del Norte. As they concluded I did not think as I spoke, they were very anxious
to ascertain our number, &c. Seeing only five men here, they could not believe we
came without horses; to this I did not think proper to afford them any satisfaction,
giTing them to understand we were in many parties.
"In the morning [of February 17th] our two Spanish visitors departed, after
I had made them some trifling presents, with which they seemed highly delighted. ' '
Aside from Sergeant Meek's departure, nothing of importance came to
pass at the fort until the tenth day thereafter. Twice, while out hunting,
Pike had seen "the sign of horses and men". Therefore he gave "particular
orders" to the members of his garrison that if they "discovered any people,
to endeavour to retreat unobserved; but if not, never to run, and not to
suffer themselves to be disarmed or taken prisoners, but conduct whatever
HISTORY OF COLORADO 67
party discovered them, if they could not escape, to the fort". That Pike,
since the visit of the Spanish dragoon and the Mexican Indian, had been
expecting a larger Spanish force to appear at his fort, is shown by his
journal-entry on the 22(1, and which reads:
"As I began to think it Tpas time we received a visit from the Spaniards, or
their emissaries, I established a look-out guard on the top of a hill all day, and at
night a sentinel in a bastion on the land side. Studying, reading, &c. Working at
our ditch to bring the river round the work".
The anticipated visit was made by the Spaniards, on the 36th, and of
its particulars and consequences Pike relates the following:
"In the morning I was apprised by the report of a gun from my look-out guard,
of the approach of strangers; immediately after, two Frenchmen arrived. My sen-
tinel halted them, and I ordered them to be admitted after some questions. Tliey
informed me that his Excellency, Governor Allencaster, hearing it was the intention
of the Utah Indians to attack me, had detached an officer with fifty dragoons to come
out and protect me, and that they would be with me in two days. To this I made
no reply, but shortly after, the party hove in sight, as I afterwards learned; fifty
dragoons, and fifty mounted militia of the Province armed in the same manner,
with lances, escopates [Spanish carbines], and pistols. My sentinels halted them at
the distance of about fifty yards. I had the works manned: I thought it most proper
to send out the two Frenchmen to inform the commanding oflScer that it was my
request he should leave his party in a small copse of wood where he halted, and that
I would meet him myself in the prairie, in which our work was situated; this I did,
with my sword on me only. I was thus introduced to Don Ignatio Saltelo and Don
Bartholomew Fernandez, two lieutenants; the former the commander of the party:
I gave them an invitation to enter the works, but requested the troops might remain
where they were. This was complied with: but when they came round and discovered
that to enter they were obliged to crawl on their bellies over a small drawbridge,
they appeared astonished; they, however, entered without further hesitation.
' ' We first breakfasted, on some deer, meal, goose, and some biscuit, which the
civilized Indian who came out as a spy had brought me. After breakfast the com-
manding officer addressed me as follows:
" 'Sir, the Governor of New Mexico, being informed that you had missed
your route, ordered me to offer you in his name mules, horses, money, or whatever
you may stand in need of, to conduct you to the head of Bed river; as from Santa
Fe, to where it is sometimes navigable, is eight days' journey, and we have guides
and the routes of the traders to conduct us.'
" 'What', interrupted I, 'is not this the Eed Eiver?' 'No, sir, it is the Eio
del Norte'. I immediately ordered my flag to be taken down and rolled up, feeling
how sensibly I had committed myself in entering their territory, and was conscious
that they must have positive orders to take me in. He now added, that he had
provided one hundred mules and horses to take in my party and baggage, and stated
how anxious his Excellency was to see me at Santa Fe. I stated to him the absence
of my Sergeant, the situation of the rest of the party, and that my orders would
not justify my entering into the Spanish territories. He urged still further, until
I began to feel myself a little heated in the argument, and told him in a peremptory
style that I would not go until the arrival of my Sergeant, with the remainder of
my party. He repUed that there was not the least restraint to be used, only that
it was necessary his Excellency should receive an explanation of my business on his
frontiers; that I might go now, or on the arrival of my party; but that if none
went at present he should be obliged to send in for provisions. He added that if I
would now march, he would leave an Indian interpreter and an escort of dragoons
to conduct the Sergeant into Santa Fe. His mildness induced me to tell that I
would march, but must leave two men in order to meet the Sergeant and party to
instruct him as to coming in, as he would never do so without a fight, unless
ordered.
"I was induced to consent to the measure by conviction that the officer had a
positive command to convey me in; and as I had no orders to engage in hostilities,
and indeed had committed myself, although innocently, by violating their territory.
68 HlSTOilY OF COLOEADO
I conceived it would be better to shew a will to come to an explanation, rather than
be in any way constrained. Yet my situation was so eligible, and I could so easily
have put them to defiance, that it was with great reluctance I suffered all our labour
to be lost, without once trying the efficacy of it.
' ' My compliance seemed to spread general joy through the Spanish party as
soon as it was communicated. But it appeared to be different with my men, who
wished to have had a little daist, (as they expressed it), and were likwise fearful
of Spanish treachery.
"My determination being once taken, I gave permission for the lieutenant's
men to come to the outside of the works and some of mine to go out and see them.
Immediately the hospitality and goodness of the Creoles and Mestis began to be
manifested by their producing their provision and giving it to my men; at the same
time covering them with their blankets.
"After writing orders to my Sergeant, and leaving them with my Corporal
and one private who were to remain, we sallied forth, mounted our horses, and went
up the river about twelve miles to a place where the Spanish officers had made a
camp deposit, from whence we sent down mules for our baggage."
So ended the troubled expedition of Zebulon M. Pike into tlie Eoclcy
Mountain country. Its leader felt, in spite of the polite pretensions of his
captors that they had been sent to rescue him from danger and conduct him
to the capital of the Province to visit the Governor, that he was a prisoner.
He and his escort arrived at Santa Fe on March 3d, and with liim were six
of his soldiers. Privates Carter, Gorden, Menaugh, Mountjoy, Koy and
Stoute. Corporal Jackson and Private Brown had been left at the fort to
await the return of Sergeant Meek and Private Miller, who had gone to
bring over Interpreter Vasquez, Private Smith, and the two disabled soldiers,
Sparks and Dougherty.
Tlie little group of Americans presented rather a sorry appearance
when they entered Santa Fe; and of this Pike says:
" . . . After we left our interpreter and one man on the Arkansas, we were
obliged to carry all our baggage on our backs; consequently, that which was the
most useful was preferred to the few ornamental articles of dress we possessed.
The ammunition claimed our first care; tools were secondary; leather leggins, boots
and mockinsons were the next in consideration: consequently, I left behind all my
uniform clothing, trunks, &c., and the men also did the same, except what they had
on, conceiving that which would secure the feet and legs from the cold to be prefer-
able to any other. Thus, when we presented ourselves at Santa Fe, I was dressed
in a pair of blue trowsers, mockinsons, blanket coat, and a red cap made of scarlet
cloth, lined with fox skin; and my poor fellows in leggins, breech cloths and leather
coats; and not a hat in the whole party. This appearance was extremely mortifying
to us all, especially as soldiers; and although some of the officers used frequently to
observe to me, that 'worth made the man', with a variety of adages to the same
amount, yet the first impression made on the ignorant is hard to eradicate; and a
greater proof cannot be given of the ignorance of the common people than their
asking if we lived in houses, or in camps like the Indians, or if we wore hats in our
country. These observations are sufficient to shew the impression our savage appear-
ance made among them. ' '
At first, the Governor, Don Joachim Eeal AUencaster, was inclined to
be austere, but presently relaxed and became cordial and hospitable. After
looking over Pike's papers, which were contained in a small trunk, the
Governor told him that he and his soldiers who were now with him would
be taken to Chihuahua, where he should be presented to the Commandant-
General, who would question him further and more carefully examine the
papers. The Americans were started on the 5th, under a military escort,
for that capital. Two days later they were rejoined by Dr. Eobinson, at a
HISTOEY OF COLOEADO 69
village below Albuquerque, to wliich the Doctor had been sent shortly after
his advent at Santa Fe.
Arriving at Chihuahua on April 2d, the Amerieans were taken directly
to the quarters of General Nimesio Salcedo, "Commandant-General of the
Interior Provinces of New Spain", who received Pike graciously and with
the remark, "you have given us and yourself a great deal of trouble".
Salcedo already had received from Santa Fe a report of Eobiuson's appear-
ance tfiere and of the arrest of Pike and his men. The trunk was brought
in, and from it all the papers relating to the expedition were taken and
passed over to the General. Three weeks later. Pike was notified by Salcedo
that he and his men who were with him would be escorted to the American
post at Natchitoches (April 28th being designated as the date of their
departure), but that his papers would be retained; and that those of his
men who were still behind would follow him homeward. In the meantime,
Salcedo had granted Pike's request for an advance of $1,000, on the credit
of the United States, for the expenses of the party until it arrived upon
American soil. He had received previously, from Governor Allencaster,
sums amounting to aljout $200. While in Chihuahua, Pike and the Doctor
were the recipients of many social attentions, and appear to have had a
pretty good time.
Leaving Chihuahua on the appointed date, the Americans were con-
ducted upon a "round-about course through the northeasterly part of what
is now Mexico, to the lower reaches of tlie Eio Grande, and thence, by way
of San Antonio, across Texas to Natchitoches, where they were liberated on
July 1, 180?. "Language cannot express the gaiety of my heart", says
Pike, "when I once more beheld the standard of my country waved aloft.
'All hail !', cried I, 'the ever-sacred name of Country, in which is embraced
that of kindred, friends, and every other tie which is dear to the soul of
man!'."
There is no available record as to when and how those of Pike's men
who had been left Ijehind in New Spain were returned to the LTnited States,
nor of the condition of the frozen two when they were brought out of the
mountains. Pike's last reference to them is in a brief report containing
their names, which he filed in the War Department on May 3, 1808, and
which is headed, "Eeturn of a Detachment of Infantry of the Army of the
U : States, detained at Chihuahua, the Seat of Government for the Internal
Pi'ovinces of New Spain, by Order of the Commandant General of those
Provinces, in the year 180T". His interpreter, Yasquez, is known to have
been a Lieutenant in the American Army during the War of 1812, and a
trader among the Indians on the upper Missouri in 1820.
During Pike's short detention at Santa Fe, he was visited by a Ken-
tuckian, who had been, as it would seem, an unwilling dweller in the capital
of New Mexico since the spring of 1805, and whose place in the history of
the Colorado country is that of its first American pioneer. Pike remem-
bered and recorded his name as "James Pursley", but it has been ascer-
tained in recent times that his surname was "Purcell". Some further
account of this intrepid wanderer and of his adventures appears in Chapters
VII and VIII.
It has been said often that Captain Pike was the discoverer of the
great eminence that bears his name. But he was not, nor did he assume
to have been, nor was he the first American who beheld it. As he implies
70 HISTORY OF COLORADO
in his narrative, and as we have seen upon preceding pages of this volume,
it had for long been an object familiar to Spaniards of New Mexico.
Beside these, French fur traders and trappers had been within full view of
it many years before he saw the Rocky Mountains. The first American
whose eyes surveyed the peak's lofty heights doubtless was James Pureell,
who passed near it some eighteen months before Captain Pike entered the
land of Colorado.
CHAPTER IV.
CONCEALED PURPOSES OF PIKE'S EXPEDITION. — ITS EVIDENT IDENTIFICATION
WITH BCER's CONSPIRACY. — GENERAL WILKINSON'S IMPLICATION IN
THE PLOT. pike's CORDIAL RELATIONS WITH THE TRAITOROUS GENERAL,
AND OTHER SUGGESTIVE CIRCUMSTANCES. — FACTS OF THE EXPEDITION
THAT ARE IRRECONCILABLE WITH ANT THEORY OF NON-COMPLICITY.
WHAT WAS pike's PURPOSE IN BUILDING A FORT ON THE RIO CONEJOS?
HIS PRETENDED SURPRISE WHEN TOLD HE WAS ON THE RED RIVER.
EVIDENCE THAT PIKE INTENDED AND EXPECTED A COLLISION WITH
SPANISH TROOPS. DR. ROBINSON A SPY. — THE MORRISON CLAIM PROB-
ABLY' OBTAINED FOR USE AS A PASSPORT BY A SPY. — ROBINSON'S STORY
TO GOVERNOR ALLENCASTER. — PIKE's DENIAL THAT ROBINSON WAS OF
HIS PARTY. HIS DUPLICITY AND FLAGRANT PREVARICATION WHILE IN
SPANISH CUSTODY. ACTING THE SPY AND INFORMER. THE "sECREt"
OF THE EXPEDITION. — THE NATCHITOCHES CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN
WILKINSON AND PIKE. SALCEDO's LETTER TO WILKINSON. — WILKIN-
SON'S CAUTIONS TO PIKE. PUBLIC OPINION AS TO PIKE's CONNEC-
TION WITH burr's PLOT. — PIKE AND THE SECRETARY OF WAR. — CON-
GRESS REFRAINS FROM GRANTING EXTRA COMPENSATION TO PIKE. —
WILKINSON'S UNSAVORY RECORD. — SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CAPTAIN
PIKE. HIS DEATH AND BURIAL.
The sinister shadows of the twin traitors and conspirators, Aaron Burr
and General James "Wilkinson, had kept company with Pike's expedition
from the day it embarked at Belle Fontaine. That the undertaking was
not for the ostensible purpose of exploring the central and southwestern
parts of the Louisiana Purchase and for becoming acquainted and estab-
lishing friendly relations with the Indian tribes of the region, but a move-
ment in the interest of Buri-'s ambitious scheme to seize a vast extent of the
Mississippi Valley and the greater part of New Spain, and to organize in
these domains a government of which he should be Dictator, there does not
appear to be even standing-room for a doubt. The more closely Pike's
narrative, other documents, and all the circumstances connected with the
expedition, are studied from every point of view, the more imperiously do
they require us to regard him as an emissan- of the conspirators — the more
evident it becomes that he and his western enterprise were of the plot, and
that he knew it; although he may not otherwise have participated in it
personally.
Upon the face of the case, Pike, a mere subaltern— a Lieutenant in the
Eegular Anny when he started — received certain orders from the military
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and, as duty required, proceeded to obey
them. These orders or instructions — at least those dated June 24th and
July 12th (1806)— are without guile, their purport being peaceful and
laudable. But it is well imderstood that the Lieutenant had secret instruc-
tions from the traitorous and grossly corrupt General, who also was Governor
of the Territory of Louisiana; and, as we shall see. Pike himself reveals
this fact indirectly. With the expedition stripped of its mask, we shall
also see that its real purposes must have been to explore and locate a prac-
ticable military route across the plains to New Mexico; to spy out that
land, and to ascertain by obsen-ation and inquiry the military' and other
71
72 HISTOEY OF COLOBADO
resources of the Spaniards in that Province. Should it precipitate a con-
flict with them, all the better. A clash of arms would bring to the con-
spirators the opportune moment for attempting their purpose to dismember
the territory of the United States, to raise a new flag and proclaim a new
government, a new nationality, in the Great West; and then appeal to
England, which at that time claimed and held the "Oregon Country", for
intervention and support in its behalf, or to France, should England be
indift'erent.
That General Wilkinson was deep in this plot is an established fact of
our Nation's history. Letters which he wrote, letters which he received,
including some from Burr in cipher, and to which, as their writer testified
under solemn circumstances, Wilkinson replied, unmistakably revealed his
guilt. Indeed, his whole conduct made his complicity apparent beyond
question. Before Pike left St. Louis, the General had begun to sound his
younger officers as to their probable attitude in the event of open action by
the conspirators. While it does not necessarily follow that Pike's personal
relations with A\'ilkinson — "my General", as he fondly and repeatedly calls
him — imply that he was deeply involved in the treasonable scheme, they
were, as sho-s^Ti by his letters, of an unusnall}' close and cordial nature.
Pike addressed him in terms of endearment uncommon in communications
between military officers, and with obvious pride spoke of himself as the
General's "'military protege", and of the General as his "paternal friend".
Wilkinson already had trumped up a pretext upon which he might
gain control of additional Federal soldiers and possession of Federal mili-
tar}^ equipment. Affecting to believe that war with Spain over the disputed
boundary in the Southwest was imminent, he had written to the Secretary
of War, from St. Louis, on November 26, 1805, as follows:
". . . Our situation at New Orleans is a defenceless one, & Colonel Free-
man's removal of two Companies from Fort Adams to that city leaves us without
the means of offence above Batton Rouge, which I do [not] like, but Freeman felt
himself too feeble to stand alone without those Companies — I most ardently implore
that we may not be forced to War, because I seek repose & we are not indeed pre-
pared for it; that is, against European troops — yet if we must draw the sword, the
whole of the troops destined to operate West of the Mississippi should be mounted,
whether Gun-men or sword-men, because every Man of the Enemy will be found on
Horse Back, and the composition should be such as I haTO described in a former
Letter — If anything should be done from this Quarter direct, and I might be in-
dulged to recommend my otScers, to plan & Lead the expedition. If I do not reduce
New Mexico, at least, in one Campaign, I will forfeit my Head. ' '
We should bear in mind that Pike's account of his expedition, in the
form in which it was published, was made up (at Washington City) after
his beloved General had become discredited, and after Burrs acquittal of
the charge of treason; the arch-traitor having escaped conviction partly by
virtue of having kept his mouth shut and partly by the inefficiency of the
prosecution, but mainly upon the technicality that he had not yet actually
borne arms against the L^^nited States. Pike injected into his narrative fre-
quent assertions and celebrations of his intense patriotism, his lofty motives,
and his exalted conceptions of personal honor. While it is apparent that these
in some part probably were due to the rather broad streak of vainglory with
which he was endowed, one can not easily avoid a strong suspicion that he
protested them overmuch — that he was holding them up as virtues which
had safeguarded him against such evil influences as those that had ema-
HISTORY OF COLOEADO 73
nated from Burr and Wilkinson. He had proved his personal coura'^e
and daring to be of a high order, but the other good personal qualities to
which he urgently invited attention had not restrained him from keepin"
inviolate a certain "secret" of the expedition, nor from employing trickery,
deceit, and downright lying after he had fallen into the hands of the Spanish
authorities in New Mexico.
"When the French province of Louisiane became United States terri-
tory, very little was authentically known of it by the great body of the
American people, who were also much in the dark as to Spanish possessions
that bordered it in the West-Southwest. To the large majority the latter
constituted a land of mystery and romance. Vague rumors that the northern
parts of New Spain abounded with gold and silver were afloat, and it was
rather generally believed that these metals were filling both public and
private coffers to repletion. It has since been supposed that this reputed
opulence of precious metals figured largel}' in Burr's plans, but neither he
nor any other American had any more knowledge of it than could be
derived from the drifting reports. It was the policy of Spain jealously to
guard her American possessions against foreign observation and to veil
their resources to foreign eyes. The doors of these were opened cautiously to
foreign visitors, who were surrounded by restraints while they remained.
As the transfer of Louisiane to the United States was not agreeable to
Spain, she had, before Pike started upon his march toward the Rocky
Mountains, begun maneuvering to secure for New Spain the farthest pos-
sible frontier in the North and the Northeast. That Spanish officers
regarded his movement with grave suspicion was shown by the surveillance
of the preparations for it at St. Louis by their secret agents; and that it
was intended to be inimical to Spanish interests was demonstrated by later
events.
It is impossible to reconcile the facts of Pike's expedition with any
theory that attributes to it merely the character of an exploration for scien-
tific, geographic and economic purposes, with incidental proffers of friend-
ship and good understanding to the Indians of the country he was to
traverse; or, as he states it, to gather "such geographical knowledge of the
southwestern boundary of Louisiana as to enable the government to enter
into a definite arrangement for a line of demarkation between that Terri-
tory and New Mexico", and also "to obtain information founded on scien-
tific pursuits, and with a view of entering into a chain of philanthropic
arrangements for ameliorating the condition of the Indians who inhabit
those vast plains and deserts". It was not undertaken by order or with
previous knowledge and approval of either the President or the Secretary
of AVar, but solely by direction of General Wilkinson, who had not, so far
as records go, been authorized from Washington to procure data bearing
upon the boundary question or to begin preparations for the amelioration
of the hard conditions of life among the Indians of the plains.
In his additional instnictions, of August 6th, Wilkinson makes a great
ado over the alleged purpose of a St. Louis trader to engage in "some com-
mercial intercourse with Santa Fe", and orders Pike to utilize this as a
pretext for using violence. Now, when the latter is beyond recall— com-
munications were slow in those days — he may open correspondence with the
Secretary of War. But Pike sought no opportunity to "blow up" De Lisa's
74 HISTOEY OF COLOBADO
plan, aud the first and onl}- report that he sent to tlie Secretary of War while
he was in the West was written in the Pawnee Eepublic on October 1st.
After Lieutenant Wilkinson's departure down the Arkansas Biver,
Pike's movements were controlled by a single purpose — that of pressing
forward to and into the mountains, though he must have known that he
would reach them in the most inauspicious season for exploration. Why-
did he ignore his open instructions to visit the Comanches, a duty which