Original t.p. reads: An account of expeditions to the sources of the Mississippi, and through the western parts of Louisiana, to the sources of the Arkansas, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre Juan, Rivers. Performed by order of the Government of the United Statos during the years 1805, 1806, and 1807, and a tour through the interior parts of New Spain, when conducted through these provinces, by order of the captain-general in the year 1807, by Major Z.M. Pike ... Philadelphia, Published by C. & A. Conrad & Co. .. etc., 1810.

The 1803 Louisiana Purchase was made when reliable information about the territory was virtually nonexistent. In 1805, General James Wilkinson ordered United States army officer Pike, then a lieutenant, to undertake an expedition to find the source of the Mississippi River and to assert American authority over the Native Americans and over the English traders in the upper Mississippi Valley. After his return to St. Louis in 1806, Pike received orders to lead another expedition to locate the sources of the Arkansas and Red rivers and to reconnoiter the Spanish border area. At a branch of the Rio Grande River, he was taken into custody by Spanish troops. He and his men were permitted to cross back into United States territory in 1807. This is Pike's account of those expeditions.

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