Zebulon Montgomery Pike

Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779–1813) was an American army officer and explorer, born in New Jersey. As a young lieutenant he was sent in 1805 to find the source of the Mississippi, and in 1806 to explore the Arkansas and Red rivers and the Spanish borderlands; on the second journey he sighted the Colorado peak that bears his name, strayed into Spanish territory and was arrested and taken to Chihuahua before being sent back. His journals, published in 1810, gave Americans their first account of the Southwest and northern Mexico. A brigadier general in the War of 1812, he was killed at the capture of York, now Toronto.