Editing Albert Pike (section)

==Military service==
===Mexican–American War===
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. With his regiment, he fought in the [[Battle of Buena Vista]]. Pike was discharged in June 1847. He and his commander, Colonel [[John Selden Roane]], had several differences of opinion. This situation led finally to an "inconclusive" [[duel]] between Pike and Roane on July 29, 1847, near Fort Smith, Arkansas.<ref name="Eicher429">Eicher, John H., aer (2001) ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}. p. 429</ref> Although several shots were fired in the duel, nobody was injured, and the two were persuaded by their seconds to discontinue it.<ref name="allsopp">{{cite web| url = https://archive.org/details/lifestoryofalber00allsrich| title = <!-- quote=albert pike. --> Allsopp, Frederick William. ''A Life of Albert Pike'', Parke-Harper news service, 1920| year = 1920| publisher = Little Rock, Ark., Parke-Harper news service}}</ref>

After the war, Pike returned to the practice of law, moving to [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] for a time beginning in 1853.<ref name=EncycArkansas/> He wrote another book, ''Maxims of the Roman Law and Some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and Jurisprudence''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Walter Lee |title=A life of Albert Pike |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |year=1997 |isbn=1557284695 |location=Fayetteville |pages=61, 240, 302, 408}}</ref> Although unpublished, this book increased his reputation among his associates in law. He returned to Arkansas in 1857, gaining some amount of prominence in the legal field.

At the Southern Commercial Convention of 1854, Pike said the South should remain in the Union and seek equality with the North, but if the South "were forced into an inferior status, she would be better out of the Union than in it."<ref>Potter, David Morris and Edward, Don (1976) ''The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861''. HarperCollins. p. 467</ref> His stand was that state's rights superseded national law and he supported the idea of a Southern secession. This stand is made clear in his pamphlet of 1861, "State or Province, Bond or Free?"<ref name=EncycArkansas/>

===American Civil War===
In 1861, Pike penned the lyrics to "Dixie to Arms!"<ref>{{cite web| url = http://chnm.gmu.edu/loudountah/activities/pdf/DixieSongLyrics2.pdf| title = "Dixie to Arms!", Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University}}</ref> At the beginning of the war, Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native American nations. In this capacity he negotiated [[List of treaties of the Confederate States of America|several treaties]], one of the most important being with [[Cherokee]] chief [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]], which was concluded in 1861. At the time, Ross agreed to support the Confederacy, which promised the tribes a Native American state if it won the war. Ross later changed his mind and left Indian Territory, but the succeeding Cherokee government maintained the alliance.<ref name=smithassoc/>

Pike was commissioned as a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] in the [[Confederate States Army]] on November 22, 1861, and given a command in the [[Indian Territory]]. With Brig. Gen. [[Benjamin McCulloch|Ben McCulloch]], Pike trained three Confederate regiments of [[Indian cavalry]], most of whom belonged to the "[[Five Civilized Tribes|civilized tribes]]", whose loyalty to the Confederacy was variable. Although initially victorious at the [[Battle of Pea Ridge]] (Elkhorn Tavern) in March 1862,<ref name="mscacw">[http://www.ma150.org/day-by-day/1862-03-06/massachusetts-born-csa-general-albert-pike-leads-brigade-native-americans-batt "Massachusetts born CSA general Albert Pike leads brigade of Native Americans at the Battle of Pea Ridge", Massachusetts Sesquicentennial Commission of the American Civil War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725142921/http://www.ma150.org/day-by-day/1862-03-06/massachusetts-born-csa-general-albert-pike-leads-brigade-native-americans-batt |date=July 25, 2016 }}</ref> Pike's unit was defeated later in a counterattack, after falling into disarray. When Pike was ordered in May 1862 to send troops to Arkansas, he resigned in protest.<ref name=ipw/> As in the previous war, Pike came into conflict with his superior officers, at one time drafting a letter to [[Jefferson Davis]] complaining about his direct superior.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boyden |first=William Llewellyn |title=Bibliography of the Writings of Albert Pike: Prose, Poetry, Manuscript. |publisher=A.A.S.C. |year=1921 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=18}}</ref>

After Pea Ridge, it was alleged that Pike's Native American troops had [[scalping|scalped]] soldiers in the field.<ref>Shea, William, and Earl Hess, ''Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West''. University of North Carolina Press, 1992. {{ISBN|0-8078-4669-4}}.</ref> The single incident of scalping was, however, done by a Native American acting on his own. 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." He also filed a report in which he said it caused him the "utmost pain and regret."<ref name ="Huff">Huff, Sanford W.,''The Annals of Iowa, Published by the State Historical Society'' (Iowa State Historical Department, Division of Historical Museum and Archives, 1868), p. 149</ref>

Maj. Gen. [[Thomas C. Hindman]] charged Pike with mishandling of money and material, ordering his arrest.<ref name="Smith585">Smith, Dean E. (1986) "Pike, Albert" in ''Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War'', edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row. {{ISBN|978-0-06-273116-6}}. p. 585</ref> The incident arose when Hindman, who had declared martial law in Arkansas, ordered Pike to turn over weapons and Native American Indian treaty funds. Pike thought the action was illegal and refused.<ref name ="Brown406-16">Brown, Walter Lee, ''A Life of Albert Pike'' (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), pp. 406–16</ref> 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.<ref name="Smith585" /> He was arrested on November 3 on charges of [[insubordination]] and [[treason]], and held briefly in [[Warren, Fannin County, Texas|Warren, Texas]]. His resignation was accepted on November 11, and he was allowed to return to Arkansas.<ref name="Smith585" />

As Union troops advanced toward the state capital in September 1863, the State Supreme Court retreated to [[Washington, Arkansas]], which was made the new Confederate state capital. Associate Justice Hulbert F. Fairchild resigned because the new location was too far from his family, and Pike was appointed as his replacement.<ref name=SCOA>{{Cite web |last1=Jones |first1=William B |title=Supreme Court of Arkansas|url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/supreme-court-of-arkansas-2242/ |access-date=January 17, 2021|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture (EOA|publisher=Central Arkansas Library System )}}</ref>

In the wake of the war, Pike moved to [[New York City]], then for a short time to [[Canada]].<ref name=EncycArkansas/> On June 24, 1865, Pike applied to President [[Andrew Johnson]] for a pardon, disowning his earlier interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. 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". President Johnson pardoned him on April 23, 1866.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c95JSzYD3E0C&pg=PA287 |title=The Papers of Andrew Johnson |date=1867 |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |isbn=9780870496134 |editor-last=Bergeron |editor-first=Paul H. |volume=8: May–August 1865 |page=287 |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>