Harper has set no limit to the extent to which my editorial work might be protracted, leaving the substance of these volumes entirely to my discretion; and I have returned the compliment by deferring to his judgment in all that relates to the manufacture of a book which may be found worthy to stand by the side of Lewis and Clark. ELLIOTT COUES. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, D. C., _June 30th, 1895_. FOOTNOTE: [NP-1] Since these words were penned Mr. Hill has made the long portage, alas! His death occurred at St. Paul, on the 15th inst. MEMOIR OF ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE. BY ELLIOTT COUES. The best Life of Pike we have had is that which was prepared by Henry Whiting and published in 1845 in Jared Sparks' Library of American Biography, vol. xv. (or new series vol. v.), pp. 217-314. This excellent memoir might be now reproduced, were it not mainly occupied with the account of those expeditions to which these volumes are devoted, and thus for the most part superfluous in the present connection. It still continues to be a main source of our information concerning the events of Pike's life before and after those exploits of 1805-7 which immortalized his name, and is particularly valuable in all that relates to his closing career, as the biographer was himself a distinguished soldier and competent military critic.[M-1] But I have much new matter to offer, derived from a thorough examination of the archives of the War Department, which include many original and hitherto unpublished documents in Pike's case,[M-2] from diligent search among contemporaneous records of the war of 1812-15, and from various other sources. * * * * * The Pike family resided in New Jersey for several generations. One Captain John Pike acquired his military title in Indian warfare. Zebulon Pike, the father of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, had been a captain in the Revolutionary army, and had served in the levies of 1791, when he was made a captain of infantry Mar. 5th, 1792; he was assigned to the Third sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1792, and to the 3d Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; he became major Mar. 21st, 1800, and was transferred to the 1st Infantry Apr. 1st, 1802; he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel July 10th, 1812, and honorably discharged June 15th, 1815. He died July 27th, 1834. His son, Zebulon Montgomery, was born at Lamberton, afterward a south part of Trenton, N. J., Jan. 5th, 1779.[M-3]