Pike was commissioned in the Confederate army as a brigadier general, but his wartime career lasted less than two years. His men were accused of scalping Union troops, and he was eventually forced to resign. He received a reprieve from President Andrew Johnson and moved to Washington, D.C., where he died in 1891.

The National Park Service will reinstall a statue of a Confederate general in Washington, D.C. that was toppled during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.