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PIKE, ALBERT (1809-1891). Albert Pike, lawyer, soldier, and author, and
one of the most remarkable figures in American history, was born in Boston,
Massachusetts, on December 29, 1809, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Andrews)
Pike. He attended school at Newburyport, the town to which his parents moved
while he was still a boy, and at an academy in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Through most of the years 1824 through 1831 Pike taught at schools in
Gloucester, Fairhaven, and Newburyport, while pursuing private study and
writing poetry in his spare time. His self-acquired knowledge of the
classics was prodigious, and he acquired a working knowledge of Sanskrit,
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French. In addition to a strong literary bent, he
possessed unbounded physical energy and great determination. More than six
feet tall and large of frame, with hair that reached his shoulders and a
beard that reached near his waist, Pike also presented an impressive
appearance.
When the restraints of New England life became too irksome for his
adventurous spirit, he set out, in March 1831, for the West. Reaching
Independence, Missouri, with little money and less of a plan for his future,
Pike joined a party of traders and hunters bound for New Mexico. On the
trail his horse broke away, leaving him to walk the remaining 500 miles to
Taos. His party was caught, as well, in a ferocious snowstorm that caused a
layover of five days and froze many of the horses. After reaching Taos at
last, Pike accompanied another expedition to Santa Fe, but left that "city
of mud" in 1832 for a trapping venture on the Llano Estacadoqv of West
Texas. He found the beaver population negligible, however, and traversed the
Caprock,qv crossed Oklahoma, and finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas,
having traveled 1,300 miles, 650 on foot, and experienced many hardships and
exciting adventures.
While serving as associate editor of the Little Rock, Arkansas, Advocate in
1833, Pike wrote in travel narrative, short story, and verse of his recent
adventures. These vivid memoirs, tales, and poems, which first appeared
serially in the Advocate were published by Light and Horton of Boston in
1834 as Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country. Pike's
narrative is said to be the first book ever printed dealing with the region
between Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Certainly Pike was
New Mexico's first Anglo-American poet as well as its first short
story-writer in English and was among the first to describe in print the
Mexican borderlands.
On October 10, 1834, Pike married Mary Ann Hamilton, and her dowry enabled
him to purchase an interest in the Advocate. The following year he became
its sole owner and editor. In 1837, however, he sold the newspaper, having
been licensed to practice law. Within a few years he was regarded as one of
the most capable attorneys in the Southwest and became the first reporter of
the Arkansas Supreme Court. He wrote "Maxims of the Roman Law and Some of
the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and
Jurisprudence," which, although unpublished, greatly enhanced his reputation
as a student of the law. As a staunch Whig and later a Know-Nothing, he
championed many internal-improvement causes against the Democratic majority
in Arkansas.
During the Mexican Warqv Pike commanded a troop of volunteer cavalry in
Archibald Yell'sqv regiment and performed quite credibly at the battle of
Buena Vista in February 1847. His Civil Warqv record, however, was not so
handsome. Although opposed to both slavery and secession,qv he cast his lot
with the Confederacy and during the first year of the war greatly assisted
Gen. Ben McCullochqv in formulating alliances with the civilized tribes of
the Indian Territory. He was commissioned a brigadier general on November
22, 1861, and led a brigade of Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Cherokees
at the battle of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge), Arkansas, in March 1862. There
the Indian troops performed disgracefully, taking scalps and then routing in
the face of federal artillery. Criticism of Pike and his command caused him
to offer his resignation on July 12, 1862, but it was not accepted until
November 5. His response to continued criticism led a fellow officer in the
department to the conviction that Pike was "either insane or untrue to the
South," and on November 3, 1862, he was arrested and was briefly placed
under confinement in Warren, Texas. The end of the war saw him an associate
justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
With his property confiscated and viewed with suspicion both in the North
and the South, Pike became something of a wanderer. He first moved to New
York in 1865 but feared arrest for inciting the Indians to revolt and so
fled to Canada. When Andrew Johnson issued him a pardon on August 30, 1865,
however, Pike returned to Arkansas but was charged with treason. After
vindicating himself against these charges, Pike moved first to Memphis,
where he practiced law and edited the Memphis Appeal, and then to
Washington, D.C., where he continued his practice and edited the Patriot.
Pike died in the house of the Scottish Rite Temple in Washington, D.C., on
April 2, 1891. Although he had instructed that his body be cremated and his
ashes strewn around the roots of two acacia trees in front of the home of
the Supreme Council, he was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington. Of his
six children, only three survived him, one son having been killed in
Confederate service.
Pike is perhaps best known for his work as a Freemason. For many years he
was engaged in rewriting the rituals of the society, and "Morals and Dogma
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry" (unpublished)
remains one of the standard works on the subject. He also spent much time
reading and translating eastern writings. Pike's reputation as a poet was
considerable, and his contribution to Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine caused
its editor to place him "in the highest order of his country's poets." His
works include Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems (1872), Gen. Albert Pike's
Poems (1900), and Lyrics and Love Songs (1916). In 1859 Harvard awarded Pike
an honorary master of arts degree. Although his reputation as a poet has
suffered over the years, his "Dixie" maintains a lusty vigor that makes it
perhaps the best of the many versions of the famous Southern anthem. The
narrative of his travels remains one of the most important descriptions of
early New Mexico and far West Texas.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Albert Pike (MS, Library of the Supreme Council, Scottish Rite
of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, Washington). David Donoghue,
"Explorations of Albert Pike in Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 39
(October 1935).
Thomas W. Cutrer
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