Explorer, War of 1812 United States Army General. He is most remembered for his discovery of Pikes Peak in 1806. While Lewis and Clark explored the Northwest United States, he explored the upper Mississippi River. He would later explore what is now the Southwest portion of the United States. Born in Lamberton, New Jersey, the second of eight children, and the only one to grow to adulthood. At the time of his birth, his father, also named Zebulon Pike, was an officer in George Washington's Continental Army, which was then fighting the British in the American Revolution. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Zebulon Pike, Sr. remained in the American Army, and young Zebulon grew up on frontier military posts. Young Pike began his military career in 1794, at the age of 15, when he joined his father's regiment as a cadet, and he would follow his father's regiment to the West, serving at Fort Massac in Illinois. In 1799, he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the First Infantry Regiment, then stationed in western Pennsylvania, where he earned a reputation as an officer who could carry out orders. In 1803, when President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the Northwest United States after purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France, General James Wilkinson sent Pike to explore the Mississippi River to discover its headwaters. Pike's discoveries were important to the growing nation, although they were overshadowed by the excitement caused by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Two years later, he was sent to discover the headwaters of the Red River, which some people thought might provide an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean, and to determine the extent of Spanish fortifications along the Texas-New Mexico Spanish boundary with the United States Louisiana Purchase. This route took him across the Southwest into Spanish-controlled territory. He first sighted the peak that bears his name from 150 miles away, out on the Colorado plains. They attempted to climb it, but its height of 14,110 feet proved too high, and after one attempt, they gave up (some historians claim he climbed nearby Cheyenne Peak instead). While continuing his search for the Red River headwaters, he crossed over the Sangre de Cristo (Spanish for "Blood of Christ") Mountains into New Mexico, where he discovered the headwaters of the Rio Grande River (he thought it was the headwaters of the Red River). Shortly afterwards, Spanish troops arrested his expedition for trespassing on Spanish soil and escorted them to Santa Fe, the territory's capital. After several months of negotiation, he and his men were released and they returned to Washington, D.C., bringing valuable information about the land and its resources. Later. he was accused of involvement in a scheme involving Aaron Burr and James Wilkinson to establish an empire in the Southwest, but investigation would prove his innocence. He was promoted to Brigadier General in March 1813. During the War of 1812, he commanded combat troops in the successful attack on York (now Toronto) on April 27, 1813. He was killed, along with 52 other American troops, by flying rocks and other debris when the withdrawing British garrison blew up its ammunition magazine as his troops approached Fort York. In revenge for the death of their commander, American soldiers torched public buildings in York. His body was brought by ship back to Sackets Harbor, where his remains were buried at the military cemetery.