Jean Baptiste Charbonneau

Who was Jean Baptiste Charbonneau?

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was an American explorer, guide, fur trapper trader, military scout during the Mexican-American War, alcalde of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, and a gold prospector and hotel operator in Northern California. He spoke French and English, and learned German and Spanish during his six years in Europe from 1823 to 1829. He also spoke Shoshone and other western American Indian languages, which he picked up during his years of trapping and guiding.

Jean Baptiste was the son of Sacagawea, a Shoshone, and her Metis French-Canadian husband Toussaint Charbonneau, who worked as a trapper and interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition; he was born at Fort Mandan in North Dakota. He was taken by his parents as an infant across the country. The Expedition co-leader William Clark nicknamed the boy Pomp. He lived with Clark in St. Louis, Missouri as a boy, 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 who, as there is no later record of her among William Clark's papers, is believed to have died in childhood.