View source for Albert Pike

{{Short description|American author, Freemason, and soldier (1809–1891)}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                      = Albert Pike
| image                     = Albert Pike - Brady-Handy.jpg
| caption                   = Pike in Masonic regalia by [[Mathew Brady]]
| office                    = [[List of justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court|Associate Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court]]
| status                    = [[Government in exile|In exile]]
| term_start                = June 8, 1864
| term_end                  = May 28, 1865
| appointer                 = [[Harris Flanagin]]
| predecessor               = Hulbert F. Fairchild
| successor                 = [[Charles A. Harper]]
| birth_date                = {{Birth date|1809|12|29}}
| death_date                = {{Death date and age|1891|4|2|1809|12|29}}
| birth_place               = [[Boston]], Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_place               = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| resting_place             = [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]], Washington,&nbsp;D.C.
| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|38|54|45.9|N|77|03|21.4|W|region:US-DC_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| signature                 = Signature of Albert Pike (1809–1891).png
| allegiance                = {{unbulleted list|United States|[[Confederate States]]}}
| branch                    = {{unbulleted list|<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add the Army flag adopted by the U.S. government in 1956 (65 years after Pike's death) as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->[[United States Volunteers]]|[[Confederate States Army]]}}
| branch_label              = Service
| service_years             = {{unbulleted list|1846–1847 (U.S.)|1861–1862 (C.S.)}}
| rank                      = {{unbulleted list|[[Captain (United States)|Captain]] (U.S.)|[[Brigadier general (Confederate States Army)|Brigadier general]] (C.S.)}}
| commands                  = {{unbulleted list|Company E, Arkansas Mounted Infantry Regiment (1846–1847)|District of [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory]] (1861–1862)}}
| battles                   = {{tree list}}
* [[Mexican–American War]]
** [[Battle of Buena Vista]]
* [[American Civil War]]
** [[Battle of Pea Ridge]]{{tree list/end}}
| battles_label             = Battles
}}
'''Albert Pike''' (December 29, 1809{{spaced ndash}}April 2, 1891) was an American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist and [[Confederate States Army]] general who served as an [[List of justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court|associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court]] [[Government in exile|in exile]] from 1864 to 1865. He had previously served as a senior [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] of the Confederate States Army, commanding the District of [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Indian Territory]] in the [[Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War|Trans-Mississippi Theater]]. A prominent member of the [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]], Pike served as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the [[Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA)|Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction]] from 1859 to 1891.

==Early life and education==
Albert Pike was born in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], on December 29, 1809, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Andrews) Pike. He grew up in [[Byfield, Massachusetts|Byfield]] and [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]]. His colonial ancestors had settled in the area in 1635,<ref name=mscacw/> and included [[John Pike (settler)|John Pike]] (1613–1688/1689), the founder of [[Woodbridge, New Jersey]].<ref>Albert's descent from his immigrant ancestor John Pike is as follows: John Pike (1572–1654); John Pike (1613–1688/89); Joseph Pike (1638–1694); Thomas Pike (1682–1753/4); John Pike (1710–1755); Thomas Pike (1739–1836); Benjamin Pike (1780–?); Albert Pike (1809–1891).</ref>

He attended school in Newburyport and [[Framingham, Massachusetts|Framingham]] until he was 15. In August 1825, he passed entrance exams at [[Harvard University]], though when the college requested payment of tuition fees for the first two years, he chose not to attend. He began a program of self-education, later teaching school in [[Gloucester, Massachusetts|Gloucester]], [[Bedford, Massachusetts|North Bedford]], [[Fairhaven, Massachusetts|Fairhaven]] and Newburyport.<ref>Hubbell, Jay B. (1954) ''The South in American Literature: 1607–1900''. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. p. 640.</ref>

Pike was an imposing figure; {{convert|6|ft|m|sigfig=3}} tall and {{convert|300|lb|kg}} with hair that reached his shoulders and a long beard.<ref name="smithassoc">{{Cite web |title="Albert Pike – Hero or Scoundrel?", ''The Smithsonian Associates Civil War E-Mail Newsletter'', Volume 5, Number 1, Civil War Studies.org, Smithsonian Associates |url=http://civilwarstudies.org/articles/Vol_5/pike.shtm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808063358/http://civilwarstudies.org/articles/Vol_5/pike.shtm |archive-date=August 8, 2017 |access-date=June 10, 2016}}</ref><ref name=Cutrer/> In 1831, he left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in [[Nashville, Tennessee]].

He later moved to [[St. Louis, Missouri]], where he joined a hunting and trading expedition to [[Taos, New Mexico]].<ref name=mscacw/> En route his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining {{convert|500|mi|km}} to Taos. After this, he joined a trapping expedition to the [[Llano Estacado]] in New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal and, after traveling about {{convert|1300|mi|km}}, half of it on foot, he finally arrived at [[Fort Smith, Arkansas]].<ref name="Cutrer">{{cite web| url = http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpi18| title = Cutrer, Thomas W., "Pike, Albert", ''The Handbook of Texas'', Texas State Historical Association}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:AlbertPikeYounger.jpeg|thumb|right|Pike, about 1850]]
Settling in Arkansas in 1833, Pike taught in a school and wrote a series of articles for the [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] ''Arkansas Advocate'' under the pen name of [[Publius Servilius Casca|"Casca."]]<ref name=EncycArkansas>{{Cite web |last1=Moneyhon |first1=Carl H. |title=Albert Pike (1809–1891) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/albert-pike-1737/ |access-date=January 17, 2021|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture (EOA|publisher=Central Arkansas Library System )}}</ref> The articles were sufficiently well received for him to be asked to join the newspaper's staff. Under Pike's administration, the ''Advocate'' promoted the viewpoint of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] in a politically volatile and divided Arkansas in December 1832.<ref name=EncycArkansas/> After marrying Mary Ann Hamilton in 1834, he purchased the newspaper.<ref name="ipw">{{cite web| url = http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=PI006| title = Westmoreland, Ingrid P., "Pike, Albert", Oklahoma Historical Society}}</ref>

He was the first reporter for the [[Arkansas Supreme Court]]. He wrote a book (published anonymously), titled ''The Arkansas Form Book'', which was a guidebook for lawyers.<ref name=EncycArkansas/> Pike began to study law and was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] in 1837, selling the ''Advocate'' the same year. (At least one source indicates that Pike read Kent and Blackstone and was admitted to the bar in 1834 by Superior Court judge [[Thomas J. Lacy]], after a perfunctory examination.)<ref>Walter Lee Brown, ''A Life of Albert Pike'', p. 57 (1997).</ref>

He proved to be a highly effective lawyer, representing clients in courts at every level. This continued after he received permission in 1849 to practice before the [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref name=EncycArkansas/>

He also made several contacts among the Native American tribes in the area. He specialized in claims on behalf of Native Americans against the federal government.<ref name=smithassoc/> In 1852, he represented the [[Muscogee|Creek Nation]] before the Supreme Court in a claim regarding ceded tribal land. In 1854 he advocated for the [[Choctaw]] and [[Chickasaw]], although compensation later awarded to the tribes in 1856 and 1857 was insufficient.<ref name=ipw/> These relationships were to influence the course of his Civil War service.

Pike also began a campaign of newspaper essays urging support for the construction of a [[transcontinental railroad]] to extend from [[New Orleans]] to the Pacific coast. He moved to New Orleans in 1853 and prepared to pass the state bar in furtherance of his campaign. He ultimately secured a charter from the [[Louisiana State Legislature]] for a project, following which he returned to Little Rock in 1857.<ref name=EncycArkansas/>

He joined the anti-Catholic [[Know Nothing]] Party at its founding;<ref name=EncycArkansas/> in the summer of 1854, he helped introduce the party in Arkansas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Harold T. |title=The Know-Nothings in Arkansas |journal=The Arkansas Historical Quarterly |date=Winter 1975 |volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=291–303 |doi=10.2307/40022446 |jstor=40022446 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40022446|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He attended the national convention in 1856, but walked out when it failed to adopt a pro-slavery platform.<ref name=EncycArkansas/>

As part of the Committee of the Citizens of Little Rock and Pulaski County in 1858, Pike joined 11 other men in signing a circular that encouraged the people of Arkansas to expel free Blacks from Arkansas.  It said that the "evil is the existence among us of a class of free colored persons".

Additionally, Pike wrote on several legal subjects. He also continued writing poetry, a hobby he had begun in his youth in Massachusetts. His poems were highly regarded in his day, but are now mostly forgotten. Several volumes of his works were privately published posthumously by his daughter. In 1859, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Harvard.<ref>"The Phoenix," Manly P. Hall</ref>

==Poetry==
As a young man of letters, Pike wrote poetry, and he continued to do so for the rest of his life. At 23, he published his first poem, "Hymns to the Gods." Later work was printed in literary journals such as ''[[Blackwood's Magazine|Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine]]'' and local newspapers. His first collection of poetry, ''Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country'', was published in 1834.<ref name=Cutrer /> He later gathered many of his poems and republished them in ''Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems'' (1872). After his death these were published again in ''Gen. Albert Pike's Poems'' (1900) and ''Lyrics and Love Songs'' (1916).<ref name=EncycArkansas/>

The authorship of "[[The Old Canoe]]" was attributed to Pike. He was suggested as author because about the time of its publication, when it was going the rounds of the press, probably without any credit, a [[doggerel]] called "The Old Canoe" was composed about Pike by one of his political foes. The subject was a canoe in which he left [[Columbia, Tennessee]], when a young man practicing law in that place. Pike told Senator [[Edward W. Carmack]] that he was not the author of "The Old Canoe," and could not imagine how he ever got the credit for it. The rightful author was [[Emily Rebecca Page]].{{sfn|Bob Taylor's Magazine|1910|p=192}}

==Freemasonry==
{{Freemasonry}}
Pike first joined the fraternal [[Independent Order of Odd Fellows]] in 1840. He next joined a [[Masonic Lodge]], where he became extremely active in the affairs of the organization. In 1859 he was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the [[Scottish Rite]]'s Southern Jurisdiction.<ref name="Eicher429" /> He remained Sovereign Grand Commander for the rest of his life, devoting a large amount of his time to developing the rituals of the order.<ref>Warner, Ezra J. (1959) ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. {{ISBN|0-8071-0823-5}}. pp. 240–241</ref>

He published a book called ''[[Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry]]'' in 1871, the first of several editions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pike |first=Albert |title=Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. |date=2013 |publisher=Orkos Press |isbn=978-1592328154}}</ref> This helped the Order grow during the nineteenth century. He also researched and wrote the seminal treatise ''Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda''. In the United States, Pike is still considered an eminent<ref name="Pikeeminent">[https://web.archive.org/web/20061221064805/http://www.freemason.org/cfo/mar_apr_2002/pike.htm "Albert Pike and Freemasonry"]. ''California Freemason''</ref> and influential<ref name="Pikeinfluence">[http://www.masonicinfo.com/pike.htm Albert Pike] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031104117/http://www.masonicinfo.com/pike.htm |date=October 31, 2015 }}, masonicinfo.com</ref> Freemason, primarily in the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://scottishrite.org/headquarters/virtual-tour/albert-pike-museum/| title = Albert Pike Museum, The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry| access-date = June 10, 2016| archive-date = June 24, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160624005828/https://scottishrite.org/headquarters/virtual-tour/albert-pike-museum/| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Pike was also the Provincial Grand Master of the [[Royal Order of Scotland]] from 1877 to 1891.<ref>{{cite web |title=Past Provincial Grand Masters {{!}} Royal Order Of Scotland PGL USA |url=https://roosusa.org/past-pgms/ |access-date=1 August 2024}}</ref>

==Military service==
===Mexican–American War===
When the [[Mexican–American War]] started, Pike joined the Arkansas Mounted Infantry Regiment and was commissioned as a company commander with the rank of captain in June 1846. With his regiment, he fought in the [[Battle of Buena Vista]]. Pike was discharged in June 1847. He and his commander, Colonel [[John Selden Roane]], had several differences of opinion. This situation led finally to an "inconclusive" [[duel]] between Pike and Roane on July 29, 1847, near Fort Smith, Arkansas.<ref name="Eicher429">Eicher, John H., aer (2001) ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}. p. 429</ref> Although several shots were fired in the duel, nobody was injured, and the two were persuaded by their seconds to discontinue it.<ref name="allsopp">{{cite web| url = https://archive.org/details/lifestoryofalber00allsrich| title = <!-- quote=albert pike. --> Allsopp, Frederick William. ''A Life of Albert Pike'', Parke-Harper news service, 1920| year = 1920| publisher = Little Rock, Ark., Parke-Harper news service}}</ref>

After the war, Pike returned to the practice of law, moving to [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] for a time beginning in 1853.<ref name=EncycArkansas/> He wrote another book, ''Maxims of the Roman Law and Some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and Jurisprudence''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Walter Lee |title=A life of Albert Pike |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |year=1997 |isbn=1557284695 |location=Fayetteville |pages=61, 240, 302, 408}}</ref> Although unpublished, this book increased his reputation among his associates in law. He returned to Arkansas in 1857, gaining some amount of prominence in the legal field.

At the Southern Commercial Convention of 1854, Pike said the South should remain in the Union and seek equality with the North, but if the South "were forced into an inferior status, she would be better out of the Union than in it."<ref>Potter, David Morris and Edward, Don (1976) ''The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861''. HarperCollins. p. 467</ref> His stand was that state's rights superseded national law and he supported the idea of a Southern secession. This stand is made clear in his pamphlet of 1861, "State or Province, Bond or Free?"<ref name=EncycArkansas/>

===American Civil War===
In 1861, Pike penned the lyrics to "Dixie to Arms!"<ref>{{cite web| url = http://chnm.gmu.edu/loudountah/activities/pdf/DixieSongLyrics2.pdf| title = "Dixie to Arms!", Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University}}</ref> At the beginning of the war, Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native American nations. In this capacity he negotiated [[List of treaties of the Confederate States of America|several treaties]], one of the most important being with [[Cherokee]] chief [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]], which was concluded in 1861. At the time, Ross agreed to support the Confederacy, which promised the tribes a Native American state if it won the war. Ross later changed his mind and left Indian Territory, but the succeeding Cherokee government maintained the alliance.<ref name=smithassoc/>

Pike was commissioned as a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] in the [[Confederate States Army]] on November 22, 1861, and given a command in the [[Indian Territory]]. With Brig. Gen. [[Benjamin McCulloch|Ben McCulloch]], Pike trained three Confederate regiments of [[Indian cavalry]], most of whom belonged to the "[[Five Civilized Tribes|civilized tribes]]", whose loyalty to the Confederacy was variable. Although initially victorious at the [[Battle of Pea Ridge]] (Elkhorn Tavern) in March 1862,<ref name="mscacw">[http://www.ma150.org/day-by-day/1862-03-06/massachusetts-born-csa-general-albert-pike-leads-brigade-native-americans-batt "Massachusetts born CSA general Albert Pike leads brigade of Native Americans at the Battle of Pea Ridge", Massachusetts Sesquicentennial Commission of the American Civil War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725142921/http://www.ma150.org/day-by-day/1862-03-06/massachusetts-born-csa-general-albert-pike-leads-brigade-native-americans-batt |date=July 25, 2016 }}</ref> Pike's unit was defeated later in a counterattack, after falling into disarray. When Pike was ordered in May 1862 to send troops to Arkansas, he resigned in protest.<ref name=ipw/> As in the previous war, Pike came into conflict with his superior officers, at one time drafting a letter to [[Jefferson Davis]] complaining about his direct superior.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boyden |first=William Llewellyn |title=Bibliography of the Writings of Albert Pike: Prose, Poetry, Manuscript. |publisher=A.A.S.C. |year=1921 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=18}}</ref>

After Pea Ridge, it was alleged that Pike's Native American troops had [[scalping|scalped]] soldiers in the field.<ref>Shea, William, and Earl Hess, ''Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West''. University of North Carolina Press, 1992. {{ISBN|0-8078-4669-4}}.</ref> The single incident of scalping was, however, done by a Native American acting on his own. According to official records submitted to the Headquarters Department of Indian territory, Pike "regarded [the incident] with horror" and was personally "angry and disgusted." He also filed a report in which he said it caused him the "utmost pain and regret."<ref name ="Huff">Huff, Sanford W.,''The Annals of Iowa, Published by the State Historical Society'' (Iowa State Historical Department, Division of Historical Museum and Archives, 1868), p. 149</ref>

Maj. Gen. [[Thomas C. Hindman]] charged Pike with mishandling of money and material, ordering his arrest.<ref name="Smith585">Smith, Dean E. (1986) "Pike, Albert" in ''Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War'', edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row. {{ISBN|978-0-06-273116-6}}. p. 585</ref> The incident arose when Hindman, who had declared martial law in Arkansas, ordered Pike to turn over weapons and Native American Indian treaty funds. Pike thought the action was illegal and refused.<ref name ="Brown406-16">Brown, Walter Lee, ''A Life of Albert Pike'' (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), pp. 406–16</ref> Both these charges were later found to be considerably lacking in evidence; nevertheless Pike, facing arrest, escaped into the hills of Arkansas, submitting his resignation from the Confederate States Army on July 12, 1862.<ref name="Smith585" /> He was arrested on November 3 on charges of [[insubordination]] and [[treason]], and held briefly in [[Warren, Fannin County, Texas|Warren, Texas]]. His resignation was accepted on November 11, and he was allowed to return to Arkansas.<ref name="Smith585" />

As Union troops advanced toward the state capital in September 1863, the State Supreme Court retreated to [[Washington, Arkansas]], which was made the new Confederate state capital. Associate Justice Hulbert F. Fairchild resigned because the new location was too far from his family, and Pike was appointed as his replacement.<ref name=SCOA>{{Cite web |last1=Jones |first1=William B |title=Supreme Court of Arkansas|url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/supreme-court-of-arkansas-2242/ |access-date=January 17, 2021|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture (EOA|publisher=Central Arkansas Library System )}}</ref>

In the wake of the war, Pike moved to New York City, then for a short time to [[Canada]].<ref name=EncycArkansas/> On June 24, 1865, Pike applied to President [[Andrew Johnson]] for a pardon, disowning his earlier interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. He said he now planned "to pursue the arts of peace, to practice my profession, to live among my books, and to labour to benefit my fellows and my race by other than political courses". President Johnson pardoned him on April 23, 1866.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c95JSzYD3E0C&pg=PA287 |title=The Papers of Andrew Johnson |date=1867 |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |isbn=9780870496134 |editor-last=Bergeron |editor-first=Paul H. |volume=8: May–August 1865 |page=287 |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

==Later life and death==
During the Arkansas political conflict known as the [[Brooks-Baxter War]], Pike was one of the lawyers to speak on behalf of [[Elisha Baxter]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Moneyhon |first1=Carl H. |title=Brooks-Baxter War |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/brooks-baxter-war-2276/ |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System |access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref>[[File:Albert Pike memorial.jpg|thumb|The [[Albert Pike Memorial]]]]

Pike died on April 2, 1891, at the Scottish Rite Temple of the Supreme Council in Washington DC, at the age of 81,<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1891-04-03/ed-1/seq-11/#date1=04%2F02%2F1891&index=0&date2=04%2F08%2F1891&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Albert+ALBERT+PIKE+Pike&proxdistance=5&state=District+of+Columbia&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=albert+pike&dateFilterType=range&page=1 ''Washington Star'', April 3, 1891]</ref> and was buried at [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]], despite the fact that he had left instructions for his body to be cremated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cutrer |first=Thomas W. |date=May 1, 1995 |title=Pike, Albert (1809–1891) |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pike-albert |access-date=November 5, 2023 |website=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> In 1944, his remains were moved to the [[House of the Temple]], headquarters of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The House of the Temple: A History |url=https://scottishritenmj.org/blog/house-of-temple-history |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=Scottish Rite, NMJ |language=en-US}}</ref> The House of the Temple contains numerous memorials and artifacts related to Pike, including his personal library.

== Legacy ==
A [[Albert Pike Memorial|memorial to Pike]] was erected in 1901 in the [[Judiciary Square]] neighborhood of [[Washington, D.C.]] The statue portrayed him as a private citizen and Freemason. He was the only former Confederate military officer with an outdoor statue in [[Washington, D.C.]] In 1992, the D.C. Council petitioned the federal government to remove it. In 2017, protesters circled the monument after a [[Unite the Right rally]], calling for it to be torn down, a sentiment echoed by the D.C. Council.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schultz |first=Kyley |date=June 20, 2020 |title=Who was Confederate General Albert Pike, and why was his statue in DC in the first place? |publisher=WUSA9|url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/albert-pike-statue-dc-toppled-toground-juneteenth-protests-who-was-albert-pike/65-54c86e07-065d-4a8e-819a-70fda3549f80#:~:text=Councilmember%20Bill%20Lightfoot%20initiated%20legislation,but%20still%20preserve%20its%20history.|access-date=August 6, 2025}}</ref> In July 2019, Delegate [[Eleanor Holmes Norton]] introduced a bill to remove the statue but still preserve its history.<ref name="CurbedNorton">{{Cite news |last=Glambrone |first=Andrew |date=July 31, 2019 |title=Confederate statue near Judiciary Square should be removed, D.C. delegate says. |work=[[Curbed]] |url=https://dc.curbed.com/2019/7/31/20749036/dc-confederate-statue-Albert-pike-congress-history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801014645/https://dc.curbed.com/2019/7/31/20749036/dc-confederate-statue-albert-pike-congress-history |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 1, 2019 |access-date=August 1, 2019}}</ref> On June 19, 2020, protestors tore down the statue and set it ablaze, in connection with the [[George Floyd protests]] because of Pike's association with the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] and of his alleged association with the [[Ku Klux Klan]].<ref name="FoxNews">{{Cite news |title=Protesters topple only outdoor Confederate statue in the nation's capital |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/protesters-topple-only-confederate-statue-in-the-nations-capital/2020/06/20/d996348c-b2a8-11ea-8f56-63f38c990077_story.html |access-date=November 16, 2023 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en}}</ref> The statue was restored and reinstalled in Judiciary Square in October 2025 following an [[Executive Order 14253|executive order]] by President [[Donald Trump]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Jimmy |date=2025-10-27 |title=DC's only outdoor statue of a Confederate general is back in a Judiciary Square park |url=https://wtop.com/dc/2025/10/dcs-only-outdoor-statue-of-a-confederate-general-is-back-in-a-judiciary-square-park/ |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=WTOP News |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Albert Pike Memorial Temple]] is an historic Masonic lodge in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]]; the structure is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.littlerock.com/travel-tools/local-services/detail/historic-albert-pike-masonic-center| title = "Historic Albert Pike Masonic Center", Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau| access-date = June 10, 2016| archive-date = May 23, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160523002448/http://www.littlerock.com/travel-tools/local-services/detail/historic-Albert-pike-masonic-center| url-status = dead}}</ref>

[[Albert Pike Highway]] was an [[auto trail]] that extended more than {{convert|900|mi|km}} from [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]], to [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]], crossing the [[Ozark Mountains]] and passing through [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]], [[Muskogee, Oklahoma|Muskogee]], [[Tulsa]], [[Dodge City]], [[La Junta, Colorado|La Junta]] and [[Pueblo, Colorado|Pueblo]].<ref>{{cite map |url = https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/15603730 |title = Map of the Albert Pike Highway: Showing Every City, Town, Village and Hamlet Throughout Its Entire Length |scale = 1:1,900,800 |location = Washington, DC |author = Albert Pike Highway Association |publisher = National Highways Association |year = 1919 |via = [[Yale University Library]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=1930 |title=Albert Pike Highway |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |edition=14|volume=1|page=527 |language=en}}</ref>

==Incidents and concerns==

=== Masonic baptism ===
In 1865, Pike publicly performed a ceremony of Masonic [[baptism]] in New York City.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Interesting Masonic Ceremony Baptism of Six Children by Albert Pike, of Arkansas. |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1865/10/01/83208749.html |access-date=December 29, 2022}}</ref> The ceremony was greeted with skepticism by many American Masons including [[Albert Mackey]], but was based on older European Masonic baptism ceremonies that began in the 1820s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chariton |first=Jesse D. |date=2021 |title="Some Ceremony Peculiar to Themselves": The Continuation of a European Masonic Ceremony in Nineteenth-Century Wisconsin |url=https://journals.ku.edu/ygas/article/view/20050 |journal=Yearbook of German-American Studies |language=en |volume=56 |pages=21–40 |issn=0741-2827}}</ref> However, some, like the ''[[New York Times]]'', reacted positively to the ceremony describing it as "interesting" and "novel." In the ritual, six children were baptized by Pike with water and consecrated oil.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Interesting Masonic Ceremony Baptism of Six Children by Albert Pike, of Arkansas|language=en|work=The New York Times|date=October 1865 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/10/01/archives/interesting-masonic-ceremony-baptism-of-six-children-by-albert-pike.html|access-date=2023-11-16}}</ref>

=== Racism ===
In the aftermath of the Civil War, as former Confederates found themselves barred from the ballot box, Pike remained deeply opposed to [[black suffrage]], insisting that "the white race, and that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one that is fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall."<ref name="Brown439-442">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Walter Lee |title=A life of Albert Pike |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |year=1997 |isbn=1557284695 |location=Fayetteville |pages=439–442}}</ref>

Regarding membership in the Freemasons, Pike is quoted as saying in 1875 that "[[Prince Hall Lodge]] was as regular a Lodge as any Lodge created by competent authority. It had a perfect right to establish other Lodges and make itself a Mother Lodge. I am not inclined to meddle in the matter. I took my obligations from white men, not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave masonry, I shall leave it. Better let the thing drift."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Darrah |first=Delmar Duane |url=http://archive.org/details/historyevolution00darr |title=History and evolution of Freemasonry |date=1954 |publisher=Chicago, C.T. Powner |others=Internet Archive |pages=319}}</ref>

His attitudes towards African-Americans may have changed towards the end of his life. A 1945 letter written by Willard W. Allen, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the United Supreme Council, S.J. [[Prince Hall Freemasonry|Prince Hall Affiliation]] noted that "what practically all Masonic scholars know very well, viz., that in the closing years of General Pike's Masonic career, he became a very staunch friend of Negro Masonry."<ref name ="de Hoyos">de Hoyos, Arturo (1996) "On the Origins of the Prince Hall Scottish Rite Rituals", ''Heredom: The Transaction of the Scottish Rite Research Society'' vol. 5 Washington, D.C.: Scottish Rite Research Society, pp. 52–53</ref> Pike had become a personal friend of Thornton A. Jackson, Supreme Grand Commander of the United Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliation and even gifted to Thornton his complete set of rituals for Prince Hall Scottish Rite Masonry to use.<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 26, 2012|title=Albert Pike did not found the Ku Klux Klan|url=https://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/kkk.html#014|url-status=live|website=Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A.M.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011025000123/http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/kkk.html#014|archive-date=October 25, 2001|access-date=June 14, 2021}}</ref>

=== Involvement with the Ku Klux Klan ===
Pike first wrote about the Ku Klux Klan less than three years after the Klan's founding, in an April 16, 1868 editorial in the ''[[Memphis Daily Appeal]].'' In the editorial, Pike indicated that his main problems lay not with its aims, but with its methods and leadership. Later in this editorial, he proposed "one great Order of Southern Brotherhood", a secret society which would have been a larger and more centrally organized version of the Klan: "If it were in our power, if it could be effected, we would unite every white man in the South, who is opposed to negro suffrage, into one great Order of Southern Brotherhood, with an organization complete, active, vigorous, in which a few should execute the concentrated will of all, and whose very existence should be concealed from all but its members."<ref name="Brown439-442" /><ref name="Dickerson2003">{{Cite book |last=Donna Lee Dickerson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXOan-fUeCMC&pg=PA263 |title=The Reconstruction Era: Primary Documents on Events from 1865 to 1877 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-313-32094-1 |pages=263–264}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Urban |first=Hugh |date=2001 |title=The Adornment of Silence |url=http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2001/2001-2.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Religion & Society |volume=3 |page=9 |issn=1522-5658 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2001/2001-2.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |access-date=June 26, 2020}}</ref>

In 1905's ''Ku Klux Klan: Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment'', the author [[Walter L. Fleming]], lists Pike as the Klan's "chief judicial officer".<ref name="Lester">{{cite book |last1=Lester |first1=J.C. |last2=Wilson |first2=D.L. |last3=Fleming |first3=Walter L. |title=Ku Klux Klan: Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment |date=1905 |publisher=The Neal Publishing Company |location=New York and Washington |page=27 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31819/31819-h/31819-h.htm}}</ref> Susan Lawrence Davis, whose father, [[Edmund Pettus]], was a founding member of the Klan in Alabama,<ref name="Whites2016">{{cite book|author=L. Whites|title=Gender Matters: Race, Class and Sexuality in the Nineteenth-Century South|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n2cYDAAAQBAJ|date=April 30, 2016|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US|isbn=978-1-137-05915-4|page=93}}</ref> writes in her sympathetic account titled ''Authentic History: Ku Klux Klan, 1865–1877'', published in 1924, that Pike was personally chosen by [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] to serve as the Klan's "Chief Judicial Officer" and to head the Klan in Arkansas as "[[Ku Klux Klan titles and vocabulary|Grand Dragon]] of that Realm."<ref name="Davis1924">{{cite book|author=Susan Lawrence Davis|title=Authentic History, Ku Klux Klan, 1865–1877|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvZEAAAAIAAJ|year=1924|publisher=American Library Service|page=276}}</ref> In 1939's ''Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871'', [[Stanley Horn]], who served as president of the [[Tennessee Historical Society]], also reports that Forrest appointed Pike to lead the Klan in Arkansas and credits him with a surge of local Klan activity in April 1868. Horn says that a pro-Klan poem, "Death's Brigade", is attributed to Pike, although "of course, he did not have the bravado to claim that honor publicly at that time."<ref name="Horn">{{cite book |last1=Horn |first1=Staney F. |title=Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871 |date=1939 |publisher=Houghton-Mifflin |location=Boston |pages=245–246, 337 |url=https://archive.org/details/invisibleempires00hornrich/page/336/mode/2up?q=pike}}</ref> [[Southern Agrarians|Southern Agrarian]] poet [[John Gould Fletcher]], who grew up in Little Rock in a house that Pike built,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Ben |title=John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/john-gould-fletcher-1646/ |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |publisher=CLAS |access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1950-05-24 |title=John Gould Fletcher, 1950 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-star-john-gould-fletcher/146340804/ |access-date=2024-07-28 |work=The Kansas City Star |pages=50}}</ref> likewise believed that Pike wrote the poem.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=A. Drew |title=Confederate monuments: General Albert Pike joined an effort to expel free Blacks from Arkansas |url=https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2020/07/30/confederate-monument-albert-pike-arkansas/5448301002/ |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=The Commercial Appeal |language=en-US}}</ref>

When the Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915, there even existed an Albert Pike Klan, a local chapter of the organization based in Illinois.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Albert Pike: Confederate Commissioner, Masonic Demiurge, Apologist for Slavery, Apostate of the Union {{!}} Readex |url=https://www.readex.com/blog/albert-pike-confederate-commissioner-masonic-demiurge-apologist-slavery-apostate-union |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=www.readex.com}}</ref>

In 1971, [[Allen W. Trelease]] published ''White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction'', and claimed that the office that Pike allegedly held in the KKK was not mentioned in "The Prescript", the Klan constitution.<ref name="Brown439-442" /> However, the office of [[Grand dragon|Grand Dragon]], which Davis claims Pike once held, is explicitly mentioned in the 1867 Klan constitution.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nlhHAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Grand+Wizard+of+the+Empire%22 |title=Congressional Serial Set |date=1872 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://thereconstructionera.com/the-prescript-of-the-ku-klux-klan-1867/ | title=The Prescript of the Ku Klux Klan 1867 | date=June 12, 2019 }}</ref> At the same time, Trelease noted that "Pike may well have affiliated with the Klan."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trelease |first=Allen W. |url=http://archive.org/details/whiteterrorkuklu0000trel |title=White terror : the Ku Klux Klan conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction |date=1995 |publisher=Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8071-1953-2}}</ref> As evidence, Trelease notes that Pike "was intrigued by secret societies and rituals" and "sympathized with the Klan's stated objectives."

A 1997 biography of Pike by Walter Lee Brown asserts that Pike was not a member of the Klan and Brown found "no contemporary, nor no reliable late evidence that Pike ever joined the Klan."<ref name="Brown439-442" /> Brown claims the work of Fleming, Davis and Horn are "unreliable histories", but offers no further evidence other than citing Trelease, which, in Brown's interpretation "casts doubt on Pike's membership."

==Selected books==
* [[iarchive:in.ernet.dli.2015.58802|''Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda'']] (1872)
* ''[[Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry|Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite]]'' (1872)
* ''Book of the Words'' (1874)
* ''Reprints of Old Rituals'' (1879)
* ''Esoterika'' (1887)

==See also==<!-- EDITORS NOTE: This section should primarily contain lists linked to the main article which are directly related to the person. Thank you. -->
* [[Arkansas National Guard#List of adjutants general|List of Arkansas adjutants general]]
* [[List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)|List of Confederate States Army generals]]
* [[List of Freemasons (E–Z)|List of Freemasons]]
* [[List of people from Boston]]
* [[List of people from Little Rock, Arkansas]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Abel |first=Annie |title=The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War |publisher=BiblioBazaar |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4264-6170-5 |location=City}}
* {{Cite book |last=Allsopp |first=Fred |title=Albert Pike a Biography |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=1997 |isbn=1-56459-134-4 |location=City}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Walter |title=A Life of Albert Pike |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |year=1997 |isbn=1-55728-469-5 |location=Fayetteville}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cousin |first=John |title=Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature |publisher=Kessinger Publishing, LLC |year=2003 |isbn=0-7661-4348-1 |location=City}}
* {{Cite book |last=Morris |first=S. Brent |url=https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu00morr |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry |publisher=Alpha Books |year=2006 |isbn=1-59257-490-4 |url-access=registration}}
* {{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature}}
* {{Source-attribution| {{Cite book |last=Bob Taylor's Magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA192 |title=Bob Taylor's Magazine |publisher=Taylor's Publishing Company |year=1910 |edition=Public domain |volume=11–12 }} }}
{{Div col end}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Lafferty |first=R.A. |title=Okla Hannali |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=0-8061-2349-4 |location=Oklahoma}}
* {{Cite book |last=United Daughters of the Confederacy. Memorial Chapter No. 48 (Little Rock, Ark.) |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalarkans00unit |title=Historical Arkansas. Compliments of the Memorial chapter, U. D. C., Little Rock, Arkansas |date=n.d. |publisher=Democrat Printing and Lithographing Company |location=Little Rock |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historicalarkans00unit/page/5 5]–7 |chapter=Chapter 2: Albert Pike |lccn=20018497}}

==External links==
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{{commons category}}
* {{Find a Grave|11051}}
* [https://freemasonry.network/famous-freemasons/reformers-of-freemasonry/albert-pike/ Albert Pike] at Freemasonry.network
* [http://albertpike.wordpress.com/albert-pike-lucifer Albert Pike and Lucifer] at Freemasonry and the World (albertpike.wordpress.com)
* [https://allfreemasonry.com/masonic-lodge-symbols-wisdom-through-art/ Albert Pike and Masonic Lodge Symbols] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725033653/https://allfreemasonry.com/masonic-lodge-symbols-wisdom-through-art/ |date=July 25, 2020 }} at Allfreemasonry.com
* [http://www.masonicinfo.com/pikesphilosophy.htm Albert Pike's Philosophy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420101810/http://www.masonicinfo.com/pikesphilosophy.htm |date=April 20, 2010 }} at Masonicinfo.com
* [http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/confederate/songs/apdixie.html "Everybody's Dixie" by Albert Pike] at Civilwarpoetry.org
* {{Gutenberg author|id=8681|name=Albert Pike}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Albert Pike}}
<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please follow the [[WP:EL]] guideline where possible and consider discussing on the talk page. Thank you. -->

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