Albert Pike

Albert Pike (December 29, 1809–April 2, 1891) was an attorney, soldier, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C. (in Judiciary Square).

Biography

Pike was born in Boston, son of Ben and Sarah (Andrews) Pike, and spent his childhood in Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. He attended school in Newburyport and Framingham until he was fifteen. In August 1825, he passed his entrance exams and was accepted at Harvard University though, when the college requested payment of tuition fees for the first two years, he chose not to attend. He began a program of self-education, later becoming a schoolteacher in Gloucester, North Bedford, Fairhaven and Newburyport. [Hubbell, Jay B. "The South in American Literature: 1607-1900". Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1954: 640.]

In 1831 Pike left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in St. Louis and later moving on to Independence, Missouri. In Independence, he joined an expedition to Taos, New Mexico, hunting and trading. During the excursion his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining 500 miles to Taos. After this he joined a trapping expedition to the Llano Estacado in New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal, and after traveling about 1300 miles (650 on foot), he finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas.Fact|date=July 2007

Settling in Arkansas in 1833, he taught school and wrote a series of articles for the Little Rock "Arkansas Advocate" under the pen name of "Casca."Fact|date=July 2007 The articles were popular enough that he was asked to join the staff of the newspaper. Later, after marrying Mary Ann Hamilton, he purchased part of the newspaper with the dowry. By 1835 he was the "Advocate"'s sole owner. Under Pike's administration the "Advocate" promoted the viewpoint of the Whig party in a politically volatile and divided Arkansas.Fact|date=July 2007

He then began to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837, selling the "Advocate" the same year. He was the first reporter for the Arkansas supreme court, and also wrote a book (published anonymously), titled "The Arkansas Form Book", which was a guidebook for lawyers.Fact|date=July 2007

Military career

When the Mexican-American War started, Pike joined the cavalry and was commissioned as a troop commander, serving in the Battle of Buena Vista. He and his commander, John Selden Roane, had several differences of opinion. This situation led finally to a duel between Pike and Roane. Although several shots were fired in the duel, nobody was injured, and the two were persuaded by their seconds to discontinue it.Fact|date=July 2007

After the war, Pike returned to the practice of law, moving to New Orleans for a time beginning in 1853.Fact|date=July 2007 He wrote another book, "Maxims of the Roman Law and some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and Jurisprudence".Fact|date=July 2007 Although unpublished, this book increased his reputation among his associates in law. He returned to Arkansas in 1857, gaining some amount of prominence in the legal field and becoming an advocate of slavery, although retaining his affiliation with the Whig party. When that party dissolved, he became a member of the Know-Nothing party. Before the Civil War he was firmly against secession, but when the war started he nevertheless took the side of the Confederacy.Fact|date=July 2007

He also made several contacts among the Native American tribes in the area, at one point negotiating an $800,000 settlement between the Creeks and other tribes and the federal government. This relationship was to influence the course of his Civil War service.Fact|date=July 2007 At the beginning of the war, Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to the Native Americans. In this capacity he negotiated several treaties, one of the most important being with Cherokee chief John Ross, which was concluded in 1861.Fact|date=July 2007

Pike was commissioned as a brigadier general on November 22, 1861, and given a command in the Indian Territory.Fact|date=July 2007 With Gen. Ben McCullough, Pike trained three Confederate regiments of Indian cavalry, most of whom belonged to the "civilized tribes", whose loyalty to the Confederacy was variable. Although victorious at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in March, Pike's unit was defeated later in a counterattack, after falling into disarray.Fact|date=July 2007 Also, as in the previous war, Pike came into conflict with his superior officers, at one point drafting a letter to Jefferson Davis complaining about his direct superior.Fact|date=July 2007

After Pea Ridge, Pike was faced with charges that his troops had scalped soldiers in the field. Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman also charged Pike with mishandling of money and material, ordering his arrest.Fact|date=July 2007 Both these charges were later found to be considerably lacking in evidence; nevertheless Pike, facing arrest, escaped into the hills of Arkansas, sending his resignation from the Confederate Army on July 12.Fact|date=July 2007 He was at length arrested on November 3 under charges of insubordination and treason, and held briefly in Warren, Texas, but his resignation was accepted on November 11 and he was allowed to return to Arkansas.Fact|date=July 2007

In Freemasonry

He had in the interim joined a Masonic lodge and become extremely active in the affairs of the organization, being elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction in 1859. Fact|date=July 2007 He remained Sovereign Grand Commander for the remainder of his life (a total of thirty-two years), devoting a large amount of his time to developing the rituals of the order.Fact|date=July 2007 Notably, he published a book called "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry" in 1871, of which there were several subsequent editions.

Pike is still sometimes regarded in America as an eminent [http://www.freemason.org/cfo/mar_apr_2002/pike.htm ALBERT PIKE AND FREEMASONRY] , March–April 2002 edition, California Freemason On-Line] and influential [http://www.masonicinfo.com/pike.htm Albert Pike] , masonicinfo.com] Freemason.

Other interests

Additionally, Pike wrote on several legal subjects, and continued producing poetry, a hobby he had begun in his youth in Massachusetts. His poems were highly regarded in his day, but are now mostly forgotten. Several volumes of his works were self-published posthumously by his daughter.Fact|date=July 2007

In 1859 he received an honorary Ph.D. from Harvard but declined it ("The Phoenix," Manly P. Hall).

Pike died in Washington, D.C., aged 81, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery (against his wishes—he had left instructions for his body to be cremated).

In 1944 his remains were moved to the House of the Temple, headquarters of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite.

Literature

*Albert Pike: "Morals and Dogma". [http://www.sacred-texts.com/mas/md/ Book]
*Albert Pike: "Meaning of Masonry". Kessinger Publishing, May 2004. ISBN 1-4179-1101-8
*Albert Pike: "Reprints of Old Rituals". Kessinger Publishing, March 1, 1997. ISBN 1-56459-983-3
*Albert Pike: "Book of the Words". Kessinger Publishing, March 1, 1997. ISBN 1-56459-161-1
*Albert Pike: "Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda". Kessinger Publishing, March 1, 1997. ISBN 1-56459-183-2
*Albert Pike: "The Point Within the Circle: Freemasonry Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols". Holmes Pub Grou Llc, November 1, 2001. ISBN 1-55818-305-1
*Albert Pike: "Morals and Dogma of the First Three Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry". Kessinger Publishing, May 2004. ISBN 1-4179-1108-5

Bibliography

*Walter Lee Brown: "A Life of Albert Pike". University of Arkansas Press, September 1, 1997. ISBN 1-55728-469-5
*Fred W. Allsopp: "Albert Pike a Biography". Kessinger Publishing, March 1, 1997. ISBN 1-56459-134-4
*Annie Heloise Abel "The American Indian as a Participant in the Civil War", Smith College, 1919, Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12541/12541-8.txt

Ancestry and family

Albert's descent from his immigrant ancestor John Pike is as follows:
*John Pike (1572–1654)
**John Pike (1613–1689/90)
***Joseph Pike (1638–1694)
****Thomas Pike (1682–1753/4)
*****John Pike (1710–1755)
******Thomas Pike (1739–1836)
*******Benjamin Pike (1780–?)
********Albert Pike (1809–1891)

Notes

ee also

References

*A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

External links

* [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/PP/fpi18.html Handbook of Texas Online - Albert Pike]
* [http://www.masonicinfo.com/pikesphilosophy.htm Pike's Masonic philosophy]
* [http://civilwarstudies.org/articles/Vol_5/pike.htm Albert Pike: Hero or Scoundrel?]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060223081418/http://www.srmason-sj.org/web/temple-files/pillars.html About room where he is entombed]
* [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/kkk.html Albert Pike did not found the Ku Klux Klan] (Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon)
* [http://www.AlbertPike117.com Albert Pike commemorative Masonic Lodge - Located in Denver CO]

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NAME= Pike, Albert
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SHORT DESCRIPTION= Confederate Army general
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