Albert Pike (December 29, 1809 – April 2, 1891) was an American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist and Confederate States Army general who served as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court in exile from 1864 to 1865.

He had previously served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army, commanding the District of Indian Territory in the Trans-Mississippi Theater.

A prominent member of the Freemasons, Pike served as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction from 1859 to 1891.

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.

[3] Pike was an imposing figure; 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 300 pounds (140 kg) with hair that reached his shoulders and a long beard.

[1] En route his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining 500 miles (800 km) to Taos.

Trapping was minimal and, after traveling about 1,300 miles (2,100 km), half of it on foot, he finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Under Pike's administration, the Advocate promoted the viewpoint of the Whig Party in a politically volatile and divided Arkansas in December 1832.

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 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.

[12] 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.

In the United States, Pike is still considered an eminent[15] and influential[16] Freemason, primarily in the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction.

[18] 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.

At the time, Ross agreed to support the Confederacy, which promised the tribes a Native American state if it won the war.

[4] Pike was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army on November 22, 1861, and given a command in the Indian Territory.

Gen. Ben McCulloch, Pike trained three Confederate regiments of Indian cavalry, most of whom belonged to the "civilized tribes", whose loyalty to the Confederacy was variable.

Although initially victorious at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in March 1862,[1] Pike's unit was defeated later in a counterattack, after falling into disarray.

Official records submitted to the Headquarters Department of Indian territory reveal that Pike "regarded [the incident] with horror" and that he was personally "angry and disgusted."

[26] The incident arose when Hindman, who had declared martial law in Arkansas, ordered Pike to turn over weapons and Native American Indian treaty funds.

[27] 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.

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".

[30]Pike died on April 2, 1891, at the Scottish Rite Temple of the Supreme Council in Washington DC, at the age of 81,[32] and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, despite the fact that he had left instructions for his body to be cremated.

He was the only former Confederate military officer with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C., and in 2019 Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton called for its removal.

[36] Albert Pike Highway was an auto trail that extended more than 900 miles (1,400 km) from Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, crossing the Ozark Mountains and passing through Fort Smith, Muskogee, Tulsa, Dodge City, La Junta and Pueblo.

"[43] 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.

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.

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.

"[57] As evidence, Trelease notes that Pike "was intrigued by secret societies and rituals" and "sympathized with the Klan's stated objectives."