# Zebulon Pike *United States Army officer and explorer (1779–1813); subject of an at-issue pair concerning the 1805 Pike Treaty with the Dakota* Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779–1813) was a United States Army officer who later held the rank of brigadier general. He led two Army expeditions through the Louisiana Purchase territory between 1805 and 1807, and Pikes Peak in Colorado carries his name.[^1] On the first expedition, in September 1805, he reached the junction of the [[Mississippi River]] and the [[Minnesota River]]. There he concluded an agreement with [[Dakota]] leaders, which the Wikipedia account calls the Treaty of St. Peters, covering the ground where [[Fort Snelling]] was later built.[^2] Hennepin County's own history page says Pike "purchased land from the Dakota Indians."[^3] The treaty record dated September 23, 1805 shows that two of seven Dakota leaders signed and that the document named no consideration. It also shows that the Senate wrote in $2,000 years later and that the President never proclaimed the treaty.[^4] The project records the county's description and the treaty record as an at-issue pair.[^3][^4] ## Who Pike was born on January 5, 1779, at Lamington in Bedminster, New Jersey. His parents were Isabella (Brown) Pike and Zebulon Pike, an officer who had entered United States military service in 1775.[^5] He grew up at a succession of frontier outposts in Ohio and Illinois. He was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry in 1799 and was promoted to first lieutenant within the same year.[^5] He served in the War of 1812 and was killed in April 1813 at the Battle of York, outside the capital of Upper Canada, when a gunpowder magazine exploded.[^1] ## What In the summer of 1805, Pike received orders from General-in-Chief James Wilkinson, whom President Thomas Jefferson had appointed the first governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory.[^2] Wilkinson directed him to find the northern source of the Mississippi and to explore the northern part of the Louisiana Territory. Pike was also to expel any British or Canadian fur traders operating inside the western borders of the United States.[^2] The 1805 agreement with the Dakota is the act that places Pike in the Minnesota record. Wikipedia and Hennepin County both describe it as a purchase.[^2][^3] The treaty record documents the signatures, the terms and the ratification history set out below.[^4] ## When - August 9, 1805: Pike left St. Louis, travelling upstream by pirogue.[^2] - September 21, 1805: the expedition reached the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.[^2] - September 23, 1805: the treaty record gives this date for the Pike Treaty.[^4] - October 16, 1805: the party built a winter camp at the mouth of the Swan River, south of present-day Little Falls, Minnesota.[^2] - Years after 1805: the Senate inserted a $2,000 figure into the treaty. The President never proclaimed it.[^4] - 1856: according to the treaty record, a Senate committee found no evidence that the Dakota considered the treaty binding.[^4] - 1810: Pike published an account of his expeditions. Parts of it had to be reconstructed from memory because Spanish authorities had confiscated some of his papers.[^6] ## Where The 1805 agreement was made at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.[^2] Pike Island lies at that confluence, inside Fort Snelling State Park, and Zebulon Pike Lake Reservoir lies in [[Morrison County, Minnesota]].[^7] ## How much The treaty record states that roughly $200 in gifts and whiskey changed hands. In his own journal, Pike valued the land at $200,000.[^4] The treaty document itself named no consideration. The $2,000 figure was written in by the Senate years later.[^4] ## How many Two of the seven Dakota leaders present signed the 1805 treaty.[^4] ## In the at-issue record The pair is filed as [[At issue 060 - Hennepin County's own history page describes Zebulon Pike]]. It sets the county's own description of Pike beside the treaty record: - Hennepin County's history page describes Pike as having "purchased land from the Dakota Indians."[^3] The same page records that the Territorial [[Legislature]] established the county on March 6, 1852, with [[Minneapolis]] as county seat.[^3] - The treaty record shows two of seven Dakota leaders signing and no consideration named in the document. It also shows a $2,000 figure inserted by the Senate years later and no presidential proclamation.[^4] The project anchors the pair to the presidential action *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025).[^8] ## In the Minnesota record ### When In 1851 the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]] (July 23) and the [[Treaty of Mendota]] (August 5) transferred twenty-four million acres of Dakota land at roughly seven and a half cents an acre.[^9][^10] At Traverse des Sioux, a third document was presented after the two official copies had been signed. It directed annuity funds to traders' claimed debts and was neither read aloud nor translated. All but two signers signed it believing it was another copy of the treaty.[^9] ### Where On November 7, 1862, a stockaded camp was established on the river bottom below Fort Snelling, near the site covered by Pike's 1805 agreement.[^2] It held roughly 1,600 Dakota and mixed-race non-combatants, most of them women, children and the elderly.[^11] The [[Minnesota Historical Society]]'s MNopedia estimates that 130 to 300 of them died of mumps, measles and pneumonia, and of assaults by soldiers and civilians. MNopedia uses the term "concentration camp" for the site.[^11] Survivors were removed to [[Crow Creek]] in May 1863.[^11][^12] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Zebulon Pike*, lead section (revision 1382107649, retrieved 2026-10-27) — life dates, rank, expeditions of 1805–1807, Pikes Peak, death at the Battle of York in April 1813. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Pike [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Zebulon Pike*, "Military career" and "First expedition" sections (revision 1382107649, retrieved 2026-10-27) — Wilkinson's appointment by Jefferson and his 1805 orders; departure on August 9, 1805; arrival at the confluence on September 21; agreement with the Dakota covering the later Fort Snelling site; Swan River camp on October 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Pike [^3]: Hennepin County, *County overview: history* (county web page, undated in pack) — county established March 6, 1852 by the Territorial Legislature with Minneapolis as county seat; describes Pike as having "purchased land from the Dakota Indians." https://www.hennepincounty.gov/government/about/county-overview/history-county [^4]: Treaties Matter, *1805 Dakota* (treaty record page) — dated September 23, 1805; two of seven Dakota leaders signed; about $200 in gifts and whiskey against land Pike valued at $200,000; no consideration named; Senate inserted $2,000 years later; never proclaimed by the President; 1856 Senate committee finding. https://treatiesmatter.org/treaties/land/1805-dakota [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Zebulon Pike*, "Early life and education" section (revision 1382107649, retrieved 2026-10-27) — birth on January 5, 1779 at Lamington, Bedminster, New Jersey; parents; frontier upbringing; commission in 1799. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Pike [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Zebulon Pike*, "Confiscated papers" section (revision 1382107649, retrieved 2026-10-27) — Spanish confiscation of papers; publication of Pike's account in 1810. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Pike [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Zebulon Pike*, "Legacy" section (revision 1382107649, retrieved 2026-10-27) — Pike Island at the confluence in Fort Snelling State Park; Zebulon Pike Lake Reservoir in Morrison County, Minnesota. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Pike [^8]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (presidential action, March 2025) — anchor document assigned to the at-issue pair. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^9]: Minnesota Historical Society (MNopedia), *Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, 1851* — signed July 23, 1851; third document directing annuity funds to traders' claimed debts, neither read aloud nor translated; all but two signed believing it another copy. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-traverse-des-sioux-1851 [^10]: Minnesota Historical Society (MNopedia), *Treaty of Mendota, 1851* — signed August 5, 1851; with Traverse des Sioux, twenty-four million acres at roughly seven and a half cents an acre. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-mendota-1851 [^11]: Minnesota Historical Society (MNopedia), *Fort Snelling at Bdote: Civil and U.S.-Dakota Wars, 1861–1866* — camp established November 7, 1862 below the fort; roughly 1,600 non-combatants; estimated 130 to 300 deaths; term "concentration camp"; removal to Crow Creek in May 1863. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/place/fort-snelling-civil-and-us-dakota-wars-1861-1866 [^12]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Forced Marches and Imprisonment* (U.S.-Dakota War aftermath) — imprisonment and removal of Dakota after 1862. https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/aftermath/forced-marches-imprisonment