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Lot 173
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Zebulon Pike Just Weeks Before his Death in War of 1812
Zebulon Pike Just Weeks Before his Death in War of 1812
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Description:

Pike Zebulon

Zebulon Pike Just Weeks Before His Death in War of 1812

Colonel Zebulon Pike approves of payment for bricks provided to the army by Major Roberts’s son Daniel Roberts at the garrison in Plattsburgh, New York, before leading a winter march across the state to Lake Ontario and his death weeks later at the Battle of York in Upper Canada.

ZEBULON PIKE, manuscript order signed, to Deputy Quartermaster, February 13, 1813, [Plattsburgh, New York]. Also signed by John Roberts III. 1 p., 7.625" x 3.75". Attached to black paper backing; small tear; otherwise very good.

Complete Transcript

"The A S D Quarter master will please to pay Daniel Roberts for Nine thousand two hundred and seventy Bricks at four Dollars per Thousand for the use of the northern army of the United States

February the 13th 1813

                                                                        John Roberts 3d comdt artificers

                                                                        Z. M. Pike [ColCmg?]

$37.8/100".


In January 1813, new Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. developed a plan for an attack on British forces on Lake Ontario in Upper Canada. His plan was to capture the British garrison at Kingston before the spring thaw allowed reinforcements via the Saint Lawrence River and then to capture British outposts farther west at York and at Fort George at the mouth of the Niagara River. Major General Henry Dearborn, commander of the American Army of the North, and Navy Commodore Isaac Chauncey initially agreed with the plan.

Meanwhile, Zebulon Pike reinforced the American troops at Sacket’s Harbor, New York, after a 150-mile winter march across northern New York from Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain. In March, Dearborn and Chauncey recommended to Armstrong that an attack on the less-defended Provincial capital of York would be better.

On April 27, 1813, American forces landed on the northern shore of Lake Ontario west of York. As the Americans approached the town, the British recognized that surrender was inevitable but exploded Fort York’s magazine containing three hundred barrels of gunpowder. The blast threw debris over a five-hundred-yard radius, killing 39 American soldiers, including Brigadier General Pike, and wounding 224 more. Angered by this act they believed had taken place after surrender negotiations began, the Americans plundered York and set fire to some government buildings.

Zebulon Pike (1779-1813) was born in New Jersey and grew up at frontier outposts in Ohio and Illinois. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1799 and promoted to first lieutenant the same year. He married Clarissa Harlow Brown in 1801, and they had five children, only one of whom survived to adulthood. That daughter later married William Henry Harrison’s son. Pike’s military career included attention to logistics and payroll at frontier outposts, and General James Wilkinson became his mentor. In 1805, Wilkinson ordered Pike to undertake an expedition to the source of the Mississippi River and to expel Canadian fur traders operating within the Louisiana Territory; Pike returned to St. Louis in April 1806. Wilkinson almost immediately ordered him to begin another expedition to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red Rivers. Pike left in July 1806 and in November attempted to climb the mountain later named for him (Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs, Colorado) before continuing south to search for the headwaters of the Red River. Spanish authorities captured Pike and some of his party in what is now southern Colorado in February 1807 and took them to Santa Fe. The Spanish released Pike and most of his men in July, and they returned to St. Louis. In November 1811, Pike, by then promoted to lieutenant colonel, fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in Indiana. Promoted to colonel in July 1812, Pike became a deputy quartermaster-general in New Orleans and an inspector general during the War of 1812. Promoted to brigadier general in March 1813, Pike led a military campaign the following month against British forces at Fort York (now Toronto). Pike and several of his men were killed when the British garrison blew up its ammunition magazine as Pike’s troops approached the fort.

John Roberts III (1771-1843) was born in Vermont. In 1796, he married Polly Dearborn, and they had at least six children, including Daniel J. Roberts (1792-1839). Roberts fought with the 36th New York Infantry during the War of 1812. At the Battle of Plattsburgh in September 1814, Roberts commanded the Roberts Battalion.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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