The life of Zebulon Montgomery Pike was short--just thirty-four years--but it was intense and dramatic. Driven by honor, ambition, and patriotism, Pike devoted his life to the military service of his young country, carrying out his orders with single-minded zeal. For most of his career Pike operated on the frontiers of the United States, leading the two expeditions that he described in An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, and through the Western Parts of Louisiana ... And a Tour through the Interior Parts of New Spain ... (1810). Pike describes his expeditions to find the sources of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers; in addition, he includes a third section describing his experience in Mexico after he was taken captive by the Spaniards in what is now Colorado.

Published four years before History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark (1814), Pike's work provided the...