PIKE COUNTY — The man for whom twin counties in Missouri and Illinois are named would have celebrated a birthday Thursday (Jan. 5).

It’s been almost 245 years since American explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike was born in New Jersey. His story reads like an adventure novel.

Pike grew up on military posts in Ohio and Illinois. He became an army cadet at age 15 and just over a decade later led the first American exploratory venture of the Upper Mississippi River.

Pike despised the British so much that at one point during the journey he ordered the Union Jack shot off a flagpole at an English outpost. He and his men escaped before the redcoats could act.

The contemporary of Lewis and Clark wrote a popular book about the Mississippi River expedition, and later led a trek to the Southwest. A mountain in Colorado is named for him.

The man whom one biographer said had a “resolute spirit” and “combative energies” was killed during a battle with the British in the War of 1812.

As he took his last breath, Pike’s head reportedly fell upon a downed British flag – perhaps his final repudiation of English sovereignty over America.

Pike County Missouri was organized in 1818, followed by Pike County Illinois in 1821. There are still sites along the river in the area where Pike and his men camped.