The attainment of a theoretic and practical knowledge of the military art, sufficient for the higher grades of command, with some men, is the employment of years; with others, apparently, the business of a day. Solid worth flows from experience, talents, integrity, and capacity. Animal courage alone, is but a small constituent in the formation of a great military character.

These remarks are of general, not individual import, inasmuch as their bearings are intended alone for the meridian of those who owe their elevation to their being the mere heralds of great events; or who fawn and flatter those to whom a nation has confided the direction of its most important

concerns.

BIOGRAPHY

OF

American Military and Naval Heroes.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL

ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE.

THE fortuitous events of moments, like the throws of a volcano, sometimes belch forth heroes, while others become so from their birth, habits and education. The family of General Pike, were among the first settlers of New-Jersey, and tradition preserves the name, in remote ancestry, of Captain John Pike, as a distinguished, gallant and brave soldier in defence of that colony, in the early Indian wars to which it was subjected.

Zebulon M. Pike was born at a place called Alamatunk, now by corruption Lamberton,* in New-Jersey. His father, whose name was Zebulon, was an officer in the army of the United States, at the time of his son's birth, and never rose higher than the rank of Major. After having received a common school education, in early youth, Zebulon Montgomery entered as a cadet into a company then under his father's command, in which he served some time on the U. S. western frontiers.

*Another Biographer makes him a native of Woodbridge.

Thus it may be justly said, that he had been almost nurtured a soldier from his cradle. His deficiency of early education was subsequently supplied by a close and ardent study-hence he became a proficient in the Latin, French, and (afterwards in the) Spanish languages, and was skilled in the mathematical and astronomical sciences, the fruits of industrious application.

A short lapse of time intervened, when the commission of ensign and afterwards lieutenant in the 1st regiment of the U. S. Infantry, was given him. Spurning idleness in the calm of peace, he whiled away his time in the acquisition of useful knowledge. But he panted for glory and martial renown. He seemed to be indued with a spirit not ill-suited to the chivalric notions of the middle ages. Notwithstanding the multifarious objects which attracted his attention in the pursuit of knowledge, Cupid seems to have inflicted a wound in his bosom, for Hymen spread his net, and our hero was caught in the enticing snare.

In March 1801, he married a Miss Clarissa Brown, of Cincinatti, Kentucky, who bore him several children, only one of whom (a daughter)

survives.

Among other habits of mental discipline, Pike had a practice of inserting upon the blank pages of some favourite volume, such striking maxims of morality, or sentiments of honour, as occurred in his reading, or were suggested by his own reflections. He used a small edition of Dodsley's "Economy of Human Life," for this purpose. Soon after his marriage, he presented this volume to his wife, who still preserves it as one of the most precious memorials of her husband's virtues. An extract froin one of the manuscript pages of this volume was published in a periodical work soon after his death. It was written as a conti

nuation of the article "Sincerity," and is strongly characteristic of the author.

"Should my country call for the sacrifice of that life which has been devoted to her service from early youth, most willingly shall she receive it. The sod which covers the brave shall be moistened by the tears of love and friendship; but if I fall far from my friends, and from you, my Clara, remember that the choicest tears which are ever shed, are those which bedew the unburied head of a soldier,' and when these lines shall meet the eyes of our young

let the pages of this little book be impressed on his mind as the gift of a father who had nothing to bequeath but his honour, and let these maxims be ever present to his mind as he rises from youth to manhood:

"1. Preserve your honour free from blemish. "2. Be always ready to die for your country. "Z. M. Pike. "Kaskaskias, Indiana Territory."

On the old peace establishment of our army, then composed only of a few regiments, and employed altogether in garrisoning a few frontier posts, promotion was slow, and the field of action limited and obscure. For several years, Lieutenant Pike panted in vain for an opportunity of gratifying that "all-ruling passion," which, to use his own words, "swayed him irresistibly to the profession of arms, and the pursuits of military glory."

At length, in 1805, a new career of honourable distinction was opened to this active and aspiring youth. Soon after the purchase of Louisiana, the government of the United States determined upon taking measures to explore their new territory, and that immense tract of wilderness included within its limits. Besides ascertaining its