Albert Pike
29-Dec-1809
United States
Writer
Pike's arrest of the Indians led to events that changed his life. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed by the Indian Foreign Affairs Commission of the Confederacy of India. He succeeded in gaining the majority of the Arkansas tribes over the Confederacy, and, after gaining general command, organized and armed certain Indian tribes. In early March 1862, as a result of his opposition to the fact that the Indians had agreed to fight only to defend their territory, the Pike factions were ordered to take part in offending the Confederate. On March 7, during the battle of Pea Ridge, northwest of Arkansas, the Indians were evacuated to death, a tragedy that has left Pike lifelong. On March 15, 1862, the Boston Evening Transcript doubted that "the predator was more venomous than Albert Pike."