Citizen explorer
Subtitle: the life of Zebulon Pike
By: Jared Orsi
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 379
ISBN-13: 9780199768721
Subjects: Territorial expansion; Discovery and exploration; Explorers; Biography; History
Description: Born in 1779, Zebulon Pike joined the army and served in frontier posts before embarking on a series of expeditions that rivaled those by Lewis and Clark. He sought the headwaters of the Mississippi, the sources of the Arkansas and Red Rivers, which led him to Pike's Peak and capture by Spanish forces. Surveying and gathering data Pike sought to incorporate distant territories into the republic, to overlay the west with the American map; yet he became increasingly dependent on people who had no attachment to the nation he served.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : In the bosom of a grateful country; title: The happiness of a free and independent people : a family and a nation seek liberty, 1635-1794; title: Be always ready to die for your country : the bargain of independence, 1794-1805; title: A barrier to their trade : establishing Americans in the Upper Mississippi Country, 1805-1806; title: Young warriors of the great American father : crossing the Plains, July-November 1806; title: Frozen lads : into the Rockies, November 1806-February 1807; title: A comfortable captivity : learning nationalism abroad in New Spain, February-July 1807; title: Citizen soldier : Pike's and the nation, 1807-1813; title: Epilogue : from frozen lads to purple mountain majesties : Pike's West and American nationalism, 1813-1893.