In 1805 the General was employed with a party of twenty men to explore the Mississippi River to its source. Later on he was selected to explore the interior of the then called country of Louisiana. In 1806 he discovered the famous Pike's Peak in Colorado, and on his return he received the thanks of Congress. The same year (Sept. 29) he "caused the Spanish flag to be lowered and the flag of the United States to be raised" at Pawnee, Kansas, where a monument so stating was erected by the State of Kansas in 1901, at a cost of $3,000. Afterwards he was appointed Captain, then a Major, and in 1810 a Colonel of infantry. In 1813 he was appointed a Brigadier-General. On the 25th day of April, 1813, at the head of 1,500 choice troops, he sailed for Sacketts Harbor on an expedition against Little York, now Toronto, the then capital of Upper Canada.

In the taking of York a tremendous explosion took place from a British magazine which had been previously prepared for that purpose. An immense quantity of large stones was thrown with terrible force in every direction, one of which struck General Pike on the breast and mortally wounded him. It is stated that when the surgeons were carrying him from the field a tumultuous huzza was heard; Pike, turning his head with an anxious look of inquiry, was told by a sergeant: "The British Union Jack is coming down General; the Stars are going up!" He heaved a heavy sigh and smiled. He was then carried on board the Commodore's ship, where he lingered for a few hours. Just before he breathed his last the British standard was brought to him, when he made a sign to have it placed under his head, and expired. He was probably the greatest of all our Generals to fall in our second war with Great Britain.

The tablet in St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Warren Street, Trenton, has led many to believe that General Pike's body was buried there, but this is not so. His remains, after the battle at York, were conveyed to Sackett's Harbor, Jefferson County, New York, and buried with military honors near Fort Tompkins. Afterwards, in 1818, they were removed from Sackett's Harbor to the burial-grounds at Madison Barracks in the immediate vicinity. Over his grave a plain wooden shaft was erected jointly to his memory and other gallant officers. On one side it bore the inscription: "In memory of Gen. Z. M. Pike. Killed at York, U.C., 27 April, 1813."

Backes, William J., "General Zebulon M. Pike, Somerset-Born," Somerset County Historical Quarterly, 8 (1919).