[Pike, Zebulon]:

$2,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED THE TWENTY SECOND ULTIMO, TO INQUIRE IF ANY, AND WHAT COMPENSATION OUGHT TO BE MADE TO CAPTAIN PIKE AND HIS COMPANIONS, FOR THEIR SERVICES IN EXPLORING THE ... A report made on March 9, 1808, regarding if and how to compensate Zebulon Pike for his explorations of the Mississippi River (see Howes P372). The document prints a letter of praise from Henry Dearborn to Pike congratulating Pike on his endeavors, and includes the curious mention of one Joseph Ballenger. Ballenger was a sometime companion of Pike who left the expedition to pursue a "Spanish project," but the committee purposefully omits who hired Ballenger and what his task was. Given that General Wilkinson had written Pike's instructions himself, and given Wilkinson's association with Aaron Burr's own Spanish project, Ballenger's errand into the wilderness is doubly suspect.An attractive Pike item, and quite rare.

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