Obituary of Albert Pike, Sebastian Co, Ar

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Submitted by: Paul V.Isbell < >
        Date: 1 May 2011
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Obituary: Albert Pike - Gen. Albert Pike, Grand Commander of Scottish Rite
Masonry of the Southern Jurisdiction and the Chief of the Royal Order of
Scotland in this country, died last evening at the home of the Supreme Council
of the order in Washington, where he had lived for several years. He was
conscious to the last, and the end was to all appearances painless. His two
grown sons and his daughter were at his bedside when he died. The cause of death
was a paralysis of the organs of the throat which prevented the taking of food
or beverages since the 21st of the last month. Gen. Pike was an author, editor,
lawyer, soldier, and poet of the old school. He was born in Boston, Mass., Dec.
29, 1809, and when sixteen years of age he entered Harvard, graduating in 1829.
His career then became one of romantic interest. In 1831 he made his way on foot
to Sante Fe, and in the following year he explored the headwaters of the Red and
Brazos Rivers, fighting his way against Indians, with four companions, from
whence to Ft. Smith, Ark. Here he became a lawyer, editor, revising the Arkansas
statutes and becoming prominently indentified with the embryonic Territorial
Government. His most lucrative practice was with the Indians in their dealings
with the Federal Government, and on one occasion he received a single fee from
the Cherokee nation amounting to $100, 000. Out the outbreak of the Civil War
Gen. Pike was made Indian Commissioner by the Confederate Government, and
subsequently was made Brigadier General and given command of the Dept. of the
Indian Territory and of all the Indian regiments. In March 1862, at the head of
several regiments of Cherokees, he took part in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark.
The General who commanded the Federal troops in this engagement reported that
the Indians under Pike shot arrows and took scalps from their prisoners. This
charge was afterward investigated by Congress, but it was never confirmed. Gen.
Pike always had a warm place in the hearts of the Cherokees, who at one time
called him their King. After the war Pike settled at Little Rock and
subsequently at Memphis, where he formed a law partnership with Gen. Charles W.
Adams. He was a editor for the Appeal for several years, writing meanwhile four
volumes of poems and a number of articles for the Edinburgh Review. He had the
largest and most costly library in the South. His works on Masonry are regarded
as of the highest authority. In 1874 he published a work on comparative
philology, and in the following year he wrote with great rapidity, three volumes
of poems. For many years he lived in Washington City, making only occasional
visits to his old friends the Indians and citizens of Arkansas. His home was a
veritable curiousity shop, the General being a great collector. Birds and pipes
were his favorite hobbies. In recent years, notwithstanding his great age, the
General was studying Sanscrit, of which he translated seventeen volumes since
1875. In personal appearance he was strikingly handsome, tall, and erect, with
long, snow white hair. He leaves a daughter, Miss Lillian, and two sons, who
resided with him in Washington. The arrangements for the funeral will be made by
the Scottish Rite body. It is said that Gen. Pike has appointed Josiah H.
Drummond of Maine as his successor as head of the Royal Order of Scotland, and
it is probable that his successor in the Scottish Rite will be either Surgeon
General J. M. Browne of the Navy, Thomas H. Caswell of California, or Thomas M.
Dudley of Kentucky. New York Times, Apr. 3, 1891. Confederate Brigadier General.
Although he was born and raised in Massachusetts and was against both slavery
and secession he was unwilling to support the Union cause and joined the
Confederate Army, being commissioned a brigadier general on November 21, 1861.
In 1831 he left Massachusetts and ventured west where he joined a party of
trappers and hunters on expeditions that led him to Oklahoma, Texas and New
Mexico before settling in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1834. In Arkansas he became a
teacher, editor and owner of a newspaper as well as a successful lawyer. He was
an advocate for the Native American Indians and helped garner a three million
dollar settlement for the Choctaw Indians from the US Senate. With the outbreak
of the Mexican War he joined the cause, commanding a troop of volunteer cavalry
that was credited for its honorable performance at the Battle of Buena Vista.
After the war he assumed his law practice. In 1849 he was admitted, along with
Abraham Lincoln, to practice before the US Supreme Court. At the start of the
Civil War he assisted General Ben McCulloch in formulating alliances American
Indian tribes. After being commissioned brigadier general he led a brigade of
Native Americans at the Battle of Pea Ridge. His charges did not perform well
and allegations made regarding his troops' conduct forced him to resign his
commission, be arrested and be briefly imprisoned in Texas. Distrusted and held
in contempt by many Southerners and considered a traitor by many Northerners he
spent several years after the war as a wanderer. He lived in New York in 1865
but fled to Canada after being accused of inciting an Indian revolt. President
Andrew Johnson pardoned him in August of 1865 and he returned to Arkansas where
he was charged with treason. After vindicating himself he moved to Memphis,
Tennessee to practice law and edit a newspaper before settling in Washington DC
where he continued his practice and edited The Patriot. Although he lived a wild
and colorful life as a frontiersman and soldier he may be best known for his
writings. He was an avid reader who loved the classics and became proficient in
Hebrew, Greek, Latin and French. During his lifetime this complex and
controversial man wrote Prose Sketches and Poetry Written in the Western Country
(reportedly the first published work dealing with the area west of Arkansas),
Hymns to God and Other Poems, Lyrics and Love Songs, Maxims of the Roman Law and
Some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and
Jurisprudence and Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of
Freemasonry. He died at the house of the Scottish Rite Temple in Washington DC
at the age of 81.

Extracted from:
New York Times via Ancestry.com