Albert PikePoetic Confederate Masonic Lawyer of Arkansas and Commander at Pea Ridge "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." -Albert PikeThe words "philosopher, jurist, public speaker, writer, poet, student, soldier" are engraved in the Albert Pike Statue House at Third and D streets in Northwest Washington. Born in Massachusetts, Pike stood six feet tall and weighed 300 pounds, an imposing image even without his waist-length hair. Although rumored to have been instrumental in the initial organization of the KKK, he had great influence in the early courts of Arkansas and as an influential member of the Freemasons. Albert Pike was a lawyer who played a major role in the development of Arkansas' early courts and during the Civil War he commanded the Confederacy's Indian Territory. Albert Pike was born December 29, 1809, the child of Ben and Sarah Pike, and spent his childhood in Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. He attended school in Newburyport and Framingham until he was 15 years old. In August 1825, at the age of 16, he was accepted into Harvard University, due to a tuition dispute which he did not attend. He received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Harvard in 1859, in recognition of his prose as a poet. In 1831, Pike left Massachusetts to travel west to join a hunting expedition in New Mexico. During the trip, he lost his horse and rode the remaining 500 miles to New Mexico. His travels eventually led him to Fort Smith Arkansas. He taught school and went to work for the Arkansas Advocate newspaper. He used part of the dowry he received upon his marriage to Mary Ann Hamilton on October 10, 1834 to purchase the newspaper. Under P...... middle of paper ...... rove" his membership in the Klan. While others maintain that not only was he the "chief judicial officer" of the Klan, but he was also the leader of Arkansas. There is marginal evidence that Pike was a leader or founder of the Klan. Nevertheless, there is enough marginal evidence to continue to fuel the debate. expressed his desire to be cremated, he was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington following his death on April 2, 1981 in Washington, DC at the age of 81. He was exhumed in 1944 and his remains were transferred. at the headquarters of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction in Washington, D.C. They remain there to this day. The first highway between Hot Springs, Arkansas and Colorado Springs, Colorado, was named the Albert Pike Highway. of Little Rock Arts is located in its former Little Rock home..