enemies and friends - kansas historical society

34 KANSAS HISTORY

ENEMIES AND FRIENDS

by Leo E. Oliva

Zebulon Pike entering Santa Fe, March 2, 1806. From a painting by Frederic Remington.

ENEMIES AND FRIENDS 35

Zebulon Montgomery Pike andFacundo Melgares in the

Competition for the Great Plains,1806–1807

Leo E. Oliva, a former university professor, is editor and publisher of the Santa Fe Trail Associ-ation quarterly, Wagon Tracks, and serves on the Zebulon Pike Bicentennial Commission.

1. Pike, First U.S. Infantry, was promoted from lieutenant to captain during his expedition, ef-fective August 12, 1806. Because he did not learn of it until his return to the United States the fol-lowing year, he was referred to as Lieutenant Pike during his entire expedition. To avoid confusion,that rank will be used throughout this article, although he officially was Captain Pike before he ar-rived in present Kansas.

The story of Lieutenant/Captain1 Zebulon Montgomery Pike’s expedi-tion across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains (1806–1807), evencompared with the much more famous Corps of Discovery led byMeriwether Lewis and William Clark (1804–1806), is an outstanding

record of exploration for the United States through a portion of the LouisianaPurchase. Pike helped the young nation later claim and eventually fulfill thatclaim to the Southwest (including Kansas and all or portions of eight otherstates). Just as remarkable and much less known and understood is the expedi-tion of Lieutenant Facundo Melgares and his Spanish troops from New Mexicoto the Great Plains just prior to Pike’s venture. Pike became aware of the Span-ish mission to the Great Plains when he arrived at the Pawnee village on the Re-publican River in present Nebraska, where Melgares had visited a few weeksearlier. Pike’s party followed the return route of Melgares south to the ArkansasRiver and along that stream into present Colorado to the point where theSpaniards left that river to head back to Santa Fe. It is interesting that almosteverything known about Melgares’s 1806 trip comes from Pike’s journal, for therecords of that Spanish expedition have not been found (it is possible they weredestroyed by a fire at the archives in Chihuahua City).

The tale of these two expeditions and their respective leaders became moreintertwined after the capture of Lieutenant Pike’s exploring party near the RioGrande in present southern Colorado and his detention in Santa Fe and Chi-huahua, during a portion of which time Lieutenant Melgares was Pike’s guard,overseer, and guide. The two enemies, for such they were as military officers ofcompeting nations at a time when Spain and the United States feared war be-tween them might break out any time, became friends. Pike learned muchabout the Great Plains and the provinces of northern New Spain from Mel-

Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains 29 (Spring 2006): 34–47.

gares, and that information along with Pike’s own astuteobservations of the people and culture of the region, pub-lished in his journal of the expedition in 1810, sparked in-creased interest in the United States to attempt to opentrade with New Mexico. Spain thwarted those trading ef-forts as long as it retained control of the colony of NewSpain (later Mexico) but following Mexican independencefrom Spanish rule in 1821 both the United States andnorthern Mexico realized fruitful economic results. It issafe to declare that everyone who ventured forth from theUnited States to establish contact with northern Mexicoafter 1811 benefited either directly or indirectly from Pike’sexpedition and journal (including information providedby Melgares). Facundo Melgares, governor of New Mexicofrom 1818 to 1822, welcomed the first successful U.S. tradeexpedition to Santa Fe in 1821.

Their respective governments sent both Pike and Mel-gares with a major purpose of securing friendship, traderelations, and alliances with several Indian tribes of the re-gion, including the Osages, Kansas, Pawnees, and Co-manches. The United States especially directed Pike toopen talks with the leaders of the Comanche tribe becauseof the tribe’s close ties to New Spain. The policy of seekingIndian spheres of influence was not new and had beenused by all nations involved in the contest for North Amer-ica. The governments considered Indian allies to be the keyelement to establish effective control and eventual domi-nation of a vast region, including present Kansas.

France, which initially was most successful in devel-oping alliances with the Indians of the region (except forthe Comanches who remained in the Spanish sphere of in-fluence), was eliminated as a contender for control ofNorth America at the close of the French and Indian War(Seven Years’ War in Europe) concluded by the 1762 Treatyof Paris.2 Both Britain and Spain competed for favors withthe tribes, and the new United States entered the contestafter winning independence from Britain by the 1783Treaty of Paris. England continued to trade with the PlainsIndians, but the main contest, after the sale of LouisianaTerritory to the United States in 1803, was between the

United States and Spain. Immediately the United States in-creased efforts to establish, gain, and consolidate controlover the trade with these various tribes (many of whomwere traditional enemies), thereby hoping to establishdomination of the tribes and the lands they occupied. Onthe opposing side, Spain pursued trade and alliances withPlains tribes and attempted to use them against the Unit-ed States.3

A critical issue in this pursuit of control was the estab-lishment of the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase.Spain refused to recognize the sale of Louisiana to theUnited States by France, claimed almost everything westof the Mississippi River, and prohibited U.S. citizens fromentering the territory. The United States wished to pushthat boundary as far west as it could, certainly to the RockyMountains and, if possible, all the way to the Rio Grandein the Southwest and the Pacific Ocean in the Northwest.The boundary issue remained unsettled until theAdams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcon-tinental Treaty.4 For all these reasons the expeditions led byMelgares and Pike comprised an important round of an ex-panded contest for a huge portion of North America be-tween those two nations. The United States quickly wonthe contest, thanks especially to Lieutenant Pike but also toNapoleon Bonaparte who sold Louisiana to the UnitedStates and, perhaps more important, occupied Spain from1808 to 1814, during and after which the Spanish empire inthe New World fell into rapid decline.5

Although they never encountered each other on thePlains, the paths of Melgares and Pike met up at the villageof the Pawnees on the Republican River in present south-ern Nebraska. Their respective relations with the Indiansof the region compose part of this story, along with a briefsummary of the two expeditions and the later friendship ofthese two army officers, which had several ramifications.

Additional background will help readers under-stand the importance of the Melgares and Pike ex-peditions and what was at stake on the Great

Plains. It provides insight into apprehensions the Spanish

36 KANSAS HISTORY

2. Donald A. Nuttall, “The American Threat to New Mexico,1804–1821” (master’s thesis, San Diego State College, 1959), 17; see alsoHenry Folmer, Franco-Spanish Rivalry in North America, 1524–1763 (Glen-dale, Calif.: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1953); Abraham P. Nasatir, ed., BeforeLewis and Clark: Documents Illustrating the History of the Missouri, 1785–1804,2 vols. (1952; reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990).

3. See Abraham P. Nasatir, Borderland in Retreat: From Louisiana to theFar Southwest (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1976);Charles L. Kenner, A History of New Mexican–Plains Indian Relations (Nor-man: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969), 66–68.

4. Nasatir, Borderland in Retreat, 136–37.5. Warren L. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire: Spain and the Pacific North-

west, 1543–1819 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 450, 491, 516.


6. Nasatir, Before Lewis and Clark, 1:2, 17, 19, 50; Kenner, A History ofNew Mexican–Plains Indian Relations, 52–58.

7. Nuttall, “The American Threat to New Mexico,” 12.

held about Pike and other U.S. explorers as well as whatthe United States hoped to achieve in the American West.Although Spain’s Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was thefirst European to explore the Great Plains, including por-tions of Kansas, Spain was not a major contender in thecontest for this region during the era of European colonial

competition for control of North America—a contest thatinvolved Spain, France, Britain, and the Netherlands.Spain did explore and establish claim to much of the west-ern portion of North America but did not establish settle-ments on the Plains following Coronado’s 1541 expeditionor Don Juan de Oñate’s expedition to present Kansas in1601. Instead, the French, with their aggressive policies ofexpanding trade and influence with tribal Americans, be-came the first and most successful in winning alliances and

trade arrangements with many tribes, including the Os-ages, Kansas, Pawnees, and others. They could not, how-ever, win over the Comanches, with whom, after 1786,Spain held dominion.6

Spain continued to consider New Mexico and lands tothe north and east as a buffer zone where foreign threats

could be countered before they reached more economical-ly important locales, such as Chihuahua.7 Following the re-moval of France from the competition for the Great Plainsat the close of the French and Indian War, Spain acquiredFrench Louisiana and worked to become the favored trad-

Spain refused to recognize the sale of Louisiana to the United States and claimed almost everything west of the Mis-sissippi River. The United States wished to push that boundary as far west as it could, to the Rocky Mountains and, ifpossible, all the way to the Rio Grande in the Southwest and the Pacific Ocean in the Northwest. The boundary issueremained unsettled until the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty.

38 KANSAS HISTORY

ing partner of those tribes with whom the French had heldsway. Spain’s major competition was Britain and, after1783, the new United States, which soon developed greatinterest in the region west of the Mississippi Valley and inopening the Mississippi River to navigation for its citizens.The young and vigorous United States had time and ener-

8. See Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 255–67.

gy on its side against the declining colonial, mercantilistempire of Spain.8

The potential threat of the United States concernedsome Spanish officials. In November 1794 François Hector,Baron de Carondelet, governor of Spanish Louisiana,warned his superiors in Madrid that efforts should bemade to counteract the trans-Mississippi interests of theUnited States, warning that, if they were not stopped, “intime they will demand the possession of the rich mines ofthe interior provinces of the very kingdom of Mexico.” He 9. Carondelet quotation in James Alexander Robertson, ed., Louisiana

Under the Rule of Spain, France, and the United States, 1785–1807, 2 vols.(Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1911), 1:294, 298, 300, 301–45.

10. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 435–41.11. Ibid., 269–70.12. Carondelet quotation in Nasatir, Before Lewis and Clark, 2:440.

declared the United States was “advancing with an incred-ible rapidity.” Carondelet recognized the importance ofkeeping the Indian tribes friendly to Spain and in opposi-tion to the United States. He proposed “one hundred thou-sand pesos increase annually for the Indian department, forthe purchase of arms, ammunition, and presents, which arenecessary to employ the nations with efficacy.” He also out-lined a detailed plan to defend Louisiana against the Unit-ed States.9

In 1794 Carondelet authorized the creation of a newcompany of merchants in St. Louis (commonly called theMissouri Company) under the leadership of Santiago(Jacques) Clamorgan, to expand trade with Indian tribesand explore the Missouri Valley to seek a passage to the Pa-cific (the same mission President Thomas Jefferson assignedto Lewis and Clark a decade later). Despite several attemptsto find a passage to the Pacific, the company failed.10

The United States continued to pressure Spain to openthe Mississippi River to navigation. Spain, feeling morevulnerable because of changes in the balance of power inEurope and facing possible war with Britain, agreed to the1795 Treaty of Lorenzo el Real (also called the Treaty ofFriendship, Boundaries, and Navigation but best known asPinckney’s Treaty) and granted concessions to the UnitedStates by opening the lower Mississippi to commerce.11 Thefollowing year Governor Carondelet informed the Marquisde Branceforte at New Orleans that this treaty did not stopU.S. citizens from entering lands west of the MississippiRiver.

Your Excellency will see himself obliged to take be-forehand the most active measures to oppose the in-troduction of those restless people, who are a sort ofdetermined bandits, armed with carbines, who fre-quently cross the Mississippi in numbers, with the in-tention of reconnoitering, of hunting, and if they likethe country, of establishing themselves in the Provin-cias Internas, whose Indians they will arm to both fur-ther their fur trade and to make the Spaniards uneasy.12

A few years later, because of the French Revolution andNapoleon’s desire to regain control of Louisiana, Spain re-

François Hector, Baron de Carondelet, governor of SpanishLouisiana recognized the potential threat of the United States andwarned his superiors in Madrid that efforts should be made to coun-teract U.S. trans-Mississippi interests.


Indians, and that in their trade with the merchants,no injustice be done them. In your conversations withthese Indians, you will speak of the friendly disposi-tion of the President of the United States to his redchildren, and his great desire to see them happy. Youwill add that the Americans are now their brothersand they must live in peace and friendship, as onefamily.16

It should be emphasized again that the boundary ofLouisiana remained undefined; in fact, neither France norany other nation had ever designated the western limits ofthe territory. Thus a contest between Spain and the UnitedStates to determine that line encouraged exploration anddevelopment of better relations with Indians of the region.Spain claimed the Mississippi River as the boundary, whilethe United States pushed for the Rio Grande. As previous-ly noted, Spain and the United States reached a compro-mise in 1819, but immediately following the LouisianaPurchase in 1803 both sides sought to improve their re-spective claims to portions of the region. Both Melgaresand Pike participated in that endeavor.

General James Wilkinson, head of the U.S. Army andalso a paid agent for the Spanish government, sent a secretwarning to Spanish officials in the late winter of 1804 aboutthe Lewis and Clark Expedition and suggested how Spaincould protect her claims from U.S. intrusions. He wrote,“an express ought immediately to be sent to the governorof Santa Fé, and another to the captain-general of Chihua-ga [Chihuahua] in order that they may detach a sufficientbody of chasseurs to intercept Captain Lewis and his partywho are on the Missouri River, and force them to retire ortake them prisoners.” Wilkinson emphasized the impor-tance of Spain “winning the affection” of various Indiantribes and “increasing their jealousy against the UnitedStates.” By providing arms and ammunition to the Indians,Spain could employ them “not only in checking the exten-sion of American settlements, but also, if necessary, in de-stroying every settlement located west of the Mississippi.”Wilkinson also warned against U.S. incursions in Texasand New Mexico, suggesting that Spain insist that the Mis-sissippi River be the boundary between Spain and theUnited States.17

Wilkinson declared,

16. Claiborne quotation in Robertson, Louisiana Under Spain, Franceand the United States, 2:192n.

17. Wilkinson quotation in ibid., 2:337–42.

alized it could not defend Louisiana if Britain decided totake it. Consequently, in 1800 Spain returned Louisiana toFrance in an agreement kept secret for nearly two years.France agreed Louisiana could never be sold to a thirdparty, only back to Spain.13

When Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in1803, Spain refused to recognize the deal because it violat-ed the terms by which the territory had been returned toFrance. Spanish officials also prepared to meet U.S. expan-sion into the disputed lands. President Jefferson, deter-mined to explore the West in the face of Spain’s objections,set the Lewis and Clark Expedition into motion prior to theLouisiana Purchase. Lieutenant Pike’s Southwest Expedi-tion would also be part of that effort, even though GeneralJames Wilkinson authorized it. Jefferson approved Pike’smission and praised its accomplishments. Spanish officialsbecame fearful of intrusions, some even expecting an actu-al invasion, from the United States.14

Spain continued to value the Indian tribes in the con-test for territory, and trading efforts continued. On May 18,1804, Sebastián Calvo, Marquis de Casa Calvo, former mil-itary governor of Louisiana and later member of theLouisiana boundary commission, informed his superiorsthat “the Indians all have a decided preference in favor ofour nation, from which we can derive advantages if wenurse with tenderness their hatred for the Guachimangal(American).”15 The United States also looked to the Indiansfor assistance. On May 14, 1804, Louisiana GovernorWilliam C. Claiborne directed this military commander atthe Ouachitas Post in the territory:

It is expected that everything will be done by you to

13. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 442–44.14. Donald Jackson, ed., The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, with

Letters and Related Documents, 2 vols. (Norman: University of OklahomaPress, 1966), 2:300–1; Nuttall wrote: “From the time of the first French ar-rivals, foreign intrusions into New Mexico were opposed by theSpaniards. They were not only in violation of Spain’s restrictive colonialpolicies but were looked upon as a threat to the province’s security. ThisSpanish anxiety attained its apogee during the period under considera-tion [1804–1821]. Following the acquisition of Louisiana by the UnitedStates, Spain grew increasingly apprehensive of that expanding nation’sdesigns on the land of her American empire. One of the principal mani-festations of this phobia was the anticipation of an American invasion ofNew Mexico. The threat was illusory, but it was very much a reality to theSpaniards, and, as such, exerted considerable influence upon New Mexi-co in the ensuing years. Reaction to the American menace became, in fact,one of the salient features of the province’s existence.” See Nuttall, “TheAmerican Threat to New Mexico,” v.

15. Calvo quotation in Robertson, Louisiana Under Spain, France andthe United States, 2:192; see also Nasatir, Before Lewis and Clark, 1:108–13.

40 KANSAS HISTORY

It is very probable that the United States will demandpossession of one part of the right [west] bank of theMississippi, in order to check the smuggling that willnecessarily prevail if the above-mentioned side be-longed to any other nation, and also to favor the col-lection of its revenues. The true policy of Spain re-quires obstinate resistance to such a demand by asking[for] the right bank of the Mississippi in its entirety.

He even recommended that Spanish troops be sent todestroy Daniel Boone’s settlement on the Missouri River. Infact, all settlers from the United States located west of theMississippi should be destroyed because, “if those settlersbe allowed to advance, they will very quickly explore theright path which will lead them to the capital of Santa Fé.”18

It is not clear if Wilkinson was just betraying Lewis andClark, Jefferson, and the United States, or, as Warren Cookobserved, “the possibility must not be overlooked that,rather than aiding Madrid, he may have been setting thestage for incidents that would provide an excuse to declarewar and invade Spanish borderlands.”19

Thus Spanish troops set out to intercept Lewis andClark, and some of these arrived in present Kansas afew weeks ahead of Zebulon M. Pike’s expedition in

1806. Lewis and Clark escaped all contact with Spanishtroops, but Pike followed in their footsteps from thePawnee village in present Nebraska to the point where theSpanish troops left the Arkansas River in present Colorado.Later Spanish troops and government officials took Pikeinto custody and detained him. General Wilkinson un-doubtedly contributed to the search for and capture of U.S.explorers—in this case the very man he sent to find thesources of the Arkansas and Red Rivers and who attempt-ed to open friendly relations with several tribes of Indians.

Initially, in January 1804, Calvo directed Spanish Gov-ernor Carlos Dehault Delassus at St. Louis to permit Lewisand Clark to proceed without opposition. “You will not putany obstacle to impede Capt. Merry Weather Lewis’ en-trance in the Missouri whenever he wishes,” Calvo stated.20

However, after hearing from General Wilkinson, Calvo sentan overland express to General Nemesio Salcedo, comman-dant of the Interior Provinces located in Chihuahua, with

Wilkinson’s warnings and declared, “The only meanswhich presents itself is to arrest Captain Merry Weatherand his party, which cannot help but pass through the [In-dian] nations neighboring New Mexico.”21

General Salcedo received the message in early Mayand directed New Mexico Governor Fernando de Chacónto seek help from the Plains Indians in turning back Lewisand Clark and to send Spanish troops to arrest the Corpsof Discovery. Governor Chacón was encouraged to solicitPedro Vial for assistance because Vial had earlier traveledthe region. Vial was a native of France who had performedseveral exploring expeditions on the northern frontier ofNew Spain, including opening a route between Santa Feand San Antonio, another route between Santa Fe andNatchitoches, and a route across the Great Plains fromSanta Fe to St. Louis and back.22 From 1804 to 1806 four ex-peditions left Santa Fe to try to find and arrest Lewis andClark, without success. In February 1807 another expedi-tion, this one successful, was sent to apprehend Pike andhis party.

In August 1804 Pedro Vial, translator José Jarvet, andfifty men headed north from Santa Fe.23 A month later, onthe Platte River in present Nebraska, they met up with thePawnees, who earlier had become trading partners withNew Spain (perhaps in the early 1780s). The Spanish didnot find Lewis and Clark, but they urged the Pawnees notto trade with the United States and to turn back anyonecoming from there. Pawnee Chief Sharitarish (White Wolf),whom Pike would meet in 1806, welcomed the Spanishand encouraged the trade. A dozen Pawnees accompaniedVial and his party back to Santa Fe, where they arrived inearly November.24 Attempts to bind the Pawnees closer toSpain appeared to be succeeding.

In 1805 General Salcedo directed Santa Fe’s new gov-ernor, Joaquín del Real Alencaster, to send troops to find“Captain Merry” or persuade the Indians to seek and cap-ture Lewis and Clark. Alencaster, especially charged withseeking better relations with Indian tribes, particularly thePawnees, to prevent U.S. intrusions, dispatched Vial,Jarvet, and fifty-two men to pursue those missions. Alen-

18. Ibid., 2:342–43, 345.19. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 453–54.20. Nasatir, Before Lewis and Clark, 2:725.

21. Ibid., 2:731; Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 455.22. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 456–58; Noel M. Loomis and Abraham

P. Nasatir, Pedro Vial and the Roads to Santa Fe (Norman: University of Ok-lahoma Press, 1966), 262–87, 316–415.

23. Ruth Steinberg, “José Jarvet, Spanish Scout and Historical Enig-ma,” New Mexico Historical Review 67 (July 1992): 232.

24. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 462–65.


Clearly, tensions were increasing between the two countriesin the region where Zebulon M. Pike would soon venture.

Lieutenant Melgares led the fourth expedition, sentfrom New Mexico on June 15, 1806, to stop “CaptainMerry.” It was, according to one historian, “the

largest Spanish force ever sent onto the Great Plains.” Mel-gares, with sixty additional soldiers, had been sent by Gen-eral Salcedo from the presidio of San Fernando de Carrizalsome seventy-five miles south of El Paso to Santa Fe, atGovernor Alencaster’s request, to help deal with the Indi-ans who had stopped Vial and Jarvet from reaching thePlains. Melgares carried with him orders to turn back theFreeman–Sparks expedition on the Red River, if that hadnot already been accomplished by other troops from Texas,and then proceed northward to try to intercept Lewis andClark and meet with several Plains tribes (particularly thePawnee, Omaha, and Kansa) to seek closer ties with them

25. Ibid., 465–69.26. Ibid., 470–72.27. Ibid., 472–76.

caster directed Jarvet and Vial to remain with the Pawneesthrough the coming winter and watch for Lewis and Clarkas well as to cement relations with the tribes. Jarvet was toaccompany the chiefs to Santa Fe in the spring while Vialremained to move closer to the Missouri River, seek infor-mation about Lewis and Clark, and arrest them if possible.Near the junction of the Purgatory and Arkansas Rivers,Indians (later confirmed to be Skidi Pawnees) attacked theparty, which had been joined by others for a total of slight-ly more than one hundred men (including five recent mi-grants from the United States who were to proceed to Mis-souri as spies and later report to Santa Fe). The Spaniardslost most of their supplies, and one man was wounded.Unable to continue, the expedition returned to Santa Fe.Vial recommended the establishment of a fort on theArkansas River.25

Spanish officials believed the United States was win-ning influence with some of the Plains tribes and probablyhad encouraged those who attacked Vial’s party. ThePawnees did not come to Santa Fe in the autumn of 1805 totrade, as they had in previous years, and this too the Span-ish attributed to the growing U.S. influence. Another expe-dition from Santa Fe set out under leadership of Vial andJarvet in April 1806, but within a month they returned be-cause many of their troops had deserted. Vial was now dis-credited.26

Then Spain perceived another threat from the UnitedStates. President Jefferson sent an expedition, planned byWilliam Dunbar and led by Thomas Freeman and CaptainRichard Sparks, with twenty-two men, to explore the RedRiver to its source. They carried a Spanish passport issuedby Calvo, who insisted that some Spanish subjects accom-pany them, including a planted spy, Tomás Power. Gener-al Salcedo, however, notified Calvo that he would nothonor the passport and would not permit the U.S. explor-ers to enter Spanish territory. Also, orders from Spainreached Salcedo in February 1806, urging him again to stopLewis and Clark and turn back other attempts to intrudeon Spanish territory. That same month U.S. troops tookpossession of the Spanish outpost at Los Adaes in Texas,only fourteen miles from Natchitoches in Louisiana. Spainviewed such U.S. aggression as almost an act of war.27

The Spanish urged the Pawnees not to trade with theUnited States and to turn back anyone coming fromthere. Pawnee Chief Sharitarish (above), whom Pikewould meet in 1806, welcomed the Spanish but opposed

42 KANSAS HISTORY

wealthy), having been born in New Jersey in 1779 as son ofa career army officer and himself a career officer. Pike mis-takenly believed that Melgares had been sent out to searchfor him rather than for Lewis and Clark.30

At Santa Fe the Spanish expedition received equipmentand supplies for six months. The large force traveled down

the Red River but did not meet upwith the Freeman–Sparks expedi-tion; it had been turned back bytroops from Spanish Nacogdoches,led by garrison commander Francis-co Viana, by order of General Sal-cedo. Melgares did meet some bandsof Comanches, who were still alignedwith Spain, and held council withthem.31 Melgares then headed north-east when, according to Pike whodisparaged the Spanish militia bystating, “it is extraordinary withwhat subordination they act,” ap-proximately one-third of his forcesigned a petition requesting that theyproceed no farther and go backhome. Melgares reacted quickly andharshly, as Pike reported.

He halted immediately, and causedhis dragoons to erect a gallows;then beat to arms. The troops fellin: he separated the petitioners fromthe others, then took the man who

had presented the petition, tied him up, and gave him50 lashes, and threatened to put to death, on the gal-lows erected, any man who should dare to grumble.This effectually silenced them, and quelled the risingspirit of sedition.32

30. Arthur Gomez, “Royalist in Transition: Facundo Melgares, theLast Spanish Governor of New Mexico, 1818–1822,” New Mexico Histori-cal Review 68 (October 1993): 372; Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 479–80.

31. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 480; Jackson, The Journals of ZebulonPike, 1:323–24.

32. Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Pike, 2:57–58. It is interesting tonote that Pike had a similar experience with one of his soldiers and react-ed in a similar fashion. On January 24, 1807, while tramping throughheavy snow in the mountains, Private John Brown began to complain.Pike noted, he “presumed to make use of language which was seditiousand mutinous.” Pike let it pass until they were in camp that evening,when he reprimanded Brown: “it was the height of ingratitude in you, to

and urge them to reject overtures from the United States.Melgares set out with 105 soldiers, 400 New Mexican mili-tia, 100 Indian allies, and more than 2,000 horses and mules.The size of this force was designed especially to impress thePawnees, whose loyalty to Spain seemed to be wavering,and secure their cooperation against U.S. citizens.28

According to Pike, who later appended informationabout the Spanish expedition to his journal, Melgares camefrom an aristocratic family in Spain and was a career armyofficer who “had distinguished himself in several long ex-peditions against the Appaches and other Indian nations.”Pike noted, “he was a man of immense fortune, and gen-erous in its disposal, almost to profusion; possessed a lib-eral education, high sense of honor, and a dispositionformed for military enterprise.”29 Born in 1775 in VillaCarabaca, Murcia, Spain, Melgares received an educationand training as a military officer. Pike, who clearly ad-mired him, came from a similar background (although not

28. Ibid., 477.29. Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Pike, 1:324.

From 1804 to 1806 four Spanish expeditions left Santa Fe to try to intercept Lewis and Clark. Thefourth expedition was led by Lieutenant Melgares. The above drawing depicts a fully equipped cav-alryman of New Spain.


position.” Governor “Alencaster also had wanted to “awethe Plains Indians, and Melgares’s force was well suited forthat purpose.” It was, however, “too unwieldy for a sur-prise attack on Lewis and Clark. . . . It was overkill, in themodern sense, and that proved a part of Melgares’s undo-ing.” According to Cook, “His force was too big to travelswiftly, live off the land, keep from offending Indian allies,and succeed in its hypothetical objective.” Cook conclud-ed, “With 240 of his men in one spot and 360 in another, hislines of supply were nonexistent, and it would have beendifficult for him to push on to the Missouri, fend off thePawnee, and remain there for a protracted time untilMerry’s problematical return. Vial’s previous expeditionshad not led him to expect Pawnee opposition.”35 How ef-fective Melgares’s appeal had been to the Pawnees wouldbe tested a few weeks later by Lieutenant Pike.

The route and experiences of Pike’s Southwest Expedi-tion are covered elsewhere in this Kansas History issue, soonly a few episodes are included here before looking moreclosely at the relationship between Pike and Melgares. Pikefulfilled his assignments regarding Indians with the returnof the Osages to their village in western Missouri, arrang-ing a meeting between Osages and Kansas that led to morepeaceful relations between those two tribes, and visitingthe Pawnees at their village on the Republican River. TheSpanish and Anglo-Americans both courted the Pawnees,but the tribe made no firm commitments to either. Pikefaced a tense situation when he requested that the Pawneeslower the Spanish flag recently presented them by Mel-gares and raise the flag of the United States, but Pike pre-vailed. Pike wisely told the Pawnees to keep the Spanishflag so they could hoist it if Spanish troops returned.36

Chief Sharitarish (White Wolf) may have preventedMelgares from going farther east to the Missouri River, andhe tried to prevent Pike from going farther west into theland of the Comanches, enemies of the Pawnees. Pikethreatened to fight to the death if the Pawnees obstructedhis party’s advance, and he was permitted to push on, fol-lowing Melgares’s route to the Arkansas River. Indianguides assisted Pike from his outset in Missouri until he

When they reached the Arkansas River, Melgares left240 of his men with many worn out horses in camp south-west of present Larned, Kansas. He took the remainingtroops and proceeded to the Pawnee village on the Repub-lican River southwest of present Guide Rock, Nebraska,where he met with leaders of the Republican and GrandPawnees, “held councils with the two nations, and pre-sented them the flags, medals, &c. which were destined forthem.” Pike saw those gifts when he later visited the samevillage. Melgares, Pike wrote, “did not proceed on to theexecution of his mission with the Pawnee Mahaws andKans, as he represented to me, from the poverty of theirhorses, and the discontent of his own men, but as I con-ceive, from the suspicion and discontent which began toarise between the Spaniards and the Indians.” ThePawnees opposed Melgares’s plans to proceed to the Mis-souri River, or so Chief Sharitarish (White Wolf) later toldPike. The Spanish troops returned to the Arkansas, pickedup the remaining soldiers, and continued upstream untilthey left the river to return to Santa Fe, where they arrivedon October 1, 1806.33

They brought with them José Jarvet’s ten-year-old,half-Pawnee son and two Frenchmen (Andrés Sulier andHenrique Visonot) they met at the Pawnee village. Jarvet’sson was sent to live with his father, and the Frenchmenwent on to meet General Salcedo in Chihuahua.34 The Mel-gares expedition, as with the three previous attempts tofind Lewis and Clark, had failed, as likely had his missionto the Indians. His experiences and observations, however,would prove valuable to Pike and his reports.

Warren Cook, who has written the best account of theMelgares expedition, offered a cogent evaluation: “The‘apprehension’ of Captain Merry, one suspects, was at leastone purpose of the huge Spanish force that advancednorthward toward the Missouri but was hamstrung byhorse thieves and stalemated by determined Pawnee op-

let an expression escape which was indicative of discontent. . . . But yourduty as a soldier called on your obedience to your officer, and a prohibi-tion of such language, which for this time, I will pardon, but assure you,should it ever be repeated, by instant death, I will revenge your ingrati-tude and punish your disobedience.” See ibid 1:372–73. Pike recorded nofurther disciplinary problems.

33. Ibid., 1:325, 329.34. Steinberg, “José Jarvet, Spanish Scout and Historical Enigma,”

245–46; Loomis and Nasatir, Pedro Vial and the Roads to Santa Fe, 455.

35. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire, 482–83; Isaac Joslin Cox, “Opening theSanta Fe Trail,” Missouri Historical Review 25 (October 1930): 52, wrote ofMelgares: “His force was really too large for effective scouting and ex-ploration. Mutiny in the ranks retarded his movements, which were stillfurther hampered by the raids of Indians on his live stock.”

36. Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Pike, 1:328–29.

44 KANSAS HISTORY

reached the Arkansas River. There, near present GreatBend, Kansas, on October 28, Lieutenant James Wilkinson,son of General Wilkinson who had authorized the expedi-tion, took five soldiers and two Osages and attempted tonavigate down the river to Arkansas Post in hastily builtskin canoes. The trip proved very difficult. Pike and the re-maining fifteen men, including interpreter AntoineFrançois “Baronet” Vásquez (whom Pike called Baroney),Dr. John H. Robinson (a civilian who accompanied the ex-pedition, perhaps at the request of General Wilkinson),and thirteen enlisted men, followed the Spanish trace upthe Arkansas. Pike never met up with the Comanches asGeneral Wilkinson specifically had ordered (although hisjournal mentions seeing many Comanche camp sites), butthat may have been to Pike’s benefit since the Comancheswere powerful, had ties to Spain, and were enemies of thePawnees whom Pike had visited.

Pike’s mission changed as he marched farther up theArkansas toward the mountains. His primary goalnow became exploration, seeking the headwaters of

the Arkansas and Red Rivers, both considered importantin settling the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase (infact, these rivers established the boundaries in the 1819Adams–Onís Treaty). This assignment seemed fairly easy,since the mouth of each river, where it entered the Missis-sippi, was well known. It mistakenly was assumed, as Pikeand many other explorers were to learn, that both rivers’headwaters would be found in the western mountains. Itwas not understood that the Red River does not rise in theRocky Mountains (its sources are on the plains of Texas).An attempt to move from the source of the Arkansas souththrough the mountains would lead not to the Red Riverbut to other Arkansas tributaries and, farther south andwest, to the drainage of the Rio Grande to the Gulf of Mex-ico, not to the Mississippi.

Pike kept track of Melgares’s “Spanish trace” andcould easily have followed it to Santa Fe had that been hisgoal. Actually, Pike carried a map, provided to him soonafter he began the expedition, that showed a route fromthe Pawnee village to Santa Fe.37 But Santa Fe was not hisdestination. Pike continued toward the Rocky Mountains,entering present Colorado on November 11, 1806, and took

38. Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Pike, 1:345.39. See Pike’s journal in ibid., 1:331–85, for details of the expedition

from the Pawnee village to the arrival of the Spanish troops. The identityof Jarvet and Vial is provided by Steinberg, “José Jarvet, Spanish Scoutand Historical Enigma,” 246.

time to attempt to climb the mountain he called GrandPeak (later named Pikes Peak in his honor), which he firstsighted on November 15, noting it “appeared like a smallblue cloud.”38 From November 24 to 27 Pike and three com-panions tried, without success, to ascend the Grand Peak.They did, however, climb another mountain nearby.

The expedition pushed on. After much struggle in win-ter weather, Pike and his fourteen companions reached apoint near the source of the Arkansas. In mid-December,while wandering around lost, they found the headwatersof the South Platte River. Their suffering intensified assnow accumulated, and they searched to the south for thesource of the Red River. They believed they had found itwhen they arrived at the Rio Grande on January 30, 1807.On a tributary, the Conejos River, they built a small stock-ade during early February in which to survive the remain-der of the winter. On February 7 Dr. Robinson departed forSanta Fe, where his arrival led to the dispatch of troops tobring in Pike and his few soldiers. On February 26 JoséJarvet and Pedro Vial, in advance of a platoon of soldiers,made first contact with Pike at his stockade. They were im-mediately followed by fifty Spanish dragoons and fiftymounted militiamen, led by Lieutenant Ignatio Saltelo,who took the explorers to Santa Fe to meet Governor Alen-caster.39

Pike arrived in Santa Fe on March 2. After meetingswith Governor Alencaster, Pike and seven of his partybegan their escorted journey to Chihuahua to meet withGeneral Salcedo. Upon reaching Albuquerque on March 7,Pike rejoined Dr. Robinson, who recently had been placedunder the charge of Lieutenant Melgares. Robinson in-formed Pike that Melgares had led the Spanish troops tothe Pawnees and that Pike would find Melgares to be “agentleman, a soldier and one of the most gallant men youever knew.” The following day, March 8, they met withMelgares at the village of San Fernandez. Pike wrote, “hereceived me with the most manly frankness and the polite-ness of a man of the world.” He continued, “Malgares find-ing I did not feel myself at ease took every means in hispower to banish my reserve, which made it impossible onmy part not to endeavor to appear cheerful; we conversed

37. Lowell M. Schake, La Charrette: Village Gateway to the AmericanWest (Lincoln: iUniverse, 2003), 23–25.


40. Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Pike, 1:404, 405.41. Ibid., 1:405–6.42. Ibid., 1:425.43. Ibid., 1:447.

[in French] as well as we could and in two hours were as wellacquainted as some people would be in the same numberof months.”40

With admiration, Pike further described his new ac-quaintance. “Malgares possessing none of the haughtyCastillian pride, but much of the urbanity of a Frenchman;and I will add my feeble testimony to his loyalty, by de-claring that he was one of the few officers or citizens whomI found, who was loyal to their king.” Pike was honoredwhen Melgares told him his private possessions, includinghis papers, would not be confiscated or abused by him orhis troops. That evening Lieutenant Melgares hosted a fan-dango for his new guest at San Fernandez.41

From March 9 to 21, on the road to El Paso del Norte,Pike rode daily in company with Melgares, visiting whilethey traveled and in camp each evening. After laying overa day at El Paso, the party, accompanied by an escort ofdragoons, continued on to Chihuahua City, arriving thereon April 2. Melgares introduced Pike to General Salcedo,who examined Pike’s papers and confiscated some ofthem. While Pike remained a guest of the government inChihuahua, until April 28, he and Melgares visited almostdaily. Pike met the lieutenant’s wife and her parents (herfather, Alberto Maynez, was a captain in the army), visitedwith several government officials, and continued to gatherinformation that was useful to his reports. Lieutenant Mel-gares also accompanied Pike when they left Chihuahua tocross Texas and return to the United States at Natchitochesin Louisiana. On May 6, at a point beyond Guajoquilla(now Jiménez) where Captain Mariano Varela replacedLieutenant Melgares as commander of the party, Pike andMelgares parted. Pike wrote, “Our friend Malgares accom-panied us a few miles, to whom we bad[e] an eternaladieu, if war does not bring us together in the field of bat-tle opposed as the most deadly enemies, when our heartsacknowledge the greatest friendship.”42

The two enemies truly had become friends. At somepoint they had exchanged gifts, Pike presenting Melgaresa shotgun. No record remains of what Pike received. Pike’sparty continued across Texas and arrived at Natchitocheson July 1, 1807, completing the Southwest Expedition.43 His

journal of the expedition was first published in 1810, bring-ing information about the Great Plains and northern NewSpain into public view. When published, Pike attached ap-pendices that provided detailed reports about the route hetraveled, brief summaries of the Indians of the Plains, anda lengthy record of New Spain.

His report on the Plains contained praise for theArkansas River as a route of travel, with abundant gameand only scattered Indian tribes to obstruct passage. Hethought this route could become the best overland route tothe Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, he compared theGreat Plains to a desert, declaring “these vast plains of thewestern hemisphere, may become in time equally celebrat-ed as the sandy desarts of Africa,” which affected the his-tory of Kansas. Pike said such topography might serve

Later identified as a “Santa Fe Trail” map, this sketch,probably drawn before Pike set out on his SouthwestExpedition, was found in his possession when he wasapprehended on the Conejos River.

46 KANSAS HISTORY

in the United States how close they were to northern NewSpain and that profits could be made by taking commodi-ties to New Mexico. Some were willing to risk arrest andconfiscation of merchandise, part of Spanish policy to pre-vent outsiders from trading with the empire. The followingportion of Pike’s report in 1810 inspired merchants to at-tempt to open trade between the United States and north-ern New Spain, especially after the war for Mexico’s inde-pendence began under Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in1810, a revolution that, incidentally, Melgares helped crushthe following year as part of the royalist army.45

Pike wrote in 1810:

New Mexico carries on a trade direct with Mexicothrough Biscay, also with Senora and Sinaloa: it sendsout about 30,000 sheep annually, tobacco, dresseddeer and cabrie [pronghorn] skins, some fur, buffalorobes, salt, and wrought copper vessels of superiorquality. It receives in return, from Biscay and Mexico,dry goods, confectionary, arms, iron, steel, ammuni-tion, and some choice European wines and liquors,and from Senora and Sinaloa, gold, silver, and cheese.The following articles sell as stated (in this province),which will shew the cheapness of provisions and theextreme dearness of imported goods:

Flour sells, per hundred at 2 dollarsSalt, per mule-load 5Sheep, each 1Beeves, each 5Wine del Passo, per barrel 15Horses, each 11Mules, each 30Superfine cloths, per yard 25Fine cloths, per yard 20Linen, per yard 4and all other dry goods in proportion.

The journey with loaded mules from Santa Fe toMexico, and returning to Santa Fe, takes fivemonths.46

The above excerpt undoubtedly was read or known byevery trader who set out from the United States to NewMexico, beginning with the Robert McKnight and James

“one great advantage to the United States, viz: The restric-tion of our population to some certain limits, and therebya continuation of the union.” It also would “leave theprairies incapable of cultivation to the wandering and un-civilized aborigines of the country.”44 When these viewswere reinforced later by the Stephen H. Long expedition of1820–1821, which labeled a portion of the Plains the“Great American Desert,” Congress decided to move east-ern tribes into present Kansas. The lands west of Missouriwere not opened to settlement until the passage of theKansas–Nebraska Act in 1854. For good or ill, Pike waspartly responsible for that delay.

Pike’s appendix on New Spain was more detailed and,in the long run, more important than his record of thePlains. He included information about the geography,economy, government, population, society, and culture ofthe internal provinces, especially New Mexico, Biscay(Nueva Vizcaya, now the states of Chihuahua and Duran-go), and Coahuila. It seems clear that Pike’s writings abouttravel across the Plains to New Mexico, the economy ofNorthern Mexico, and the geography and culture of the re-gion, came in large part from his conversations with Mel-gares, in addition to his own observations.

From Melgares Pike gained information about severalPlains tribes, including those Pike never met, such as theComanches. He learned much about the military organi-zation of New Spain, and Melgares explained in some de-tail how he had engaged Indians in battle. They discussedtheir respective trips across the Plains, and Pike gatheredgeographical information from Melgares about places he,Pike, had not seen. In all it is impossible to determine howmuch of the information Pike presented in his journal andreports was enhanced by his numerous conversations withMelgares, but it appears to be considerable. Since Pike alsohad opportunities to visit with other army officers andgovernment officials, even he may not have known howmuch of his report on New Spain came from Melgares.

Pike’s observations, plus information gleaned fromMelgares, led Pike to point out in his publication ofhis journals and reports in 1810 that New Mexico

was far removed from the source of supplies coming up ElCamino Real from Mexico City. His descriptions of a tripacross the Plains made it clear to enterprising tradesmen

44. Ibid., 2:25, 27, 28.45. Gomez, “Royalist in Transition,” 378–79.46. Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Pike, 2:50–51.


Baird party in 1812 through William Becknell’s successfultrading venture in 1821, and including the fur-trade ven-tures of Auguste P. Chouteau and Jules de Mun in1815–1816 and again in 1817 when they were arrested bySpanish troops.47 Two years later, it should be noted, Luisde Mun (brother of Jules and an officer in the U.S. Army)wrote a detailed report on New Mexico, relying primarilyon Pike’s publication with additional information from hisbrother. He described three possible routes through NewMexico’s mountains, including one through San Migueldel Vado and Glorieta Pass, which later became the routeof the Santa Fe Trail.48 David Meriwether reached Santa Fein 1819. A trading venture led by Thomas James and JohnMcKnight reached Santa Fe a few weeks after Becknell in1821. The fur-trapping expedition of Hugh Glenn andJacob Fowler followed the Arkansas into present Coloradoin 1821, and Glenn entered New Mexico early in 1822.News traveled fast that Mexico was independent andtraders were welcome.

It is safe to conclude that everyone who traveled acrossthe Plains to the Southwest, including future explorerssuch as Stephen Long, knew of Pike’s expedition, whetherfrom reading the reports, talking with those who had, orconversing with soldiers who accompanied Pike on thatexpedition. Pike, with the help of Melgares and others inNew Spain, provided the solid information that stimulatedattempts to open trade, which became successful whenMexico won independence from Spain in 1821 and re-moved restrictions on foreign trade. When Becknell’s smallparty arrived in New Mexico in 1821 with a pack train oftrade items, they were welcomed at Santa Fe by GovernorFacundo Melgares, who respected Americans, in part be-cause of his friendship with Pike. Becknell quickly sold hiscommodities at great profit and returned to Missouriwhere he outfitted the first wagons for a trading trip toSanta Fe in 1822. Many others followed.

The Pike expedition of 1806–1807, the Melgares expe-dition that preceded it, and Pike’s published reports ofboth helped point the way to the Santa Fe trade. Eventual-ly the many actions set in motion by the two expeditionsand Pike’s published accounts resulted in the annexation

of Texas in 1845 and the war with Mexico in 1846–1848.The entire Southwest, more than half of Mexico, was nowpart of the United States. President Jefferson and GeneralWilkinson could never have dreamed that Pike’s South-west Expedition would bear such fruit for a growing na-

tion. Wilkinson considered the expedition a failure becausePike had not met with the Comanches nor found the sourceof the Red River. Still today, unfortunately, Zebulon Mont-gomery Pike does not receive the recognition he deserves(being known primarily for a mountain that bears hisname), and very few people have ever heard of FacundoMelgares, two enemies who became friends and altered thecourse of history of North America.

47. Frank B. Golley, “James Baird, Early Santa Fe Trader,” Bulletin ofthe Missouri Historical Society 15 (April 1959): 179, states that the 1812party used Pike’s publication “as their guide book.”

48. Loomis and Nasatir, Pedro Vial and the Roads to Santa Fe, 257.

Pike’s observations, plus information gleaned from Mel-gares, inspired enterprising merchants to attempt to opentrade between the United States and New Spain. Amongthem was French fur trader Auguste Chouteau (above),who was arrested by Spanish troops in 1817.