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Pike, Pawnee, and a Spanish Flag · Nebraska History Podcast

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The following episode features a historic article from the
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Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
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language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
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valuable insight into the past, may contend expressions or
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viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
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Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
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perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
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Welcome to the Nebraska History podcast.
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I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles
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written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
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In 18 O 6, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike LED an expedition to the
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Pawnee country to solicit their allegiance and convince them to
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lower the Spanish flag. Pike's journey was not without
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its challenges. On this episode we look back at
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Pike's published accounts during his travels in Nebraska and
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Kansas through the 1966 Nebraska History Magazine article Zebulon
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Pike and Nebraska, written by Donald Jackson.
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Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sat on the ground on a hillside
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overlooking the Republican River and, using the backside of a
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book as a writing desk, penned a letter to the Secretary of War.
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The time was October 1st 18 O 6, and for the past week young Pike
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had been holding councils with the band of Indians called the
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Republican Pawnee. His white linen trousers may
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have become rather grimy by this time, and his blue coat with the
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scarlet cuffs could not have looked its best.
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His small band of soldiers, a detachment from the First
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Infantry Regiment, surely looked even less dapper than he, and
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the matter was of some importance, for Pike and his men
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were there to influence the Pawnee.
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As Pike was now saying to the Secretary of War, the task of
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impressing these Indians would have been easier if they had not
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recently been visited by a most impressive troop of Spanish
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soldiers. 300 dragoons and militia men from Mexico, under
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the command of Lieutenant Facundo Melgarez, had come into
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the Pawnee camp with a display of affluence and military pomp,
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drums rolling and flags aloft. They had been visiting other
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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
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nations of the Spanish power and to bring about a general
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combination in their favor. End Quote.
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Now here was Pike with the detachment of only 18 men,
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hoping to undo the effect of the Spanish visit on the people who
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love finery, pageantry, and above all, power.
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To the chiefs who had seen the Spanish riding on fine cavalry
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mounts. Pike was actually applying for
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the purchase of additional horses so that he could continue
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his journey to the chiefs, who had seen hundreds of Spanish
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footmen armed with European muskets, the cavalry men with
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excellent swords and pistols. Pike now represented the United
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States with little more than an indifferent armed bodyguard. the
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United States had owned the Louisiana Territory for only
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three years, and its leaders were probing it as vigorously as
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possible. The Spanish from the land they
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called New Spain. We're not only prepared to
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resist this advance and dispute the boundaries and even the
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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
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Great Plains. Between these two powers, which
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would be at odds for many more years.
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The Pawnee were in a key position.
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The tribe was divided into 4 divisions at this time.
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The Republican, the Grand, the Depage, and the Skidie, all on
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the waters of the Republican and Platte rivers.
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Further W another powerful tribe held forth the Comanche, even
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more thoroughly dominated by the Spanish than were the Pawnee.
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They, too, were on Zebulon Pike's agenda.
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The instructions given to Pike in Saint Louis were
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wide-ranging. He was to conduct some Osage
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Indians to their home in what is now southwest Missouri.
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He was to try to make peace between the Osage and the Kansa
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tribes. Then he was to head for the
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Pawnee country on a dual mission.
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First was to solicit the allegiance of the Pawnee, then
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get them to help him contact the Comanche by supplying him with
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horses and interpreters. Pike's letter to the Secretary
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of War, Henry Dearborn and 1 he wrote the next day to the
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commanding general of the Army, James Wilkinson, reveal the
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meagerness of his success with the Pawnee.
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First, they were most reluctant to sell him any horses, and
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indeed the principal chief was insisting that he turn back and
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go no further into Spanish territory.
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Also, Pike had been unable to persuade the Pawnee to provide
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him with an interpreter for his dealings with the Comanche, not
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even a Comanche prisoner who might conveniently have been
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freed for the purpose. Neither had he been able to
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convince the chief that he should appoint some influential
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men to accompany the expedition back to Washington, where they
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might parlay with President Jefferson and other officials.
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His only real success, and a temporary one, was in persuading
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the chief to pull down the Spanish flag and substitute the
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United States flag. Zebulon Pike was a highly
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patriotic man. Some have said he was over
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patriotic and it bothered him to see foreign flags waving above
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soil that he thought belonged to his country.
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On his earlier expedition up the Mississippi in 1805 to 1806, he
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had become so incensed at the sight of the British flag flying
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over a Northwest Company training post that he had
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personally severed the howl way with a rifle shot and brought
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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
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story of his Pawnee flag raising in his journal.
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He wrote after the chiefs had replied to various parts of my
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discourse, but were silent as to the Spanish flag.
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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
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either be children of the Spaniards, or acknowledge their
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American father. After a silence of some time, an
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old man rose, went to the door and took down the Spanish flag
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and brought it and laid it at my feet, and then received the
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American flag and elevated it on the staff which had lately borne
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the standard of his Catholic Majesty.
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This gave great satisfaction to the Osage in the Kansa, both of
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whom decidedly avowed themselves to be under the American
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protection. Perceiving that every face in
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the Council was clouded with sorrow, as if some great
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national calamity was about to befall them, I took up the
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contested colors and told them that as they had now shown
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themselves dutiful children in acknowledging their Great
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American father, I did not wish to embarrass them with the
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Spaniards. For it was the wish of the
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Americans that their red brethren should remain peaceably
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around their own fires and not embroil themselves in any
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disputes between the white people, and that for fear the
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Spaniards might return there in force again, I returned them
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their flag, but with an injunction that it should never
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be hoisted during our stay. At this there was a general
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shout of applause, and the charge particularly attended to.
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Not exactly a tremendous victory for American diplomacy, perhaps,
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but it was a beginning. The Stars and Stripes were
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flying, not from Pike's own Flagstaff, but from that of a
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Pawnee chief who had long been under Spanish influence.
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And who placed a heavy emphasis on flags, metals, and other
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tangibles which represented authority.
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A few days later, when the expedition was preparing to
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leave the Indian village and push on toward its next
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objective, another significant incident occurred.
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Acting under instructions from the Spanish commander, the old
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chief of the Pawnee was prepared to prevent Pike from continuing
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his westward journey. The story of what happened was
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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.
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The morning came, and the rising sun found Pike with his men, all
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mounted, well armed and equipped, their heavy
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broadswords drawn. The old warrior chief had
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summoned his forces also, and there they stood, more than 500
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in number, armed with bows and arrows, Spears and Tomahawks, in
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gloomy silence, each party waiting in painful suspense the
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orders of their respective chiefs.
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The chief recalled that he had approached Pike and earnestly
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urged him to cancel his journey. Pike pointed to a spot in the
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sky just above the eastern horizon, and told the chief that
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he would set out when the sun reached that spot, saying that
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quote, Nothing but death can stop us.
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It is my duty, as I have already fully explained to you, if you
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think it is yours, to obey the Spaniard, so to stop me.
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Be it so, but be assured that the attempt will cost the lives
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of many brave men. This you may be sure of.
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End Quote. Pike's detachment was completely
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surrounded by Indians with their bows strung, some with arrows
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ready and some with firearms. Pike's hand was on the hilt of
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his sword. He was ready to signal by
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drawing his sword that his men were to attack.
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Quote. Wait a moment.
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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
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senseless waste of human life. The good sense of humanity of
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the chief prevailed. He ordered his people to put up
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their arms to open the way and permit the little band to pass
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freely and go unmolested in whatever direction their young
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chief chose to lead them. End Quote.
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This was written by the agent recounting the story.
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Pike tells the story somewhat differently in his own journal.
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But there can be no doubt that the Indians contemplated
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stopping the expedition by force.
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And so, because the US Army Lieutenant did not blink in the
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face of danger, a Pawnee chief disobeyed the injunction of the
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Spanish government. The inevitable domination of the
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Pawnee by the United States was underway.
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Pike left the Pawnee on October 7th, 18 O 6, and he later wrote
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that when he had reached the summit of the hill which
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overlooked the village, quote, I felt my mind as if relieved of a
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heavy burden. End Quote.
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He let his party almost due South to the vicinity of Great
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Bend, KS, and spent several days preparing to ascend the Arkansas
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River. His detachment was then divided.
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Lieutenant James B Wilkinson, the general son, and five
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soldiers returned down the Arkansas to civilization, while
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Pike and the rest started up the river toward the Rockies.
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During the fall and winter. The expedition saw and
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approached a great mountain, later to be called Pike's Peak,
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then wandered up into the South Park area of Colorado, touched
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on the waters of the S Platte, and came back down the upper
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reaches of the Arkansas in the mistaken belief that it was the
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Red River. After a winter of incredible
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hardship, including a partial descent of the Royal Gorge, and
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about with cold and hunger in the Wet Mountain Valley, the men
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crossed the Sangre de Cristo Range and built a stockade on a
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branch of the Rio Grande. Believing that they were on the
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Red River and thus still in United States territory.
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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
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and militiamen discovered Pike, informed him he was encamped and
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flying the American flag on Spanish soil, then escorted him
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down to Santa Fe. After interrogation by the
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Governor of New Mexico, Joaquin del Real Alan Castor, he was
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sent on down to Camino Real to Chihuahua.
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Some of his men were left to follow him later also in arrest,
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and during this period the only fatality of the expedition
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occurred when Sergeant William Meek killed Private Theodore
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Miller with a bayonet in Chihuahua.
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Pike was confronted by Nemesio Salcedo, Commandant General of
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the Interior provinces of New Spain, who had grave suspicions
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about the young officers motives.
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After opening a three-way correspondence with his
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superiors in Spain and with such United States officials as
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Secretary of State James Madison, the Commandant General
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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
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other papers. Many aspects of Pike's
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expedition and its aftermath are not pertinent here.
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The question of whether he was spying, whether he told the
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truth when he claimed he was lost on the Rio Grande, whether
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he was in league with General James Wilkinson or even Aaron
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Burr in schemes which might have disrupted the federal union and
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brought turmoil to the West. We are more particularly
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concerned with the effects of the expedition on the later
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formation and development of Nebraska and her neighboring
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states. When Pike's journal was
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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
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West. His famous pronouncement on the
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so-called Great American Desert. One section of his journal was
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called A Dissertation on the Soil, Rivers, Productions,
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Animal and Vegetable, with general notes on the internal
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parts of Louisiana. In this section Hike wrote in
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part as follows. Numerous have been the
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hypotheses formed by various naturalists to account for the
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vast tract of untimbered country which lies between the waters of
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the Missouri, Mississippi, and the Western Ocean.
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From the mouth of the latter river to the 48th N latitude.
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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
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deserts had enabled me to acquire.
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In that vast country of which we speak we find the soil generally
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dry and sandy with gravel, and discover that the moment we
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approach a stream the land becomes more humid with small
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timber. These vast plains of the Western
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Hemisphere may become in time equally celebrated as the sandy
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deserts of Africa, For I saw on my route, in various places,
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tracks of many leagues where the wind had thrown up the sand in
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all fanciful forms of the Ocean's rolling wave, and on
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which not a speck of vegetable matter existed.
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But from these immense prairies may arise 1 great advantage to
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the United States, the restriction of our population to
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some certain limits, and thereby a continuation of the Union.
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Our citizens being so prone to rambling and extending
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themselves on the frontiers, will through necessity be
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constrained to limit their extent on the West to the
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borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, where they leave
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the prairies incapable of cultivation to the wandering and
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uncivilized Aborigines in the country.
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Pike was speaking as one who had never been West of the
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Mississippi before his expeditions and who could not
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predict the potentials for development in the regions he
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had seen. He was, moreover, not alone in
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his pessimistic appraisal. Several years later, explorer
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and engineer Steven H Long wrote of the same area.
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Quote. I do not hesitate in giving the
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opinion that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of
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course, uninhabitable by a people depending on agriculture
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for their sustenance. End Quote.
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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
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during this period that the Trans Mississippi W could best
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be used as an enormous reserve for the Indians.
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Thomas Jefferson, who was still president when Pike returned but
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not when he published his journal, had once seriously
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considered barring white migration into the Louisiana
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Purchase and instead transporting all Indians
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westward across the Mississippi where they could not hinder the
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development of previously settled areas.
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Pike made another statement, not as well known as his comment on
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the Great American Desert. In a letter he wrote to Albert
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Galatine in 18 O 9, he suggested that the United States return to
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the Spanish all of the lands West of the Mississippi River in
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exchange for Florida, He wrote. Florida to us is necessary and
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will in time become quite as much so as New Orleans was
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previous to our obtaining possession of it.
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Should Spanish America declare themselves independent, we would
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naturally turn our eyes to Mexico, the seat of government,
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to seal the negotiations for Florida, where, I am sincerely
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of an opinion, it might be done by ceding all of the West Bank
17:32
of the Mississippi, making the Missouri the line.
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I have not paid due attention to the question, therefore will not
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presume to decide if we could constitutionally transfer Upper
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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
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cannot for a moment be doubted, as our territorial limits are
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now immense, and the Mississippi is a natural barrier with which
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we could always keep an open communication if we possess the
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Floridas and Cuba. It is ironic that Pike expressed
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this view to Albert Gallatin, who had been Jefferson's
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Secretary of the Treasury when the Louisiana Purchase was
18:12
negotiated, had been instrumental in launching the
18:15
Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific, and who was an avid
18:19
student of everything concerning the West.
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Pikes positive contributions to the region far outweigh the
18:25
negative ones. If the American people were
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deterred for a while from migrating across the Mississippi
18:32
and Missouri by Pikes tales of a great desert, they were not
18:36
deterred long, and they were immediately aroused by the
18:39
prospects of trade with the Indians and the Spanish, The
18:43
opening of the Santa Fe Trail, an increase in trade with the
18:46
plains and mountain tribes and increased use of waterways,
18:49
including the plat, and a general quickening of the
18:52
inevitable westward expansion. These things were brought about
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in no small measure by Pikes published reports.
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Even if he had little regard for the vast land through which he
19:02
had struggled, he put the fever for westward migration into the
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hearts of men with greater vision.
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One aspect of Pikes Expedition has remained a topic of
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speculation for Nebraskans and Kansas down to this day.
19:16
The boundary between the states of Nebraska and Kansas runs
19:19
along the 40th parallel. On the South side of the line in
19:23
Republic County, Kansas is the site of a large Pawnee Indian
19:27
village. On the north side of the line in
19:30
Webster County, Nebraska lies the site of another such
19:33
village. Until recently, our knowledge of
19:36
Pikes route was imprecise, based on rather sketchy map which he
19:41
published with his journal in 1810.
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And since the 2 village sites are only about 30 miles apart,
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it was natural that residents of the two states should reach
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differing conclusions about which Pawnee village Pike
19:54
visited. Did the Spanish flag come down?
19:57
Did the Stars and Stripes go up? Was it in Kansas or in Nebraska?
20:02
The Kansas site was known long before the Nebraska site, and
20:06
Pike's map of 1810 seemed to some scholars to lead directly
20:10
to it. So in 19 O1 the people of Kansas
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erected a granite shaft on a handsome hillside in Republic
20:17
County to commemorate Pike's visit.
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The so-called Pike site belonged to Kansas exclusively until the
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early 1920s when the Pawnee site was found in southern Nebraska.
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Interested persons in both states began to re examine the
20:34
evidence, look at artifacts which had come from these
20:37
locations, and re evaluated Pikes, journals, and maps.
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An unfortunate term came to use. Quote the war between Nebraska
20:47
and Kansas. End Quote.
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Publications of the historical societies in both states during
20:53
this period reflected the friendly but determined efforts
20:56
of all parties to settle the matter in favor of local
21:00
interest. For example, writing on behalf
21:03
of Kansas State Historical Society, George P Morehouse
21:06
said, quote, No fair person can read Pike's account of his
21:10
approach to his experience in and his description of the
21:14
Pawnee Republic Village, then fully examine the ruins and
21:18
environments of the Kansas site and not come to the conclusion
21:22
that Kansas and the Kansas State Historical Society marked the
21:26
right place beyond any doubt. It was the place Lieutenant Pike
21:30
visited them from September 25th to October 7th, 18 O 6.
21:36
For another point of view, here is Addison E Sheldon riding in
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the Nebraska History Magazine. Quote.
21:43
It is the judgment of the Nebraska State Historical
21:46
Society Board that the true site is in Nebraska, between the
21:50
towns of Guide Rock and Red Cloud, on the South side of the
21:54
Republican River, about 30 miles northwest of the Kansas
21:58
Monument. It is the belief of Nebraska
22:01
that the original Pike documents the topography of the country,
22:05
and the Indian village remains proof that Nebraska's case is
22:08
beyond a doubt. End Quote.
22:11
And now the narrative becomes personal, although the historian
22:16
is ever reluctant to make himself a part of his story.
22:20
No one can satisfactorily prepare a set of explorers
22:23
journals for publication from within the stacks of a library
22:27
or a manuscript repository. The editor must withdraw his
22:31
head from the dark confines of a microfilm reader and prepare to
22:36
get his face sunburned. In the spring of 1964, I set out
22:41
to follow as much of Pikes Route on both his Mississippi River
22:45
and Western expedition as would be practicable and useful.
22:50
I was not on a pilgrimage, but rather on a tour of discovery,
22:54
as Pike himself might have said. So I improved upon his means of
22:58
transportation wherever possible.
23:00
For example, on the middle reaches of the Mississippi, I
23:03
traveled on a tow boat through the courtesy of the federal
23:06
barge lines in the valley of the Upper Arkansas and the region
23:10
around Pike's Peak, I took to the air for a faster, more
23:14
accurate surveillance of the land.
23:17
But mainly I traveled in the station wagon with a sleeping
23:20
bag and a camping stove, a bundle of US Geological Survey
23:24
maps, and that handiest of all traveling accessories, the
23:28
credit card. I had one other tool, also very
23:32
important, a set of photo stats of the field notebook, which was
23:36
confiscated from Pike in Chihuahua in 18 O 7 and not
23:40
returned to the United States for a century.
23:44
This book would have been available to those involved in
23:46
the controversy of the 1820s over the location of the Pike
23:50
Council site, but no one directly concerned with that
23:53
inquiry seemed to have consulted it.
23:56
The manuscript maps in the notebook are not as crystal
24:00
clear delineation of his route, for Pike was poorly trained in
24:04
cartography. Rather, they are a puzzle to be
24:07
solved. Each day Pike set down in this
24:10
notebook a series of sketches purporting to show the creeks
24:14
and rivers that he had crossed and the land that he had
24:16
traversed. Of course, there were no place
24:20
names for smaller streams. His courses and distances were
24:24
mere estimates, and his observations often were made
24:27
during extremes of fatigue. With these variables in mind, I
24:32
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
24:39
the Republican River. Pike left the Osage villages on
24:43
September 1st, following the South Bank of the Little Osage
24:46
River, and three days later was about on the future boundary
24:50
line between Missouri and Kansas in Bourbon County, Missouri.
24:54
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
25:01
began a wide swing to the West of the Kansas stronghold.
25:05
By the evening of September 7th, he was encamped on Deer Creek,
25:09
an affluent of the Neosho River, southwest of Carlisle, Kansas.
25:15
By the 13th he was proceeding northwest in the vicinity of
25:19
Marion. On the 17th he struck the Smoky
25:22
Hill River at about 12 miles South of Salina, still traveling
25:25
northwest. Then he crossed Saline River,
25:28
camped 3 days near Minneapolis in Ottawa County.
25:32
On the 23rd he crossed the Solomon near Beloit, and on the
25:36
25th he camped between Salem and Burr Oak on White Rock Creek in
25:40
Jewel County, Kansas. Pike's tables, of course and
25:44
distance, show that on September 26th, in order to reach the
25:47
Pawnee village, he traveled 12 miles northwest.
25:51
By my calculations, and allowing for Pike's usual errors in
25:54
computing distance, this would put him on the Republican River
25:58
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
26:07
than an official of the Soil Conservation Service.
26:11
I was pleased to learn that Ralph Farabee was no exception.
26:14
Not only was he informed about the location of the Pawnee site,
26:18
but he was also interested in Indian lore himself.
26:21
He soon had me pointed in the right direction.
26:24
I found no marker there nor on the highway nearby to inform the
26:29
public that here was believed to be one of the great historic
26:33
sites of the American West. But now there is a marker on the
26:37
highway near the site, and the site has been designated by the
26:41
National Park Service as a registered National Historic
26:44
Landmark. All the data available to me in
26:47
determining the location of the Pike Council site is now
26:51
available to anyone for Pike's field notebook and traverse
26:55
tables are in print for the first time.
26:58
I am not the first researcher to trail Pike up across Kansas to
27:03
the banks of the Republican, nor am I the first to conclude that
27:06
he entered Nebraska. I believe I am probably the
27:10
first to so conclude on the basis of Pike's own detailed
27:13
maps and data. Earlier researchers had to rely
27:17
upon that faulty map, the descriptions of the lay of the
27:21
land set down in the journals of Pike and Lieutenant Wilkinson,
27:24
and a good deal of geographers. Logic and common sense.
27:28
Let us consider for a moment the plight of Eliot Coos, one of the
27:33
great editors of travel narratives in the late 19th
27:36
century. In 1895 he published an edition
27:40
of Pike's journals, the first full edition since 1810, and
27:44
without covering the ground in person, he traced Pike to
27:48
Nebraska. He had no knowledge of the
27:51
Nebraska Pawnee site, for he had not yet been discovered, but he
27:54
said, quote, the place where Pike struck it.
27:57
The Republican was certainly in that portion of its course which
28:02
runs in Nebraska. For the present I can only
28:05
tentatively assume the longitude location.
28:07
End Quote. This reading would have placed
28:10
the site a short distance southeast of Red Cloud.
28:14
After the Coos edition appeared, however, Kansans pointed out the
28:18
Pawnee site in their state as the location of Pikes Council.
28:22
So Coos reversed himself and told his correspondence that he
28:25
had erred and wrote Quote. At present, I see no reason to
28:29
doubt that you have it right after all, and that when you
28:32
have fully formulated your results, there will be remaining
28:35
no questions of the exact location of the Pawnee village
28:38
or of Pikes memorable camp. End Quote.
28:42
So nothing can ever be completed for all time in the world of
28:45
history ography. That is why I have been so
28:48
presumptuous as to re edit Elliot Cous's fine edition of
28:51
Pike's journals published 70 years ago.
28:54
And it is also why some future historian, shaking his head
28:58
sadly over the shortcomings of my edition, will turn once more
29:01
to the task of presenting Zebulon Pike to a new
29:05
generation. May he realize one important
29:08
thing to do the job adequately, he must be prepared to get his
29:12
face sunburned. Thank you for listening to the
29:15
Nebraska History Podcast. To learn more about the Nebraska
29:18
History Magazine, to listen to more podcast episodes, or to
29:22
support our podcast by becoming a member of the Nebraska State
29:24
Historical Society, go to history.nebraska.gov/podcast.
29:29
And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and get notified
29:32
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29:36
Until next time, I'm Chris Goforth.