Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. Duke Friedrich
Speaker 1: Paul Wilhelm of Wurttemberg was a collector. He was a
Speaker 1: man who would eventually fill his palace, located one hundred
Speaker 1: kilometers outside Stuttgart, with countless artifacts from around the world,
Speaker 1: skins from animals killed in Africa, knives from Native American tribes,
Speaker 1: art and natural wonders from Australia. His palace would be
Speaker 1: the largest private collection at the time of natural history
Speaker 1: in Germany, possibly even in Europe. But as a younger man,
Speaker 1: Duke Paul was also a collector of experiences. He was
Speaker 1: bored with the military and bored with royal court. He
Speaker 1: was a prince in the most powerful family in the region,
Speaker 1: nephew to the King of Wurttemberg, but he was the
Speaker 1: fifth son, and so he had the flexibility and freedom
Speaker 1: to take some time to do what he wanted. And
Speaker 1: what Paul wanted to do was explore. Early in the
Speaker 1: eighteen twenties, when Paul Wilhelm was in his early twenties,
Speaker 1: he wrote a letter to the American government requesting permission
Speaker 1: to travel throughout the country. He wanted to learn as
Speaker 1: much as he could about the natural world, and though
Speaker 1: of course he didn't actually want to do it anonymously,
Speaker 1: he was going to request permission, after all, he did
Speaker 1: want to do it incognito. President Monroe scoffed at that part,
Speaker 1: and without Paul Wilhelm's knowledge, Monroe went ahead and ensured
Speaker 1: that the Secretary of State informed all local authorities that
Speaker 1: a German prince was to be protected by whatever means necessary,
Speaker 1: even military guards if need be. But Paul Wilhelm didn't
Speaker 1: know that an entire government had mobilized to ensure his safety,
Speaker 1: and in eighteen twenty two he sailed to New Orleans
Speaker 1: from Hamburg in a three masted ship to begin his
Speaker 1: grand adventure, probably imagining he was in more physical peril
Speaker 1: than the American government would have ever let befall such
Speaker 1: an important visitor, the Duke brought with him what was
Speaker 1: considered an incredibly paltry entourage, only one servant, one hunter,
Speaker 1: and one master woodworker, who I imagine is the type
Speaker 1: of person you want to bring along when you're doing
Speaker 1: so much travel by boat. Duke Paul was amazed at
Speaker 1: the natural beauty of the so called New World, the
Speaker 1: flora and fauna, the vast mountains and sweeping vistas. He
Speaker 1: eventually even joined an expedition to track one of the
Speaker 1: sources of the Missouri River. After three years spent exploring
Speaker 1: North America, Duke Paul returned to Germany. But he wouldn't
Speaker 1: do so empty handed. Like I said, Paul was a
Speaker 1: collector and it wasn't just animals and objects that he
Speaker 1: liked to fill his palace with. Paul had met a
Speaker 1: young man only a few years younger than he was,
Speaker 1: named Jean Baptiste Charboneaux in Kansas. Charboneau was the son
Speaker 1: of a Native American woman and a French fur trapper,
Speaker 1: and when Paul returned to Germany, Jean Baptiste Charboneau would
Speaker 1: accompany him, living abroad with the Prince for six years
Speaker 1: in something that was framed as sort of a cultural
Speaker 1: exchange program. If the name Jean Baptiste Charboneau doesn't ring
Speaker 1: any bells, would you believe me if I told you
Speaker 1: you've almost certainly seen a picture of him, or at
Speaker 1: least if you're American, you've almost certainly seen a picture
Speaker 1: of him as a baby On his mother's back. It's
Speaker 1: an image so iconic it was printed on the gold
Speaker 1: one dollar coin that was minted in the United States
Speaker 1: in the year two thousand to honor Jean Baptiste's mother,
Speaker 1: saka Jeweya. The story of Sakajawea, the young Native woman
Speaker 1: with an infant child who accompanied Lewis and Clark on
Speaker 1: their quest to the Pacific, has become almost an American myth,
Speaker 1: a story that's been flattened to its broadest, most inspiring strokes.
Speaker 1: The story of Sakajawea, as myth, ends with Lewis and
Speaker 1: Clark's successful journey, her son forever an infant, But Jean
Speaker 1: Baptiste Charboneau grew up and he became a man, and
Speaker 1: his strange life is perhaps the most American story imaginable.
Speaker 1: A life caught between a shifting West and calcified European aristocracy.
Speaker 1: A life caught between his native ancestry that made him
Speaker 1: quote exotic and his white connections that allowed him certain privileges,
Speaker 1: A life of celebrity, of politics of the gold Rush.
Speaker 1: There's a theme that's recurred on this podcast over and
Speaker 1: over again. If you allow yourself to become a symbol
Speaker 1: you get certain privileges, but you sacrifice the right to
Speaker 1: be an actual human being. We all know the powerful
Speaker 1: image of Jean Baptiste Charboneau and what he represented as
Speaker 1: an infant, But who was he as a man. I'm
Speaker 1: Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. Jean Baptiste Charboneau's
Speaker 1: life as a symbol began immediately when he was born.
Speaker 1: In eighteen oh four, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set
Speaker 1: out with a group known as the Core of Discovery
Speaker 1: with the goal of exploring and mapping the recently purchased
Speaker 1: Louisiana territory. The trip began at the border of southern Illinois,
Speaker 1: what up until then had been the end of the
Speaker 1: United States, and the group traveled north and west until
Speaker 1: they reached Oregon and the Pacific Ocean. The entire expedition
Speaker 1: is mythologized in American culture, particularly when it's taught to
Speaker 1: younger children, for embodying a spirit of adventure, a piece
Speaker 1: of Romantic Americana that we can cling to in our
Speaker 1: comparatively short national history, But the details of that exploratory
Speaker 1: trip are less frequently explored in any significant detail. It
Speaker 1: was about five months into the journey, when the corps
Speaker 1: reached what is currently North Dakota, where they set up
Speaker 1: a fort near the native Manden people called Fort Manden.
Speaker 1: It was there that they hired a French fur trader
Speaker 1: who had been living among the native people to act
Speaker 1: as a guide and translator on the arduous journey up
Speaker 1: the Missouri River and through the mountains. His name was
Speaker 1: to Saint Charboneaux, and as luck would have it, his wife,
Speaker 1: or rather one of his wives, was a Native Shoshone woman,
Speaker 1: and it was decided that she would come along on
Speaker 1: the journey to help communicate with the Shoshone people. Her
Speaker 1: name was Sakajuweya. Now this is the detail that they
Speaker 1: don't teach in the most romantic versions of the Adventures
Speaker 1: of Lewis and Clark and Sakagaweya. She was sixteen years old,
Speaker 1: and she was Charboneau's wife only in the sense that
Speaker 1: he had purchased her or won her while gambling when
Speaker 1: she was thirteen years old, along with another Shoshone girl
Speaker 1: named Otter Woman. When Sakageweya was twelve twelve, her tribe
Speaker 1: had been raided by a group of Hidatza people and
Speaker 1: she was held captive. Charboneaux purchased Sakajaueya and otter woman
Speaker 1: from the Hidatza, And so while texts refer to Sakajawea
Speaker 1: as Charboneau's wife, I want to make very clear that,
Speaker 1: even though that's the language a lot of texts use,
Speaker 1: this was in no way a consensual marriage. And just
Speaker 1: as long as we're being clear eyed about the history,
Speaker 1: I think it's also important to note that Clark had
Speaker 1: with him on the journey an enslaved man named York,
Speaker 1: a man that he had inherited from his father. Anyway,
Speaker 1: the corps remained at Fort Manden for the winter, and
Speaker 1: in February of eighteen oh five, Sakajuweya gave birth to
Speaker 1: John Baptiste. Less than two months later, the expedition set
Speaker 1: off again, with Sakajawea and her infant son in tow.
Speaker 1: Little Jean Baptiste was adored by Clark, who delightedly nicknamed
Speaker 1: him Pompey. But more than that, the entire expedition quickly
Speaker 1: realized what a coup it was to have an infant
Speaker 1: with them. In his journals, Clark writes about an incident
Speaker 1: along the riverside of the Columbia Plateau, where a group
Speaker 1: of Native Americans fled into their homes visibly threatened by Clark.
Speaker 1: Apparently he had fired a gun nearby, and they, for
Speaker 1: good reason, assumed he was most likely a threat. No
Speaker 1: matter how Clark tried to explain that he was part
Speaker 1: of an exploratory mission, the Native Americans would not engage
Speaker 1: with him. There was fear that the tension might bubble
Speaker 1: into violence. And then Sakajeweya and baby John Baptiste arrived
Speaker 1: with Lewis by canoe. Clark wrote, they immediately all came
Speaker 1: out and appeared to assume new life. The sight of
Speaker 1: this Indian woman, wife to one of our interpreters, confirmed
Speaker 1: those people of our friendly intentions, as no woman ever
Speaker 1: accompanies a war party of Indians in this quarter. Sakujueya
Speaker 1: would also prove to be a boon to the Core
Speaker 1: in more than just her physical presence. When a storm
Speaker 1: caused a boat to capsize, it was Sakajuweya who dove
Speaker 1: into the river and recovered many of the lost items,
Speaker 1: including all of the corp's journals, which had been lost
Speaker 1: when the Corps reached western Montana. Sakjuea was able to
Speaker 1: point out Beaverhead Rock, a formation she recognized from her
Speaker 1: childhood from where her nation would spend their summers, and
Speaker 1: she pointed out where they would approach the pass through
Speaker 1: the mountains. The group finally rendezvous with the Shoshone people,
Speaker 1: and Sacjuwea had what must have been an incredibly surreal
Speaker 1: and beautiful moment. She had been kidnapped from her home
Speaker 1: when she was twelve, held captive, sold and married to
Speaker 1: a stranger, and then years later, as part of the
Speaker 1: Corps of Discovery, she reunited with her tribe, only to
Speaker 1: realize that their chief was now her brother. As thanks
Speaker 1: for reuniting him with his long lost sister, the chief, Camelwaite,
Speaker 1: provided the group with the horses they would need to
Speaker 1: cross the Rocky Mountains. This is also much less of
Speaker 1: a big deal, but it is a detail I find touching.
Speaker 1: Zaka Jueya gave up her beaded belt so that Lewis
Speaker 1: and Clark could use it to trade for a sea
Speaker 1: otter fur coat that they wanted to give to Thomas Jefferson.
Speaker 1: To quote Clark on the incident directly, one of the
Speaker 1: Indians had on a robe made of two seotter skins.
Speaker 1: The fur of them were more beautiful than any fur
Speaker 1: I had ever seen. Both Captain Lewis and myself endeavored
Speaker 1: to purchase the robe with different articles. At length we
Speaker 1: procured it for a belt of blue beads, which the
Speaker 1: wife of our interpreter, Charboneau, wore around her waist. I
Speaker 1: feel like he could have at least given her named
Speaker 1: credit on that one. But alas and so that was
Speaker 1: little Pompey's life for his first year, traveling across the
Speaker 1: brand new nation, serving as silent ambassador, a mascot with
Speaker 1: his mother for the expedition's peaceful intentions. When the expedition
Speaker 1: was finally over, Lewis and Clark dropped Sakaguweya to Saint
Speaker 1: Charbono and Pompey, now a year and a half old,
Speaker 1: back near the Mandon people where they had started. Clark
Speaker 1: had grown attached to Little Pompey and told his parents
Speaker 1: that he would take him off their hands for them,
Speaker 1: raising him as his own and seeing to his education.
Speaker 1: A little while after the expedition, Clark wrote to tous
Speaker 1: Saint Charbono, entreating him and Sakageweya to common move to
Speaker 1: Illinois to be closer to him. At the letter's end,
Speaker 1: Clark added, as to your little son, my boy Pomp,
Speaker 1: you well know my fondness for him and my anxiety
Speaker 1: to take and raise him as my own child. I
Speaker 1: once more tell you, if you will bring your son
Speaker 1: Baptiste to me, I will educate him and treat him
Speaker 1: as my own child. Wish you and your family great success,
Speaker 1: and with anxious expectations of seeing my little dancing boy Baptiste,
Speaker 1: I shall remain your friend. William Clark three years later
Speaker 1: to Saint Charboneau and sack Juwea did move to Saint Louis,
Speaker 1: where they allowed Clark to take command of little Jean
Speaker 1: Baptiste's education. Clark quickly enrolled the boy in Saint Louis
Speaker 1: Academy boarding school. I do think that Clark genuinely liked
Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste and was attached to him, after all, he
Speaker 1: was there for the first year and a half of
Speaker 1: his life, and he was his boy Pomp. But I
Speaker 1: do think it would be a mistake to imagine that
Speaker 1: his offer of paying for Jean Baptiste's education was entirely altruistic,
Speaker 1: or rather altruistic without some slightly uncomfortable colonial implications. Because
Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste was half Native American, his education could serve
Speaker 1: as a model for assimilation for one of the most
Speaker 1: famous women in American history, at least in terms of
Speaker 1: name recognition. It's a little astonishing how little recorded history
Speaker 1: there is about what happened to Secduea next. Most likely,
Speaker 1: she died in eighteen twelve, presumably while living with Toussaint
Speaker 1: at the Fort. Lisa trading Port, a clerk at the fort,
Speaker 1: recorded in his journal on December twentieth, eighteen twelve, that
Speaker 1: the wife of Charboneau died of putrid fever. The fur
Speaker 1: trader and later Congressman Henry Breckinridge had also written that
Speaker 1: zakajuwea Quote had become sickly and longed to revisit her
Speaker 1: native country. As for Toucsant's other quote wife, otter woman,
Speaker 1: after the Corps journals note that they were taking one
Speaker 1: of Toucsant's wives along but not the other Otter woman
Speaker 1: fully disappears from the record, and I haven't found any
Speaker 1: reputable information at all about what happened to her. And so,
Speaker 1: though while some claim that Zaca Joweya left Fort Lisa
Speaker 1: and did return to her home people. She most likely
Speaker 1: died when she was twenty five years old, having recently
Speaker 1: given birth to an infant girl. Almost immediately, Toussains Charboneau
Speaker 1: signed over custody of both Jean Baptiste and the little girl, Lizette,
Speaker 1: over to Clark. Adoption papers in the Saint Louis records
Speaker 1: make clear quote on August eleven, in eighteen thirteen, William
Speaker 1: Clark became the guardian of tous Saint Charbono, a boy
Speaker 1: of about ten years and Lizette Charboneau, a girl about
Speaker 1: one year old. As for Lizette, it's assumed she also
Speaker 1: died young because, and perhaps you notice a pattern here,
Speaker 1: there is nothing more written about her. She simply disappears
Speaker 1: from the record. Toussaint Charboneau would live for another thirty years,
Speaker 1: going on to mary at least three more teenage Native
Speaker 1: American girls, including a fourteen year old when he was
Speaker 1: seventy years old. We have to imagine Jean Baptiste Charboneau's childhood,
Speaker 1: his guardian, the famous William Clark, his mother dead, his
Speaker 1: father gone, possibly raised alongside a young sister, possibly alone,
Speaker 1: sent to boarding school until he was sixteen, when he
Speaker 1: would meet the man who would change the course of
Speaker 1: his life. Life. Duke Paul Wilhelm, thrilled by the promise
Speaker 1: of natural discovery in the New World, had sailed across
Speaker 1: the ocean to America. He was a fairly accomplished naturalist
Speaker 1: and amateur painter dedicated to documenting the natural world. On
Speaker 1: June twenty first, eighteen twenty three, he arrived at a
Speaker 1: small chateau settlement near the mouth of the Kansas River.
Speaker 1: That was where he first met Jean Baptiste Charboneau, and
Speaker 1: from their first meeting, Paul Wilhelm was aware of the
Speaker 1: celebrity of his mother. He wrote, quote here I also
Speaker 1: found a youth whose mother, a member of the tribe
Speaker 1: of Shoshones or Snake Indians, had accompanied the Messrs Lewis
Speaker 1: and Clark as an interpreter to the Pacific Ocean. The
Speaker 1: European continued up the Missouri River to its source, and
Speaker 1: actually at one point hired to Saint Charbonneau as a
Speaker 1: guide and translator. His mission was successful, and when the
Speaker 1: Duke came back through America's interior that fall, when he
Speaker 1: reached the Kansas River again. This time he would take
Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste along with him, with the plan that the
Speaker 1: two of them would both go back to Germany together.
Speaker 1: The trip turned out to be a challenging one. The
Speaker 1: steamboat that the men were on to get to New
Speaker 1: Orleans sank, but they did make it eventually, though The
Speaker 1: trip across the Atlantic would prove to be its own
Speaker 1: arduous journey. Duke Paul wrote, the sea fought us with
Speaker 1: huge waves, and the ship was tossed about so violently
Speaker 1: that the rolling action became unbearable. The waves struck with
Speaker 1: such force overboard that part of the railing was shattered,
Speaker 1: but the pair did eventually make it safely back to Germany.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't just John Baptiste that Duke Paul brought back.
Speaker 1: He also brought back a live alligator that he had
Speaker 1: captured in New Orleans. Jean Baptiste was only a few
Speaker 1: years younger than Duke Paul, but it's difficult to discern
Speaker 1: whether the relationship between the two men was one of
Speaker 1: friendship or whether it was something more paternalistic or colonial.
Speaker 1: The first major English translation of the original German texts
Speaker 1: was done in the nineteen thirties, by Professor Lewis C.
Speaker 1: Butcher at the University of Wyoming, and historians today are
Speaker 1: fairly dismissive of his translations for being let's say, overly
Speaker 1: romantic at best and more than a little embellished. Professor
Speaker 1: Butcher's version of the story is the two men becoming
Speaker 1: instant and close friends, both young men from illustrious families,
Speaker 1: one a German prince, the other the scion one of
Speaker 1: the most romanticized fables of Americana, and Professor Butcher is
Speaker 1: correct in the facts that for the next six years,
Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste Scharpeneau would live alongside Duke Paul in Germany
Speaker 1: in a palace with him, and travel across the world
Speaker 1: at his side, including travels to Africa and Australia. Imagining
Speaker 1: that the two were just best friends who shared a
Speaker 1: taste for adventure is appealing, and in fact, if you
Speaker 1: are listening and looking for the subject of a historical
Speaker 1: rom com that you want to write, I would be
Speaker 1: delighted to read a fictional account of the two explorers
Speaker 1: sharing an intimate and loving friendship. But unfortunately, as you
Speaker 1: are probably predicting, the reality was a little more uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: I actually don't think it's as nefarious as it could
Speaker 1: have been. I've seen some suggestions that Jean Baptiste was
Speaker 1: brought over to Germany to be a servant, but there
Speaker 1: actually isn't really evidence of that either. Like Clark, Duke
Speaker 1: Paul Wilhelm was likely excited by the chance to quote
Speaker 1: enlighten a quote primitive Native American, and he would get
Speaker 1: a personal encyclopedia on hand to answer any questions he
Speaker 1: might have about America or Native American culture. In return,
Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste would get to travel the world, live in
Speaker 1: a palace, and get new experiences, all while having an
Speaker 1: education funded. Jean Baptiste already spoke several languages at this point,
Speaker 1: and over the course of his time in Germany he
Speaker 1: would add a few more to the roster. According to
Speaker 1: most twentieth century sources, the arrangement was something partly between
Speaker 1: studying abroad and being a member of someone's entourage, with
Speaker 1: John Baptiste receiving an education and enjoying the freedom to
Speaker 1: meet new people, explore the Black forest, and practice his
Speaker 1: hunting and horseback riding. The Duke had also previously brought
Speaker 1: a young man, Juan Alverdo from Mexico, who, in theory,
Speaker 1: received a similar education math, history, geography, and languages. The
Speaker 1: Duke also brought back two men from Africa and one
Speaker 1: from India. So all of these men were, depending on
Speaker 1: your interpretation, either nineteenth century study abroad students quote unquote,
Speaker 1: exotic servants, personal cultural encyclopedias, or some combination of all
Speaker 1: of the above. We might have gotten a more detailed
Speaker 1: account of the men's time spent together, but many of
Speaker 1: the Duke's personal journals were destroyed in the damage of
Speaker 1: World War II. Given that lack of evidence, Professor Albert
Speaker 1: Furtwegler favors the more pessimistic framing. In two thousand one,
Speaker 1: he wrote, quote, there is no evidence that the Prince
Speaker 1: educated Charboneau, saw him as an equal, took interest enough
Speaker 1: in him to learn about him directly after eighteen twenty nine,
Speaker 1: or treated him as anything better than an exotic specimen
Speaker 1: brought back to Europe along with other Indian items for
Speaker 1: his collections. Indeed, we have almost nothing that the Prince
Speaker 1: wrote about Charboneau. We know that John Baptiste remained in
Speaker 1: Europe for six years until eighteen twenty nine, but it
Speaker 1: wouldn't be until more than twenty five years later that
Speaker 1: Charboneau emerges again in Paul Wilhelm's writings. The Duke was
Speaker 1: back in California on a trip where he encountered a
Speaker 1: group of Shoshone Native Americans. One of these, he wrote,
Speaker 1: was a fine young lad, quite intelligent, who reminded me
Speaker 1: strangely and with a certain sadness, of b Charboneau, who
Speaker 1: had followed me to in eighteen twenty three Europe, and
Speaker 1: whose mother was of the tribe of the Shoshones. Why
Speaker 1: or when they lost touch, Whether Paul Wilhelm viewed Jean
Speaker 1: Baptiste as a friend or just another specimen lost or
Speaker 1: misplaced in his travels is something lost to us. We
Speaker 1: do know one fact about the time that Jean Baptiste
Speaker 1: was in Germany. A parish birth announcement for a child
Speaker 1: named Anton Fryes born on February twentieth, eighteen twenty nine,
Speaker 1: the child of quote Johann Baptiste Charbonneau of Saint Louis,
Speaker 1: called the American in service of Duke Paul of this place,
Speaker 1: and Anastasia Katerina Fries, unmarried daughter of the late George Fries,
Speaker 1: a soldier. Here. The infant unfortunately died that spring, and
Speaker 1: a few months later, when he was twenty five years old,
Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste would leave Europe forever and returned turned to
Speaker 1: the place he was born. Jean Baptiste joins a fur company.
Speaker 1: He sets out west and joins several other parties of
Speaker 1: men who hunted buffalo and traded furs. He traveled almost constantly.
Speaker 1: When his father died in eighteen forty three, he sold
Speaker 1: some land he had inherited for three hundred and twenty dollars.
Speaker 1: He appears in the record as a guide on several
Speaker 1: hunting expeditions, including one for another European nobleman, a Scottish
Speaker 1: baronet named Sir William Drummond Stuart. Jean Baptiste would spend
Speaker 1: the rest of his years living a rustic life on
Speaker 1: the western frontier, seemingly a complete reversal of the years
Speaker 1: he spent among the sophisticated finery of German court. The
Speaker 1: historian Grace Hebberd, writing in nineteen thirty three, can barely
Speaker 1: mask her condescension and frankly racism in her dismissal of
Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste Charboneau, who quote seems to have deteriorated despite
Speaker 1: his education, his contact with civilization, and his efficient services
Speaker 1: in earlier years. Baptiste thus apparently forgot his classical education
Speaker 1: and superior attainments. She continues that Charboneau is not a
Speaker 1: unique case. Quote examples without number have occurred of the
Speaker 1: same sort of reversion, both among Indians and Whites who
Speaker 1: have lived under similar conditions among savages or in the wild.
Speaker 1: She finally concludes that quote culture that is only a
Speaker 1: veneering is easily rubbed off by constant association with uneducated
Speaker 1: Indians and illiterate Whites. Anne Haefen, writing in the sixties,
Speaker 1: presents a similarly condescending but more romanticized explanation of Jean
Speaker 1: Baptiste Charboneau's life out west, quoting an anecdote of a
Speaker 1: man from eighteen thirty nine who had met a Native
Speaker 1: American trapper near Bent's Fort who may or may not
Speaker 1: have actually been Jean Baptiste. In the anecdote that may
Speaker 1: or may not have actually happened, as she reports, the
Speaker 1: man apparently asked the Native American, why did you leave
Speaker 1: civilized life for a precarious livelihood in the wilderness, to
Speaker 1: which the Native American trapper replies quote for reasons found
Speaker 1: in the nature of my race, explaining that Indians aren't
Speaker 1: satisfied with quote the description of things, and that they
Speaker 1: have to experience quote treasures and realities as they live
Speaker 1: in their own native magnificence on the eternal mountains. Eventually,
Speaker 1: Charbonneau was hired as a scout in the Mexican American War,
Speaker 1: and in eighteen forty seven he was appointed the alcad
Speaker 1: Or Mayor of Mission San Luis Rey de Frentancia. The
Speaker 1: next year he would join in on the California Gold Rush,
Speaker 1: mining the Big Crevice in California, an operation that was
Speaker 1: successful enough for him that he did it for at
Speaker 1: least sixteen years, living in whereas now Auburn, California, and
Speaker 1: working as a hotel manager. He eventually left California when
Speaker 1: he was sixty one years old, whether driven by wanderlust
Speaker 1: or by the slowing local economy. While crossing the rugged
Speaker 1: Oye River, Charboneaux slipped off his horse and fell into
Speaker 1: the icy water. He became ill, either from the fall
Speaker 1: or maybe he had been ill before from a lifetime
Speaker 1: lived rough, breathing in alkali dust and living in Rugged surroundings.
Speaker 1: He was brought to Danner, Oregon, where he died. The
Speaker 1: city is now a ghost town, but there's a grave
Speaker 1: site not too far which marks the final resting place
Speaker 1: of the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark expedition,
Speaker 1: the grave of the man who traveled across America before
Speaker 1: he could walk, who spent six years in Germany alongside
Speaker 1: a prince, who spoke five languages, and spent the better
Speaker 1: part of the nineteenth century working as a guide, a trapper,
Speaker 1: and gold prospector. As a child, he had represented the
Speaker 1: promise of peace. As an adult, he can be reframed
Speaker 1: to represent a romanticized version of the American West, a
Speaker 1: mascot for a certain spirit of adventure onto whom people
Speaker 1: can project their fears or prejudices or fascination with Native
Speaker 1: Americans and the American West itself. It's a version of
Speaker 1: our history that maybe never existed in the first place,
Speaker 1: or only ever existed in the slivers of real people's stories.
Speaker 1: But Jean be Baptiste Charboneau did exist. That's the story
Speaker 1: of Jean Baptiste Charboneau and his relationship with Duke Paul
Speaker 1: Wilhelm of Wurtemberg, but keep listening after a brief sponsor
Speaker 1: break to hear a little bit more about Jean Baptiste's
Speaker 1: lasting legacy in America. So much of this story has
Speaker 1: been lost to history, forced into the realm of speculation
Speaker 1: or wishful thinking. Even Lewis and Clark's journey, one of
Speaker 1: the most famous adventures in American history, left almost no
Speaker 1: physical evidence on the trail itself. It seems the two
Speaker 1: men took the idiom to heart, leave only footprints, take
Speaker 1: only detailed journal entries. But there is one tiny exception.
Speaker 1: Near the banks of the Yellowstone River, a sandstone pillar
Speaker 1: stretches more than one hundred feet into the air, covering
Speaker 1: over two acres at its base. Enamored with Saka Juwaya's
Speaker 1: baby son, Clark named the site Pompey's Pillar, and, perhaps
Speaker 1: ironic on a monument named for a man for whom
Speaker 1: there is such a dearth of primary physical sources. Pompey's
Speaker 1: Pillar is the site of the only known physical evidence
Speaker 1: of the core of discoveries journey. Carved into the stone
Speaker 1: itself is W. Clark July twenty fifth, eighteen o six.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and
Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is created and hosted
Speaker 1: by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching by
Speaker 1: Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman.
Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and
Speaker 1: rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows you