Note V-17 — Chapter V · CORRESPONDENCE AND CONFERENCES.[V-1]

This is the last letter we have from Pike on the subject of the Mississippi voyage. It is, in fact, a letter of transmittal of his official report to the commanding general, and thus a sort of preface or introduction to the whole subject. In two weeks from the date of this communication Pike had started up the Missouri on his second expedition, and of course did nothing further with his Mississippi matters until he had returned from Mexico, the following year. Article 19 therefore completes the batch of miscellaneous documents, chiefly letters, which I have grouped in this chapter of "Correspondence and Conferences." But we have still to deal with four formal articles relating to the Mississippian voyage; these I make the subjects of the following chapters.