Brief by Central Staff
Pike Bicentennial – October 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine –
WHEN WE LEFT Lt. Zebulon M. Pike and his small party at the end of September, they were camped amid the Pawnee near present Red Cloud, Nebraska, on the Republican River.
Pike’s negotiations with the Pawnee were an important part of his mission. He was supposed to switch their allegiance from Spain to the United States, and get their assistance in reaching the Comanche (Pike often called them Tetaus) for the same diplomatic effort. The Comanche had made peace with Spain after Juan Bautista de Anza’s 1779 campaign, which took him through Central Colorado.