Journals
The Spanish authorities confiscated Pike's journals and they were not recovered by the United States from Mexico until the 1900s. He wrote an account from memory of his expeditions, which was published in 1810 as The expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike to Headwaters of the Mississippi River, through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, during the Years 1805-6-7. It was popular and later translated into French, German, and Dutch editions. His account became required reading for all American explorers who followed him in the 19th century.
His capture by the Spanish and travel through the Southwest gave Pike insight into the region. He described the politics in Chihuahua, which led to the Mexican independence movement. He also described trade conditions in the Spanish territories of New Mexico and Chihuahua, which contributed to development of the Santa Fe Trail.
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Famous quotes containing the word journals:
“Could slavery suggest a more complete servility than some of these journals exhibit? Is there any dust which their conduct does not lick, and make fouler still with its slime?”
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