Note 33 — ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE.

Some of the escapes made on this occasion were rather amusing;—one officer saved himself by dodging under a gun, and another by springing into an empty pork barrel. It was for a long time supposed that the explosion was the work of design, and the circumstance of finding the lighted trains at Fort George, (See Memoir of General Scott.) in May following, tended to strengthen this impression. General Sheaffe, however, repelled the dishonorable imputation, and declared that it was wholly accidental. The most critical and reliable biographer of General Pike, (See Memoir of Pike, by Colonel Whiting, in Sparks’ American Biography.) adopts the opinion that it was a mere accident, and could not have been designed.