General Zebulon Montgomery Pike achieved distinction both as an explorer and a brave soldier. He was but twenty-seven years of age when he was chosen to lead the most important military expedition of the day, and eight years later, as Brigadier-General, he commanded the troops that captured the British stronghold at York (now Toronto), Canada, and here he met his death, which has been compared to that of Nelson. The captured flag of the enemy was placed under the head of the dying general to ease his pain. The cheers of his soldiers aroused the young commander, and on being told that the fort was captured, he closed his eyes with the words, "I die content."
In his notebook were found the maxims that had guided him through life, dedicated to his son, among which were "Preserve your honor free from blemish," and "Be always ready to die for your country."
General Pike was buried with full military honors in the government plot at Madison Barracks, New York. A modest shaft marks the resting place of the heroic soldier-explorer, and on Cascade Avenue in Colorado Springs, directly in front of "The Antlers," there is placed a statue of the heroic discoverer of the mighty Peak which forever perpetuates his name.
No adequate life of Pike has ever been written; but with the monumental majesty of the mid-continental mountain peak that proclaims his name to all future centuries, what room can there be for biographical record or sculptured memorial? The archives of the Department of War, in Washington, contain his diary, kept from day to day in this march from St. Louis to Colorado. After his discovery of the Peak, Major Pike returned to the place where now the city of Pueblo stands, continuing his journey into the mountains, thence to New Mexico, where he was captured by the Spaniards. Hardships of every description were suffered by the party before being placed in captivity at Santa Fé; but even the capture of his papers by the Spaniards at Santa Fé did not serve to destroy the records of the astute young soldier, who had carefully concealed duplicates of his papers in the barrel of his big flintlock rifle, and he was afterward able to restore them to original form. Major Pike was as tender and humane as he was brave. In the capture of the party by the Spanish two of the men had to be abandoned and left to their fate in the hills. They were given a small supply of provisions, with the assurance that they would be rescued if the rest of the party found a haven of safety and rest. Major Pike kept this promise and, more nearly dead than alive, these men were brought into Santa Fé by the Spanish soldiers.