying the American flag on Spanish soil, then escorted him
down to Santa Fe. After interrogation by the
Governor of New Mexico, Joaquin del Real Alan Castor, he was
(12:21):
sent on down to Camino Real to Chihuahua.
Some of his men were left to follow him later also in arrest,
and during this period the only fatality of the expedition
occurred when Sergeant William Meek killed Private Theodore
Miller with a bayonet in Chihuahua.
Pike was confronted by Nemesio Salcedo, Commandant General of
(12:43):
the Interior provinces of New Spain, who had grave suspicions
about the young officers motives.
After opening a three-way correspondence with his
superiors in Spain and with suchUnited States officials as
Secretary of State James Madison, the Commandant General
decided to release Pike and escort him to the Mexican border
(13:03):
at Hakadesh, Louisiana, but to retain his maps, letters and
other papers. Many aspects of Pike's
expedition and its aftermath arenot pertinent here.
The question of whether he was spying, whether he told the
truth when he claimed he was lost on the Rio Grande, whether
he was in league with General James Wilkinson or even Aaron
(13:24):
Burr in schemes which might havedisrupted the federal union and
brought turmoil to the West. We are more particularly
concerned with the effects of the expedition on the later
formation and development of Nebraska and her neighboring
states. When Pike's journal was
published in 1810, it contained 1 observation which may have had
(13:45):
a deterrent effect on the settling of the Trans Missouri
West. His famous pronouncement on the
so-called Great American Desert.One section of his journal was
called A Dissertation on the Soil, Rivers, Productions,
Animal and Vegetable, with general notes on the internal
parts of Louisiana. In this section Hike wrote in
(14:06):
part as follows. Numerous have been the
hypotheses formed by various naturalists to account for the
vast tract of untimbered countrywhich lies between the waters of
the Missouri, Mississippi, and the Western Ocean.
From the mouth of the latter river to the 48th N latitude.
I would not think I had done my country justice did I not give
(14:30):
birth to what few lights my examination of those internal
deserts had enabled me to acquire.
In that vast country of which wespeak we find the soil generally
dry and sandy with gravel, and discover that the moment we
approach a stream the land becomes more humid with small
timber. These vast plains of the Western
(14:53):
Hemisphere may become in time equally celebrated as the sandy
deserts of Africa, For I saw on my route, in various places,
tracks of many leagues where thewind had thrown up the sand in
all fanciful forms of the Ocean's rolling wave, and on
which not a speck of vegetable matter existed.
But from these immense prairies may arise 1 great advantage to
(15:16):
the United States, the restriction of our population to
some certain limits, and therebya continuation of the Union.
Our citizens being so prone to rambling and extending
themselves on the frontiers, will through necessity be
constrained to limit their extent on the West to the
borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, where they leave
(15:37):
the prairies incapable of cultivation to the wandering and
uncivilized Aborigines in the country.
Pike was speaking as one who hadnever been West of the
Mississippi before his expeditions and who could not
predict the potentials for development in the regions he
had seen. He was, moreover, not alone in
his pessimistic appraisal. Several years later, explorer
(16:01):
and engineer Steven H Long wroteof the same area.
Quote. I do not hesitate in giving the
opinion that it is almost whollyunfit for cultivation, and of
course, uninhabitable by a people depending on agriculture
for their sustenance. End Quote.
Pronouncements by men such as these who had crossed the Plains
(16:22):
could not but reinforce the official view of the government
during this period that the Trans Mississippi W could best
be used as an enormous reserve for the Indians.
Thomas Jefferson, who was still president when Pike returned but
not when he published his journal, had once seriously
considered barring white migration into the Louisiana
(16:42):
Purchase and instead transporting all Indians
westward across the Mississippi where they could not hinder the
development of previously settled areas.
Pike made another statement, notas well known as his comment on
the Great American Desert. In a letter he wrote to Albert
Galatine in 18 O 9, he suggestedthat the United States return to
(17:03):
the Spanish all of the lands West of the Mississippi River in
exchange for Florida, He wrote. Florida to us is necessary and
will in time become quite as much so as New Orleans was
previous to our obtaining possession of it.
Should Spanish America declare themselves independent, we would
naturally turn our eyes to Mexico, the seat of government,
(17:25):
to seal the negotiations for Florida, where, I am sincerely
of an opinion, it might be done by ceding all of the West Bank
of the Mississippi, making the Missouri the line.
I have not paid due attention tothe question, therefore will not
presume to decide if we could constitutionally transfer Upper
Louisiana and all the people of the West Bank to a foreign power
(17:46):
and domination. But the policy of the measure
cannot for a moment be doubted, as our territorial limits are
now immense, and the Mississippiis a natural barrier with which
we could always keep an open communication if we possess the
Floridas and Cuba. It is ironic that Pike expressed
this view to Albert Gallatin, who had been Jefferson's
(18:09):
Secretary of the Treasury when the Louisiana Purchase was
negotiated, had been instrumental in launching the
Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific, and who was an avid
student of everything concerningthe West.
Pikes positive contributions to the region far outweigh the
negative ones. If the American people were
deterred for a while from migrating across the Mississippi
(18:32):
and Missouri by Pikes tales of agreat desert, they were not
deterred long, and they were immediately aroused by the
prospects of trade with the Indians and the Spanish, The
opening of the Santa Fe Trail, an increase in trade with the
plains and mountain tribes and increased use of waterways,
including the plat, and a general quickening of the
(18:52):
inevitable westward expansion. These things were brought about
in no small measure by Pikes published reports.
Even if he had little regard forthe vast land through which he
had struggled, he put the fever for westward migration into the
hearts of men with greater vision.
One aspect of Pikes Expedition has remained a topic of
(19:12):
speculation for Nebraskans and Kansas down to this day.
The boundary between the states of Nebraska and Kansas runs
along the 40th parallel. On the South side of the line in
Republic County, Kansas is the site of a large Pawnee Indian
village. On the north side of the line in
Webster County, Nebraska lies the site of another such
(19:33):
village. Until recently, our knowledge of
Pikes route was imprecise, basedon rather sketchy map which he
published with his journal in 1810.
And since the 2 village sites are only about 30 miles apart,
it was natural that residents ofthe two states should reach
differing conclusions about which Pawnee village Pike
(19:54):
visited. Did the Spanish flag come down?
Did the Stars and Stripes go up?Was it in Kansas or in Nebraska?
The Kansas site was known long before the Nebraska site, and
Pike's map of 1810 seemed to some scholars to lead directly
to it. So in 19 O1 the people of Kansas
erected a granite shaft on a handsome hillside in Republic
(20:17):
County to commemorate Pike's visit.
The so-called Pike site belongedto Kansas exclusively until the
early 1920s when the Pawnee sitewas found in southern Nebraska.
Interested persons in both states began to re examine the
evidence, look at artifacts which had come from these
(20:37):
locations, and re evaluated Pikes, journals, and maps.
An unfortunate term came to use.Quote the war between Nebraska
and Kansas. End Quote.
Publications of the historical societies in both states during
this period reflected the friendly but determined efforts
of all parties to settle the matter in favor of local
(21:00):
interest. For example, writing on behalf
of Kansas State Historical Society, George P Morehouse
said, quote, No fair person can read Pike's account of his
approach to his experience in and his description of the
Pawnee Republic Village, then fully examine the ruins and
environments of the Kansas site and not come to the conclusion
(21:22):
that Kansas and the Kansas StateHistorical Society marked the
right place beyond any doubt. It was the place Lieutenant Pike
visited them from September 25thto October 7th, 18 O 6.
For another point of view, here is Addison E Sheldon riding in
the Nebraska History Magazine. Quote.
(21:43):
It is the judgment of the Nebraska State Historical
Society Board that the true siteis in Nebraska, between the
towns of Guide Rock and Red Cloud, on the South side of the
Republican River, about 30 milesnorthwest of the Kansas
Monument. It is the belief of Nebraska
that the original Pike documentsthe topography of the country,
(22:05):
and the Indian village remains proof that Nebraska's case is
beyond a doubt. End Quote.
And now the narrative becomes personal, although the historian
is ever reluctant to make himself a part of his story.
No one can satisfactorily prepare a set of explorers
journals for publication from within the stacks of a library
(22:27):
or a manuscript repository. The editor must withdraw his
head from the dark confines of amicrofilm reader and prepare to
get his face sunburned. In the spring of 1964, I set out
to follow as much of Pikes Routeon both his Mississippi River
and Western expedition as would be practicable and useful.
(22:50):
I was not on a pilgrimage, but rather on a tour of discovery,
as Pike himself might have said.So I improved upon his means of
transportation wherever possible.
For example, on the middle reaches of the Mississippi, I
traveled on a tow boat through the courtesy of the federal
barge lines in the valley of theUpper Arkansas and the region
(23:10):
around Pike's Peak, I took to the air for a faster, more
accurate surveillance of the land.
But mainly I traveled in the station wagon with a sleeping
bag and a camping stove, a bundle of US Geological Survey
maps, and that handiest of all traveling accessories, the
credit card. I had one other tool, also very
(23:32):
important, a set of photo stats of the field notebook, which was
confiscated from Pike in Chihuahua in 18 O 7 and not
returned to the United States for a century.
This book would have been available to those involved in
the controversy of the 1820s over the location of the Pike
Council site, but no one directly concerned with that
(23:53):
inquiry seemed to have consultedit.
The manuscript maps in the notebook are not as crystal
clear delineation of his route, for Pike was poorly trained in
cartography. Rather, they are a puzzle to be
solved. Each day Pike set down in this
notebook a series of sketches purporting to show the creeks
(24:14):
and rivers that he had crossed and the land that he had
traversed. Of course, there were no place
names for smaller streams. His courses and distances were
mere estimates, and his observations often were made
during extremes of fatigue. With these variables in mind, I
trailed him from the two villages of the Great and Little
(24:35):
Osage in southwest Missouri up to the village of the Pawnee on
the Republican River. Pike left the Osage villages on
September 1st, following the South Bank of the Little Osage
River, and three days later was about on the future boundary
line between Missouri and Kansasin Bourbon County, Missouri.
A couple of days later, with some of his Osage guides leaving
(24:57):
him and others showing a strong fear of the Kansas Indians, he
began a wide swing to the West of the Kansas stronghold.
By the evening of September 7th,he was encamped on Deer Creek,
an affluent of the Neosho River,southwest of Carlisle, Kansas.
By the 13th he was proceeding northwest in the vicinity of
(25:19):
Marion. On the 17th he struck the Smoky
Hill River at about 12 miles South of Salina, still traveling
northwest. Then he crossed Saline River,
camped 3 days near Minneapolis in Ottawa County.
On the 23rd he crossed the Solomon near Beloit, and on the
25th he camped between Salem andBurr Oak on White Rock Creek in
(25:40):
Jewel County, Kansas. Pike's tables, of course and
distance, show that on September26th, in order to reach the
Pawnee village, he traveled 12 miles northwest.
By my calculations, and allowingfor Pike's usual errors in
computing distance, this would put him on the Republican River
in Webster County, Nebraska. As I have observed many times,
(26:03):
nobody knows more about the lay of the land in his own county
than an official of the Soil Conservation Service.
I was pleased to learn that Ralph Farabee was no exception.
Not only was he informed about the location of the Pawnee site,
but he was also interested in Indian lore himself.
He soon had me pointed in the right direction.
(26:24):
I found no marker there nor on the highway nearby to inform the
public that here was believed tobe one of the great historic
sites of the American West. But now there is a marker on the
highway near the site, and the site has been designated by the
National Park Service as a registered National Historic
Landmark. All the data available to me in
(26:47):
determining the location of the Pike Council site is now
available to anyone for Pike's field notebook and traverse
tables are in print for the first time.
I am not the first researcher totrail Pike up across Kansas to
the banks of the Republican, noram I the first to conclude that
he entered Nebraska. I believe I am probably the
(27:10):
first to so conclude on the basis of Pike's own detailed
maps and data. Earlier researchers had to rely
upon that faulty map, the descriptions of the lay of the
land set down in the journals ofPike and Lieutenant Wilkinson,
and a good deal of geographers. Logic and common sense.
Let us consider for a moment theplight of Eliot Coos, one of the
(27:33):
great editors of travel narratives in the late 19th
century. In 1895 he published an edition
of Pike's journals, the first full edition since 1810, and
without covering the ground in person, he traced Pike to
Nebraska. He had no knowledge of the
Nebraska Pawnee site, for he hadnot yet been discovered, but he
(27:54):
said, quote, the place where Pike struck it.
The Republican was certainly in that portion of its course which
runs in Nebraska. For the present I can only
tentatively assume the longitudelocation.
End Quote. This reading would have placed
the site a short distance southeast of Red Cloud.
After the Coos edition appeared,however, Kansans pointed out the
(28:18):
Pawnee site in their state as the location of Pikes Council.
So Coos reversed himself and told his correspondence that he
had erred and wrote Quote. At present, I see no reason to
doubt that you have it right after all, and that when you
have fully formulated your results, there will be remaining
no questions of the exact location of the Pawnee village
(28:38):
or of Pikes memorable camp. End Quote.
So nothing can ever be completedfor all time in the world of
history ography. That is why I have been so
presumptuous as to re edit Elliot Cous's fine edition of
Pike's journals published 70 years ago.
And it is also why some future historian, shaking his head
sadly over the shortcomings of my edition, will turn once more
(29:01):
to the task of presenting Zebulon Pike to a new
generation. May he realize one important
thing to do the job adequately, he must be prepared to get his
face sunburned. Thank you for listening to the
Nebraska History Podcast. To learn more about the Nebraska
History Magazine, to listen to more podcast episodes, or to
(29:22):
support our podcast by becoming a member of the Nebraska State
Historical Society, go to history.nebraska.gov/podcast.
And don't forget to subscribe tothe podcast and get notified
when we release new episodes on your favorite podcast platform.
Until next time, I'm Chris Goforth.
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