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Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (February 11, 1805 – May 16, 1866), sometimes known in childhood as Pompey or Little Pomp, was an American explorer, guide, fur trapper, trader, military scout during the Mexican–American War, alcalde (mayor) of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia and a gold digger and hotel operator in Northern California. His mother was Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone who worked as a guide and interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jean Baptiste's father was also a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, a French Canadian explorer and trader named Toussaint Charbonneau.
Jean Baptiste was born at Fort Mandan in North Dakota. In his early childhood, he accompanied his parents as they traveled across the country with the Lewis and Clark expedition, the first group to cross the U.S. to the Pacific coast. The expedition co-leader William Clark nicknamed the boy Pompey ("Pomp" or "Little Pomp"). After the death of his mother, he lived with Clark in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended St. Louis Academy. Clark paid for his education.
Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau also had a second child, a daughter named Lizette Charbonneau; however, because she receives only occasional mention in Clark's papers, her life remains unclear beyond her third birthday.
Jean Baptiste and Sacagawea appear on the United States Sacagawea dollar coin. He is the second child depicted on United States currency. Pompeys Pillar on the Yellowstone River in Montana and the community of Charbonneau, Oregon are named for him.
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born to Sacagawea, a Shoshone, and her husband, the French Canadian trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, in early 1805 at Fort Mandan in North Dakota. This was during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which wintered there in 1804–05. The senior Charbonneau had been hired by the expedition as an interpreter and, learning that his pregnant wife was Shoshone, the captains, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, agreed to bring her along. They knew they would need to negotiate with the Shoshone for horses at the headwaters of the Missouri River. Meriwether Lewis noted the boy's birth in his journal:
The party that were ordered last evening set out early this morning. the weather was fair and could wind N. W. about five o'clock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy. It is worthy of remark that this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent; Mr. Jessome informed me that he had freequently administered a small portion of the rattle of the rattle-snake, which he assured me had never failed to produce the desired effect, that of hastening the birth of the child; having the rattle of a snake by me I gave it to him and he administered two rings of it to the woman broken in small pieces with the fingers and added to a small quantity of water. Whether this medicine was truly the cause or not I shall not undertake to determine, but I was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before she brought forth perhaps this remedy may be worthy of future experiments, but I must confess that I want faith as to it's efficacy.
The infant traveled from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and back, carried along in the expedition's boats or upon his mother's back. His presence is often credited by historians with assuring native tribes of the expedition's peaceful intentions, as they believed that no war party would travel with a woman and child.
In April 1807, about a year after the end of the expedition, the Charbonneau family moved to St. Louis, at Clark's invitation. Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacagawea departed for the Mandan villages in April 1809 and left the boy to live with Clark. In November 1809, the parents returned to St. Louis to try farming, but left again in April 1811. Jean Baptiste continued to reside with Clark. Clark's two-story home, built in 1818, contained an illuminated museum 100 feet (30 m) long by 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. Its walls were decorated with national flags and life-size portraits of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, Native artifacts, and mounted animal heads. Upon visiting the museum, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, a geologist and ethnographer, wrote:
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Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (February 11, 1805 – May 16, 1866), sometimes known in childhood as Pompey or Little Pomp, was an American explorer, guide, fur trapper, trader, military scout during the Mexican–American War, alcalde (mayor) of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia and a gold digger and hotel operator in Northern California. His mother was Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone who worked as a guide and interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jean Baptiste's father was also a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, a French Canadian explorer and trader named Toussaint Charbonneau.
Jean Baptiste was born at Fort Mandan in North Dakota. In his early childhood, he accompanied his parents as they traveled across the country with the Lewis and Clark expedition, the first group to cross the U.S. to the Pacific coast. The expedition co-leader William Clark nicknamed the boy Pompey ("Pomp" or "Little Pomp"). After the death of his mother, he lived with Clark in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended St. Louis Academy. Clark paid for his education.
Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau also had a second child, a daughter named Lizette Charbonneau; however, because she receives only occasional mention in Clark's papers, her life remains unclear beyond her third birthday.
Jean Baptiste and Sacagawea appear on the United States Sacagawea dollar coin. He is the second child depicted on United States currency. Pompeys Pillar on the Yellowstone River in Montana and the community of Charbonneau, Oregon are named for him.
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born to Sacagawea, a Shoshone, and her husband, the French Canadian trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, in early 1805 at Fort Mandan in North Dakota. This was during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which wintered there in 1804–05. The senior Charbonneau had been hired by the expedition as an interpreter and, learning that his pregnant wife was Shoshone, the captains, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, agreed to bring her along. They knew they would need to negotiate with the Shoshone for horses at the headwaters of the Missouri River. Meriwether Lewis noted the boy's birth in his journal:
The party that were ordered last evening set out early this morning. the weather was fair and could wind N. W. about five o'clock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy. It is worthy of remark that this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent; Mr. Jessome informed me that he had freequently administered a small portion of the rattle of the rattle-snake, which he assured me had never failed to produce the desired effect, that of hastening the birth of the child; having the rattle of a snake by me I gave it to him and he administered two rings of it to the woman broken in small pieces with the fingers and added to a small quantity of water. Whether this medicine was truly the cause or not I shall not undertake to determine, but I was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before she brought forth perhaps this remedy may be worthy of future experiments, but I must confess that I want faith as to it's efficacy.
The infant traveled from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and back, carried along in the expedition's boats or upon his mother's back. His presence is often credited by historians with assuring native tribes of the expedition's peaceful intentions, as they believed that no war party would travel with a woman and child.
In April 1807, about a year after the end of the expedition, the Charbonneau family moved to St. Louis, at Clark's invitation. Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacagawea departed for the Mandan villages in April 1809 and left the boy to live with Clark. In November 1809, the parents returned to St. Louis to try farming, but left again in April 1811. Jean Baptiste continued to reside with Clark. Clark's two-story home, built in 1818, contained an illuminated museum 100 feet (30 m) long by 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. Its walls were decorated with national flags and life-size portraits of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, Native artifacts, and mounted animal heads. Upon visiting the museum, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, a geologist and ethnographer, wrote: