Toussaint Charbonneau (March 20, 1767 - August 12, 1843; see note) was a French-Canadian explorer and trader, and a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, best known as the husband of Sacagawea. March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... 1767 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... French Canadian is a term that has several different connotations. ... Contents: Top - 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A Diogo de Azambuja (15th century Portuguese explorer of the African coast) Pêro de Alenquer (15th century Portuguese explorer... The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) was the first United States overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. ... Sacagawea (Sakakawea, Sacajawea; see below) (c. ...

Early years

Charbonneau was born in Boucherville, Quebec (near Montréal), a community with strong links to exploration and the fur trade. His paternal grandmother was the sister of Jacques DeNoyon who had explored the region around Kaministiquia (Thunder Bay) prior to 1700. In earlier years, Father Jacques Marquette, and later on La Verendrye were part of this community, as well as Boucher de Monbruen, who guided George Rogers Clark in his conquest of Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Vincennes. Boucherville is a town in the Canadian province of Quebec. ... This article needs cleanup. ... The term fur refers to the body hair of non-human mammals also known as the pelage (like the term plumage in birds). ... Thunder Bay, Ontario - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Father Jacques Marquette, S.J. (1636 - May 19, 1675) and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to see and map the Mississippi River. ... George Rogers Clark Painted by Rosemary Brown Beck George Rogers Clark (November 9, 1752–February 13, 1818) was the preeminent American military leader on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. ...

He worked for a time as a fur trapper with the North West Company. It is while thus employed that he enters the historical record, in the journals of the recorder of an expedition of the NWC, John MacDowell. After several routine mentions of Charbonneau, MacDowell writes on May 30, 1795: "Tousst. Charbonneau was stabbed at the Manitou-a-banc end of the P. l. P. in the act of committing a Rape upon her Daughter by an old Saultier woman with a Canoe Awl—a fate he highly deserved for his brutality— It was with difficulty he could walk back over the portage". ["P. l. P." indicates Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.] The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in the city of Montreal in British North America. ... May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Saulteaux are a First Nation in Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, Canada. ... for the rural municipality see Portage la Prairie, Manitoba (rural municipality) Portage la Prairie is a city in the Canadian province of Manitoba. ...

It was probably during the period of his employ with the North West Company that he first encountered the established settlement of Mandan and Hidatsa tribes on the upper Missouri River, in what today is North Dakota. He settled amongst these tribes, according to his own report around 1797, and the area would remain his home for the rest of his life. At that point he became a free agent, working on his own and for several different companies operating in the area, as a trapper, as a laborer, and as a translator of the Hidatsa language. Crows Heart, a Mandan man, circa 1908. ... Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, are a Native American group comprised of a union of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples, whose native lands ranged across the Missouri River basin in the Dakotas. ... The Missouri River and its tributaries N.P. Dodge Park, Omaha, Nebraska High silt content makes the Missouri (left) noticeably lighter than the Mississipi here at their confluence above St. ... State nickname: Peace Garden State, Roughrider State, Flickertail State Other U.S. States Capital Bismarck Largest city Fargo Governor John Hoeven (R) Official languages English Area 183 272 km² (19th)  - Land 178 839 km²  - Water 4 432 km² (2. ...

Soon after arrival at this settlement, Charbonneau purchased two captive Shoshone women from the Hidatsa, Sacagawea and "Otter Woman." These two young women had been captured by the Hidatsa on one of their annual raiding and hunting parties to the west. Charbonneau eventually considered these women to be his wives, though whether they were bound through Native American custom or simply through common law is indeterminate. Shoshone around their tipi, probably taken around 1890 Shoshone Indians at Ft. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Sacagawea became pregnant with their first child in 1804, and it was during this year also that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark came to the area, built Fort Mandan, and recruited additional members to the Corps of Discovery. Charbonneau was interviewed for a position translating Hidatsa. Lewis and Clark, however, were not overly impressed with him; Charbonneau spoke no English and, although there were several in the party who could translate from French, an additional problem was that he did not even know Hidatsa all that well (by his own admission, over thirty years later, he still could not speak the language well after having lived with the Hidatsa during all that time). However, when it was discovered that his wives were Shoshone, Lewis and Clark were keen to have a translator for this language as well, and Charbonneau was therefore hired on November 4. He and Sacagawea moved into Fort Mandan a week later. Meriwether Lewis, portrait by Charles Willson Peale Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator; he is best known for his role as the leader of the Corps of Discovery. ... William Clark (August 1, 1770 - September 1, 1838) was an explorer who accompanied Meriwether Lewis on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. ... Fort Mandan was the name of the encampment at which the Lewis and Clark expedition wintered in 1804-1805. ...

During the winter, Charbonneau communicated with members of the North West Company, and brought information back to Lewis' and Clark's company (during this period the situation between Britain and the United States was tense, and the group was concerned about how the British presence in the area would affect their group). Charbonneau's and Sacagawea's son Jean Baptiste was born during the winter at the fort, on February 11, 1805. Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (February 11, 1805 - May 16, 1866) the son of the French Canadian interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacagawea, the Shoshone guide of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. ... February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

On the Lewis and Clark Trail

In the spring, as the expedition was preparing to get underway, Charbonneau had second thoughts about his role with the group. On March 12, 1805 it is recorded that he quit the expedition, having said he was dissatisfied that he would be required to stand guard, perform manual labor, etc. However on March 17 he returned and apologized, saying he would like to re-join the company; he was re-hired the following day. March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ...

At age 37, Charbonneau was the oldest member of the expedition. His performance during the journey was mixed: Meriwether Lewis called him "a man of no peculiar merit" and many historians paint Charbonneau in a distinctly unfavorable light, in no small part due to the rape incident mentioned above. Most of Charbonneau's positive contributions to the expedition itself were overshadowed by the incident with the "white pirogue," which also painted his wife Sacagawea in a very favorable light. These are small flat hulled boats used primarily by the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh to travel around. ...

The incident was presaged by one recorded in the journals on April 15, 1805, only a few days after the journey had set out. A sudden wind rocked his boat, and Charbonneau panicked; fortunately George Drouillard grabbed the tiller and righted the boat before a major incident, but the episode demonstrated that Charbonneau probably did not know how to swim (a decided detriment on a long river voyage). April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... George Drouillard was one of the only non-military members of the Corps to complete the Lewis and Clark Expedition from camp Dubois to the Pacific Ocean and back. ...

A similar, more serious incident occurred about a month later. In the journals for May 14, 1805 it is recorded that the pirogue driven by Charbonneau was again hit by a squall. He again lost control of himself; Pierre Cruzatte, in the boat with him, threatened to shoot him if he did not regain his composure, but to no avail. The boat was nearly capsized, and equipment and papers lost into the river. Fortunately Sacagawea rescued most of these items from the water. Meriwether Lewis was irate, writing that Charbonneau was "perhaps the most timid waterman in the world." May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Pvt Pierre Cruzatte was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. ...

Charbonneau, however, made several contributions to the success of the expedition. He was helpful when the expedition encountered French trappers from Canada, and he also served as a cook; his recipe for bodin blanc (a sausage made from bison meat) was praised by several members of the party. Additionally, his skill in striking a bargain came in very handy at the Shoshone encampment where the expedition acquired much-needed horses. Some of the many varieties of Sausages A sausage consists of ground meat and other animal parts, herbs and spices, and possibly other ingredients, generally packed in a casing (traditionally the intestines of the animal), and preserved in some way. ... Binomial name Bison bison Linnaeus, 1758 The American Bison (Bison bison), also called Buffalo, is a bovine mammal that is the largest terrestrial mammal in North America. ...

William Clark was particularly taken with young Jean Baptiste (whom he nicknamed "Pomp"), and by extension the entire Charbonneau family, including Toussaint. Despite having had to reprimand him with regard to his duties (October 27, 1805) and having intervened in a marital dispute in which Charbonneau hit his wife (August 14 of that year), Clark nevertheless offered to set Charbonneau's family up comfortably in St. Louis after the expedition, and to provide an education for Jean Baptiste. October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining. ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... The Gateway Arch, shown here behind the Old Courthouse, is the most recognizable part of the St. ...

After the expedition

Charbonneau initially declined Clark's offer to relocate to St. Louis, preferring life with the Mandan and Hidatsa. He was paid $500.33 for his nineteen months with the expedition, and remained in the upper Missouri area for some time. However, by 1809, the family had indeed relocated to St. Louis and Charbonneau briefly took up farming for a living. This lifestyle appears to have disagreed with him, and he gave it up after a few months, leaving with Sacagawea and entrusting the care of Jean Baptiste to William Clark, to whom he had sold his 320 acre (1.3 km²) grant for $100.

He then took a job with Manuel Lisa's Missouri Fur Company, and was stationed at Fort Manuel. While he was on an expedition with the company in 1812, Sacagawea died at the fort, and the following year Charbonneau signed over formal custody of his son Jean Baptiste to William Clark. Manuel Lisa (September 8, 1772 - August 12, 1820) was a well known fur trader and explorer who founded the Missouri Fur Company. ...

During the period of 1811-38 Charbonneau also worked for the Upper Missouri Agency's Indian Bureau (a federal agency) as a translator, making from $300 to $400 per year from the government. It is thought that he owed this position to the patronage of William Clark, who was from 1813 the governor of the Missouri Territory; upon Clark's death, Charbonneau's employment with the government came to an abrupt halt. Missouri Territory was a historic, organized territory in the United States. ...

Surviving records show that Charbonneau was widely disliked by others in the Missouri Territory. Part of the reason for this may be his casual attitude toward employment: he was variously hired by Lisa's Missouri Fur Company and by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, bitter rivals. He is also said to have abandoned another employer, James Kipp, while on a fur expedition in 1834. Perhaps because of this, Charbonneau gained a good deal of his livelihood in work as a guide for people from outside the area, among whom were Karl Bodmer and Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied; to this end he would play up his experience with Lewis and Clark to its best advantage. John Jacob (originally Johann Jakob) Astor (July 17, 1763 - March 29, 1848) made a fortune in fur trading and real estate. ... The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. ... Karl Bodmer, (February 6, 1809-October 30, 1893), was a Swiss painter of the American West. ... Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782 - 1867) was a German explorer. ...

Charbonneau is known to have had altogether five wives, all Native American girls who he married when they were sixteen years old or younger; he may have had more wives that have been lost from the record. His last known wife, an Assiniboine girl, was 14 when she married him in 1837; he would have been more than 70 years old. The Assiniboine, also known as the Assnipwan or sometimes the Stone Sioux, are a Native American people, originally from the Northern Great Plains area of North America, specifically in present-day Montana and parts of Canada around the US/Canadian border. ...

He is said to have died at Fort Mandan.

Note: dates and locations of Charbonneau's birth and death are taken from information at the Programme de recerche en démographie historique at the Université de Montréal [1] and are not necessarily authoritative. Other research places his date of birth in 1758, which would have made him 46 at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Université de Montréal (UdeM) (University of Montreal) is one of four universities in Montreal, Quebec. ...