Name: ________________________________________________
History: Lesson 10.2 – The Louisiana Purchase
Date: ________________________________
Period: _______________________________
The Journeys of Zebulon Pike
In 1805, Zebulon Pike, a U.S. Army officer, led an exploring party in search of the source of the Mississippi
River. This mission would take him up the Mississippi River and into present-day Minnesota.
A second expedition to explore the American Southwest began in July 1806 and drew to a close in late
June 1807. Pike was instructed to seek out headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers and to investigate
Spanish settlements in New Mexico.
Pike and his men left Missouri and traveled through the present-day states of Kansas and Nebraska
before reaching Colorado, where he famously found a snowcapped mountain he called Grand Peak,
known today as Pike’s Peak. From there, they traveled down to New Mexico, where they were stopped by
Spanish officials and charged with illegal entry into Spanish-held territory. Pike was a spy, but just who
he was spying for remains an open question. His party was escorted to Santa Fe, then down to
Chihuahua, back up through Texas, and finally to the border of the Louisiana Territory, where they were
released. Soon after returning to the east, Pike was implicated in a plot with former Vice President Aaron
Burr to seize territory in the Southwest for mysterious reasons. However, after an investigation,
Secretary of State James Madison fully exonerated him. (To exonerate means to prove someone not
guilty of a crime.)
From Pike’s travels, Americans learned about the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. The information he
provided about the U.S. territory in Kansas and Colorado was a great movement for future U.S.
settlement, and his reports about the weakness of Spanish authority in the Southwest stirred talk of
future U.S. annexation or adding on of new territory. Pike also mapped part of the Rio Grande and
traveled across northern Mexico and what is now southern Texas. Pike's account of his southwestern
adventures, published in 1810, drew additional attention to the region and its possible future as part of
an expanding American empire.
Pike later served as a brigadier general during the War of 1812, and in April 1813 he was killed by a
British gunpowder bomb after leading a successful attack on York, Canada.
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. What was Zebulon Pike’s first mission? Where did he end up?
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2. What was Zebulon Pike’s next mission? Be specific.
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3. What states did Zebulon Pike travel through?
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4. Why was Zebulon Pike stopped by Spanish officials? Who was he spying for?
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5. What specific parts of the country did we learn more about because of Zebulon Pike? Be specific.
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6. Critical Thinking: Based on the reading, it is clear that Pike was sent out to explore new territories.
But why was he a spy? What do you think the real reason may have been fore his travels?
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Information gathered and edited from:
Appleby, Joyce, Ph.D., et al. Discovering Our Past: A History of the United States. New York, NY: McGrawHill Education, 2014. Print.
“Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America: After Lewis & Clark.” The Journeys
of Zebulon Montgomery Pike. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewisafter.html
This Day in History: Pike Expedition Sets Out. A&E Television Networks, LLC. 2014.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pike-expedition-sets-out