Piketon — Named for General Zebulon Pike
Piketon, Pike County, Ohio
Marker Inscription
PIKETON | NAMED FOR GENERAL ZEBULON PIKE KILLED IN STORMING OF YORK, UPPER CANADA. 1813
The Story
Piketon, the seat of Pike County in south-central Ohio, carries the name of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, the army officer and explorer best remembered for the 1806 expedition that gave Pike's Peak its name. By the War of 1812 Pike had risen to brigadier general, and on April 27, 1813, he was leading American troops in the assault on York (present-day Toronto) in Upper Canada when a retreating British garrison detonated its powder magazine. The blast mortally wounded Pike, and he died soon after — reportedly with a captured enemy flag beneath his head. Ohioans laying out this county and town in the war's aftermath honored the fallen general by attaching his name to the land.
Why it matters
It ties a quiet Ohio town to the sweep of early national history — from the western explorations that mapped the young republic to the War of 1812 that tested its survival — showing how communities across the frontier memorialized their heroes in the very names of their places.
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Related people
- · Zebulon Montgomery Pike
Related events
- · Battle of York (1813)
- · War of 1812
Themes & tags
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