Shortly before the resurrection of the Albert Pike statue, the awesome Facebook page, Dixie Forever, posted this summary of Pike’s extraordinary life:
“Albert Pike (1809–1891) was an extraordinary figure—a self-made polymath whose life spanned adventure, intellect, and influence. Here’s a snapshot of his key achievements, drawn from historical records:
– Explored the American Southwest (1831–1832), trapping and mapping routes through Texas and New Mexico.– Settled in Arkansas (1833), teaching school and editing newspapers under the pseudonym “Casca.”– Became a prominent attorney in Little Rock, shaping Arkansas’s early legal system.– Served as associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court (in exile, 1864–1865).– Represented Native American tribes (e.g., Creek Nation) in Supreme Court cases against the U.S. government (1850s).– Fought in the Mexican-American War (1846–1847) as captain of the Arkansas Mounted Infantry, participating in the Battle of Buena Vista.– Confederate brigadier general (1861–1862), commanding Native American forces in Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma); negotiated alliances with tribes like the Cherokee.– Prolific poet and essayist; works include Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems (1872) and contributions to Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, where he was hailed as one of America’s top poets.– Renowned orator whose speeches were reprinted nationwide.– Joined the Masons in 1850; became Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction) for 32 years (1859–1891).– Authored Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), a 700+ page philosophical tome blending Hermeticism, Kabbalah, and Enlightenment ideas—still a cornerstone of Masonic study.
Pike was extraordinary—Northern-born but Southern-hearted, a defender of Native rights who allied with Confederates, and a brilliant thinker.”
I don’t think I could have described Pike more eloquently if I tried.
It never ceases to boggle my mind, and to infuriate me, that the individual described above is the person whose statue was torn down and set on fire. A mob of bullies and bigots decided, because he did not live and think like the majority, that Pike did not deserve to be honored with statues and monuments. They decided, because he did not mindlessly comply with norms, that he deserved to be obliterated from existence. It’s completely incomprehensible to me how anyone could think this way. It’s as if their goal is a world in which only bland, mundane, and compliant people, who don’t think for themselves, are allowed to exist. It’s completely incomprehensible to me how anyone could want such a world.
Well, Pike is once more honored with a statue in our nation’s capital. As he abundantly deserves. Vicious, soulless bigots with no capacity for independent thought, didn’t get their way this time. And they don’t have a right to get their way, ever, because they are bad people.