0:00

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production

0:03

of iHeartRadio and Grim and

0:05

Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion

0:07

advised. Duke

0:13

Friedrich Paul Wilhelm of Wurttemberg

0:16

was a collector. He was a

0:18

man who would eventually fill his

0:20

palace, located one hundred kilometers

0:22

outside Stuttgart, with countless

0:25

artifacts from around the world, skins

0:28

from animals killed in Africa, knives

0:31

from Native American tribes, art

0:33

and natural wonders from Australia.

0:36

His palace would be the largest

0:38

private collection at the time of natural

0:40

history in Germany, possibly

0:43

even in Europe. But as

0:45

a younger man, Duke Paul

0:47

was also a collector of experiences.

0:51

He was bored with the military and

0:53

bored with royal court. He

0:55

was a prince in the most powerful

0:58

family in the region, nephew to

1:00

the King of Wurttemberg, but he was

1:02

the fifth son, and so he had

1:04

the flexibility and freedom to

1:07

take some time to do what he wanted.

1:10

And what Paul wanted to do was

1:13

explore. Early in

1:15

the eighteen twenties, when Paul

1:17

Wilhelm was in his early twenties, he

1:19

wrote a letter to the American government

1:22

requesting permission to travel throughout

1:24

the country. He wanted to learn

1:26

as much as he could about the natural

1:29

world, and though of course he didn't

1:31

actually want to do it anonymously,

1:33

he was going to request permission, after

1:36

all, he did want to do it

1:38

incognito. President

1:41

Monroe scoffed at that part,

1:43

and without Paul Wilhelm's knowledge,

1:46

Monroe went ahead and ensured

1:48

that the Secretary of State informed

1:50

all local authorities that a

1:53

German prince was to be protected

1:55

by whatever means necessary, even

1:57

military guards if need be. But

2:00

Paul Wilhelm didn't know that an entire

2:02

government had mobilized to ensure

2:04

his safety, and in eighteen

2:07

twenty two he sailed to New Orleans

2:09

from Hamburg in a three masted

2:11

ship to begin his grand adventure,

2:14

probably imagining he was in more

2:17

physical peril than the American government

2:19

would have ever let befall such an

2:22

important visitor, the Duke brought

2:24

with him what was considered an incredibly

2:26

paltry entourage, only

2:28

one servant, one hunter, and

2:31

one master woodworker, who

2:33

I imagine is the type of person you want

2:35

to bring along when you're doing so much

2:38

travel by boat. Duke

2:40

Paul was amazed at the natural

2:43

beauty of the so called New World,

2:46

the flora and fauna, the

2:48

vast mountains and sweeping vistas.

2:51

He eventually even joined an expedition

2:54

to track one of the sources of the Missouri

2:56

River. After three years

2:58

spent exploring North America, Duke

3:01

Paul returned to Germany. But

3:03

he wouldn't do so empty handed. Like

3:06

I said, Paul was a collector

3:09

and it wasn't just animals and objects

3:12

that he liked to fill his palace with.

3:15

Paul had met a young man

3:17

only a few years younger than he was, named

3:20

Jean Baptiste Charboneaux in Kansas.

3:23

Charboneau was the son of a Native

3:25

American woman and a French fur

3:27

trapper, and when Paul returned

3:30

to Germany, Jean Baptiste

3:32

Charboneau would accompany him, living

3:34

abroad with the Prince for six

3:37

years in something that was framed

3:39

as sort of a cultural exchange

3:42

program. If

3:44

the name Jean Baptiste Charboneau

3:47

doesn't ring any bells, would

3:49

you believe me if I told you you've almost

3:51

certainly seen a picture of him,

3:54

or at least if you're American, you've

3:57

almost certainly seen a picture

3:59

of him as a baby On

4:01

his mother's back. It's an

4:03

image so iconic it

4:06

was printed on the gold one dollar

4:08

coin that was minted in the United

4:10

States in the year two thousand to

4:13

honor Jean Baptiste's mother, saka

4:15

Jeweya. The story of

4:17

Sakajawea, the young Native

4:20

woman with an infant child who accompanied

4:23

Lewis and Clark on their quest to

4:25

the Pacific, has become almost

4:27

an American myth, a story

4:29

that's been flattened to its broadest,

4:32

most inspiring strokes. The

4:35

story of Sakajawea, as

4:38

myth, ends with Lewis

4:40

and Clark's successful journey, her

4:42

son forever an infant,

4:45

But Jean Baptiste Charboneau grew

4:47

up and he became a man,

4:50

and his strange life is perhaps

4:53

the most American story

4:55

imaginable. A life caught

4:58

between a shifting West

5:00

and calcified European

5:02

aristocracy. A life

5:04

caught between his native ancestry

5:07

that made him quote exotic

5:09

and his white connections that allowed

5:11

him certain privileges, A

5:13

life of celebrity, of politics

5:16

of the gold Rush. There's

5:18

a theme that's recurred on this podcast

5:21

over and over again. If

5:23

you allow yourself to become a symbol

5:26

you get certain privileges, but

5:28

you sacrifice the right to be an

5:30

actual human being. We

5:32

all know the powerful image of Jean

5:35

Baptiste Charboneau and what he

5:37

represented as an infant, But

5:39

who was he as a man. I'm

5:42

Danish Schwartz and this is

5:45

noble blood.

5:50

Jean Baptiste Charboneau's life as

5:52

a symbol began immediately when

5:54

he was born. In eighteen oh

5:57

four, Meriwether Lewis and William

5:59

Clark set out with a group known

6:01

as the Core of Discovery with

6:03

the goal of exploring and mapping

6:06

the recently purchased Louisiana

6:08

territory. The trip began

6:10

at the border of southern Illinois, what

6:13

up until then had been the end of the United

6:15

States, and the group traveled

6:17

north and west until they reached

6:20

Oregon and the Pacific Ocean.

6:22

The entire expedition is mythologized

6:25

in American culture, particularly

6:28

when it's taught to younger children, for

6:30

embodying a spirit of adventure,

6:33

a piece of Romantic Americana

6:36

that we can cling to in our comparatively

6:39

short national history, But

6:41

the details of that exploratory

6:44

trip are less frequently explored

6:46

in any significant detail. It

6:49

was about five months into the journey,

6:51

when the corps reached what is currently

6:54

North Dakota, where they set up

6:56

a fort near the native Manden people

6:58

called Fort Manden. It was

7:00

there that they hired a French fur

7:02

trader who had been living among

7:05

the native people to act as a

7:07

guide and translator on the

7:09

arduous journey up the Missouri River

7:11

and through the mountains. His

7:13

name was to Saint Charboneaux, and as

7:16

luck would have it, his wife,

7:18

or rather one of his wives, was

7:21

a Native Shoshone woman, and

7:23

it was decided that she would

7:25

come along on the journey to help

7:27

communicate with the Shoshone people. Her

7:30

name was Sakajuweya. Now

7:33

this is the detail that they don't

7:35

teach in the most romantic versions

7:38

of the Adventures of Lewis and Clark

7:40

and Sakagaweya. She was

7:42

sixteen years old, and she was

7:45

Charboneau's wife only in

7:47

the sense that he had purchased her

7:49

or won her while gambling when

7:52

she was thirteen years old, along

7:54

with another Shoshone girl named Otter

7:57

Woman. When Sakageweya

7:59

was twelve twelve, her tribe had been

8:01

raided by a group of Hidatza people

8:04

and she was held captive. Charboneaux

8:07

purchased Sakajaueya and otter

8:09

woman from the Hidatza, And

8:11

so while texts refer to

8:13

Sakajawea as Charboneau's wife,

8:16

I want to make very clear that, even

8:18

though that's the language a lot of texts

8:21

use, this was in no

8:23

way a consensual marriage.

8:26

And just as long as we're being clear

8:28

eyed about the history, I think it's also

8:30

important to note that Clark had with

8:32

him on the journey an enslaved

8:35

man named York, a man

8:37

that he had inherited from his father.

8:40

Anyway, the corps remained at

8:42

Fort Manden for the winter, and in

8:44

February of eighteen oh five,

8:47

Sakajuweya gave birth to John

8:49

Baptiste. Less than

8:51

two months later, the expedition

8:53

set off again, with Sakajawea

8:56

and her infant son in tow. Little

8:59

Jean Baptiste was adored by

9:01

Clark, who delightedly nicknamed

9:03

him Pompey. But more than

9:05

that, the entire expedition quickly

9:08

realized what a coup it

9:10

was to have an infant with them.

9:13

In his journals, Clark writes about an

9:15

incident along the riverside of the

9:17

Columbia Plateau, where a group

9:19

of Native Americans fled into their

9:21

homes visibly threatened by

9:24

Clark. Apparently he had fired

9:26

a gun nearby, and they,

9:28

for good reason, assumed he

9:30

was most likely a threat. No

9:33

matter how Clark tried to explain

9:35

that he was part of an exploratory mission,

9:38

the Native Americans would not engage

9:40

with him. There was fear that the tension

9:42

might bubble into violence. And

9:45

then Sakajeweya and baby

9:47

John Baptiste arrived with Lewis

9:50

by canoe. Clark

9:52

wrote, they immediately all

9:54

came out and appeared to assume new

9:57

life. The sight of this Indian

9:59

woman, wife to one of our interpreters,

10:01

confirmed those people of our friendly

10:04

intentions, as no woman ever

10:06

accompanies a war party of Indians

10:08

in this quarter. Sakujueya

10:11

would also prove to be a boon to the Core

10:13

in more than just her physical presence.

10:16

When a storm caused a boat to

10:18

capsize, it was Sakajuweya

10:20

who dove into the river and recovered

10:23

many of the lost items, including

10:25

all of the corp's journals, which

10:28

had been lost when the

10:30

Corps reached western Montana.

10:32

Sakjuea was able to point out

10:34

Beaverhead Rock, a formation

10:37

she recognized from her childhood from

10:39

where her nation would spend their summers,

10:42

and she pointed out where they would approach

10:44

the pass through the mountains. The

10:47

group finally rendezvous with the

10:49

Shoshone people, and Sacjuwea

10:52

had what must have been an incredibly

10:54

surreal and beautiful moment. She

10:57

had been kidnapped from her home when

10:59

she was twelve, held captive,

11:02

sold and married to a stranger,

11:05

and then years later, as

11:07

part of the Corps of Discovery, she

11:09

reunited with her tribe, only

11:12

to realize that their chief was

11:14

now her brother. As

11:16

thanks for reuniting him with his long

11:18

lost sister, the chief, Camelwaite,

11:21

provided the group with the horses they

11:23

would need to cross the Rocky Mountains.

11:26

This is also much less of a big deal,

11:29

but it is a detail I find touching. Zaka

11:31

Jueya gave up her beaded belt

11:34

so that Lewis and Clark could use it to

11:36

trade for a sea otter fur coat

11:38

that they wanted to give to Thomas Jefferson.

11:41

To quote Clark on the incident directly,

11:45

one of the Indians had on a robe

11:47

made of two seotter skins. The fur

11:49

of them were more beautiful than any fur

11:51

I had ever seen. Both Captain Lewis

11:54

and myself endeavored to purchase

11:56

the robe with different articles. At length

11:59

we procured it for a belt of

12:01

blue beads, which the wife

12:03

of our interpreter, Charboneau, wore

12:05

around her waist. I feel

12:07

like he could have at least given her named

12:09

credit on that one. But alas and

12:12

so that was little Pompey's life

12:15

for his first year, traveling

12:17

across the brand new nation, serving

12:20

as silent ambassador, a

12:23

mascot with his mother for the expedition's

12:26

peaceful intentions. When

12:28

the expedition was finally over,

12:30

Lewis and Clark dropped Sakaguweya

12:33

to Saint Charbono and Pompey,

12:35

now a year and a half old, back

12:38

near the Mandon people where they had started.

12:41

Clark had grown attached to Little

12:43

Pompey and told his parents

12:46

that he would take him off their hands for them,

12:48

raising him as his own and seeing

12:51

to his education. A little

12:53

while after the expedition, Clark wrote

12:55

to tous Saint Charbono, entreating

12:58

him and Sakageweya to common move

13:00

to Illinois to be closer to him.

13:02

At the letter's end, Clark added,

13:05

as to your little son, my boy

13:08

Pomp, you well know my fondness

13:10

for him and my anxiety to take

13:12

and raise him as my own child.

13:15

I once more tell you, if you will

13:17

bring your son Baptiste to me, I

13:19

will educate him and treat him as

13:21

my own child. Wish you

13:24

and your family great success,

13:26

and with anxious expectations of

13:28

seeing my little dancing boy Baptiste,

13:30

I shall remain your friend. William Clark

13:33

three years later to Saint Charboneau and

13:36

sack Juwea did move to Saint Louis,

13:38

where they allowed Clark to take command

13:41

of little Jean Baptiste's education.

13:44

Clark quickly enrolled the boy in Saint

13:47

Louis Academy boarding school. I

13:49

do think that Clark genuinely liked

13:52

Jean Baptiste and was attached to

13:54

him, after all, he was there for the

13:56

first year and a half of his life, and

13:58

he was his boy Pomp. But

14:01

I do think it would be a mistake to

14:03

imagine that his offer of paying for

14:05

Jean Baptiste's education was

14:08

entirely altruistic, or

14:10

rather altruistic without some slightly

14:13

uncomfortable colonial implications.

14:16

Because Jean Baptiste was half Native

14:18

American, his education could

14:21

serve as a model for assimilation

14:27

for one of the most famous women

14:29

in American history, at least

14:31

in terms of name recognition. It's

14:34

a little astonishing how little recorded

14:36

history there is about what happened

14:39

to Secduea next. Most

14:42

likely, she died in eighteen twelve,

14:45

presumably while living with Toussaint

14:47

at the Fort. Lisa trading Port,

14:50

a clerk at the fort, recorded

14:52

in his journal on December twentieth,

14:54

eighteen twelve, that the wife

14:57

of Charboneau died of putrid

14:59

fever. The fur trader

15:01

and later Congressman Henry Breckinridge

15:04

had also written that zakajuwea Quote

15:07

had become sickly and longed

15:09

to revisit her native country. As

15:12

for Toucsant's other quote wife,

15:14

otter woman, after the Corps

15:16

journals note that they were taking one

15:18

of Toucsant's wives along but not the other

15:21

Otter woman fully disappears

15:23

from the record, and I haven't found

15:25

any reputable information at all about

15:28

what happened to her. And so,

15:30

though while some claim that Zaca Joweya

15:33

left Fort Lisa and did

15:35

return to her home people. She

15:37

most likely died when

15:39

she was twenty five years old, having

15:41

recently given birth to an infant

15:44

girl. Almost immediately,

15:46

Toussains Charboneau signed over custody

15:49

of both Jean Baptiste and the

15:51

little girl, Lizette, over to

15:54

Clark. Adoption papers

15:56

in the Saint Louis records make clear

15:58

quote on August eleven, in eighteen thirteen,

16:01

William Clark became the guardian of

16:03

tous Saint Charbono, a boy of about ten

16:05

years and Lizette Charboneau,

16:08

a girl about one year old.

16:11

As for Lizette, it's assumed

16:13

she also died young because,

16:16

and perhaps you notice a pattern here, there

16:19

is nothing more written about her. She

16:22

simply disappears from the record.

16:24

Toussaint Charboneau would live for another

16:27

thirty years, going on to

16:29

mary at least three more

16:32

teenage Native American girls, including

16:35

a fourteen year old when he was seventy

16:37

years old. We have to

16:40

imagine Jean Baptiste Charboneau's

16:42

childhood, his guardian, the famous

16:45

William Clark, his mother dead,

16:47

his father gone, possibly

16:49

raised alongside a young sister, possibly

16:52

alone, sent to boarding

16:54

school until he was sixteen, when

16:56

he would meet the man who would change

16:58

the course of his life. Life. Duke

17:06

Paul Wilhelm, thrilled by the

17:08

promise of natural discovery in the

17:10

New World, had sailed across

17:12

the ocean to America. He

17:14

was a fairly accomplished naturalist

17:16

and amateur painter dedicated

17:19

to documenting the natural world.

17:21

On June twenty first, eighteen twenty

17:24

three, he arrived at a small

17:26

chateau settlement near the mouth of the

17:28

Kansas River. That was where

17:30

he first met Jean Baptiste

17:32

Charboneau, and from their first

17:35

meeting, Paul Wilhelm was aware

17:37

of the celebrity of his mother. He

17:39

wrote, quote here I also

17:42

found a youth whose mother, a member

17:44

of the tribe of Shoshones or Snake

17:46

Indians, had accompanied the Messrs

17:49

Lewis and Clark as an interpreter

17:51

to the Pacific Ocean. The

17:54

European continued up the Missouri River

17:56

to its source, and actually at one

17:58

point hired to Saint Charbonneau

18:01

as a guide and translator.

18:03

His mission was successful, and

18:06

when the Duke came back through America's

18:08

interior that fall, when he

18:10

reached the Kansas River again. This

18:13

time he would take Jean Baptiste

18:16

along with him, with the plan

18:18

that the two of them would both go back

18:20

to Germany together. The

18:23

trip turned out to be a challenging

18:25

one. The steamboat that the men were

18:27

on to get to New Orleans sank,

18:30

but they did make it eventually, though

18:32

The trip across the Atlantic would

18:34

prove to be its own arduous journey.

18:37

Duke Paul wrote, the

18:39

sea fought us with huge waves,

18:42

and the ship was tossed about so violently

18:45

that the rolling action became unbearable.

18:48

The waves struck with such force

18:50

overboard that part of the railing

18:53

was shattered, but the

18:55

pair did eventually make it

18:57

safely back to Germany. So

19:00

it wasn't just John Baptiste that

19:02

Duke Paul brought back. He also

19:04

brought back a live alligator

19:07

that he had captured in New Orleans.

19:10

Jean Baptiste was only a few years

19:13

younger than Duke Paul, but it's difficult

19:15

to discern whether the relationship between

19:18

the two men was one of friendship

19:21

or whether it was something more paternalistic

19:23

or colonial. The first

19:25

major English translation of the

19:27

original German texts was done

19:30

in the nineteen thirties, by Professor

19:32

Lewis C. Butcher at the University

19:34

of Wyoming, and historians

19:37

today are fairly dismissive

19:39

of his translations for being let's

19:42

say, overly romantic at best

19:45

and more than a little embellished. Professor

19:48

Butcher's version of the story is the

19:50

two men becoming instant and

19:52

close friends, both young men

19:54

from illustrious families, one

19:57

a German prince, the other the scion

20:00

one of the most romanticized fables

20:02

of Americana, and Professor

20:04

Butcher is correct in the facts

20:07

that for the next six years, Jean

20:10

Baptiste Scharpeneau would live alongside

20:13

Duke Paul in Germany in a

20:15

palace with him, and travel across

20:17

the world at his side, including

20:19

travels to Africa and Australia.

20:23

Imagining that the two were just best

20:25

friends who shared a taste for adventure

20:28

is appealing, and in fact,

20:30

if you are listening and looking for

20:32

the subject of a historical rom

20:35

com that you want to write, I would

20:37

be delighted to read a fictional

20:39

account of the two explorers sharing

20:42

an intimate and loving friendship.

20:45

But unfortunately, as you are

20:47

probably predicting, the reality

20:50

was a little more uncomfortable. I

20:52

actually don't think it's as nefarious

20:55

as it could have been. I've seen

20:57

some suggestions that Jean Baptiste

21:00

was brought over to Germany to be a servant,

21:03

but there actually isn't really evidence

21:05

of that either. Like Clark,

21:08

Duke Paul Wilhelm was likely excited

21:10

by the chance to quote enlighten

21:13

a quote primitive Native American,

21:16

and he would get a personal encyclopedia

21:19

on hand to answer any questions

21:21

he might have about America or Native

21:23

American culture. In return,

21:25

Jean Baptiste would get to travel the world,

21:28

live in a palace, and get new experiences,

21:31

all while having an education funded.

21:35

Jean Baptiste already spoke several

21:37

languages at this point, and over

21:39

the course of his time in Germany he would add

21:41

a few more to the roster. According

21:44

to most twentieth century sources,

21:47

the arrangement was something partly

21:49

between studying abroad and

21:51

being a member of someone's entourage,

21:54

with John Baptiste receiving an education

21:57

and enjoying the freedom to meet new people,

22:00

explore the Black forest, and practice

22:02

his hunting and horseback riding.

22:05

The Duke had also previously brought

22:07

a young man, Juan Alverdo from

22:10

Mexico, who, in theory, received

22:12

a similar education math,

22:15

history, geography, and languages.

22:17

The Duke also brought back two men from

22:20

Africa and one from India. So

22:22

all of these men were, depending

22:24

on your interpretation, either

22:27

nineteenth century study abroad students

22:30

quote unquote, exotic servants,

22:33

personal cultural encyclopedias,

22:36

or some combination of all of

22:38

the above. We might have gotten

22:40

a more detailed account of the men's

22:42

time spent together, but many of

22:44

the Duke's personal journals were destroyed

22:47

in the damage of World War II.

22:53

Given that lack of evidence, Professor

22:56

Albert Furtwegler favors the more

22:58

pessimistic framing. In

23:00

two thousand one, he wrote, quote,

23:03

there is no evidence that the Prince educated

23:05

Charboneau, saw him as an equal,

23:07

took interest enough in him to learn about

23:10

him directly after eighteen twenty nine,

23:12

or treated him as anything better

23:14

than an exotic specimen brought

23:17

back to Europe along with other Indian

23:19

items for his collections.

23:22

Indeed, we have almost nothing

23:24

that the Prince wrote about Charboneau. We

23:27

know that John Baptiste remained in Europe

23:29

for six years until eighteen

23:32

twenty nine, but it wouldn't be until

23:34

more than twenty five years later that

23:36

Charboneau emerges again in Paul Wilhelm's

23:39

writings. The Duke was

23:41

back in California on a trip where

23:43

he encountered a group of Shoshone Native

23:46

Americans. One of these, he wrote,

23:48

was a fine young lad, quite intelligent,

23:51

who reminded me strangely and with a

23:53

certain sadness, of b Charboneau,

23:56

who had followed me to in

23:58

eighteen twenty three Europe, and

24:00

whose mother was of the tribe of the Shoshones.

24:04

Why or when they lost touch,

24:06

Whether Paul Wilhelm viewed Jean Baptiste

24:09

as a friend or just another specimen

24:12

lost or misplaced in his travels is

24:15

something lost to us.

24:18

We do know one fact about the time

24:20

that Jean Baptiste was in Germany. A

24:23

parish birth announcement for a

24:25

child named Anton Fryes

24:28

born on February twentieth,

24:30

eighteen twenty nine, the

24:32

child of quote Johann

24:35

Baptiste Charbonneau of Saint Louis,

24:37

called the American in service of

24:39

Duke Paul of this place, and

24:41

Anastasia Katerina Fries,

24:44

unmarried daughter of the late George

24:47

Fries, a soldier. Here. The

24:49

infant unfortunately died that

24:52

spring, and a few months later,

24:54

when he was twenty five years old, Jean

24:57

Baptiste would leave Europe forever

24:59

and returned turned to the place he was born.

25:03

Jean Baptiste joins a fur company.

25:05

He sets out west and joins several

25:07

other parties of men who hunted

25:10

buffalo and traded furs. He

25:12

traveled almost constantly. When

25:15

his father died in eighteen forty

25:17

three, he sold some land he had inherited

25:20

for three hundred and twenty dollars.

25:23

He appears in the record as a guide on

25:25

several hunting expeditions, including

25:28

one for another European nobleman,

25:30

a Scottish baronet named

25:32

Sir William Drummond Stuart. Jean

25:35

Baptiste would spend the rest of his

25:38

years living a rustic life on

25:40

the western frontier, seemingly

25:43

a complete reversal of the

25:45

years he spent among the sophisticated

25:47

finery of German court.

25:53

The historian Grace Hebberd, writing

25:55

in nineteen thirty three, can barely

25:57

mask her condescension and frankly

26:00

racism in her dismissal of

26:02

Jean Baptiste Charboneau, who quote

26:04

seems to have deteriorated despite

26:07

his education, his contact

26:09

with civilization, and his efficient

26:12

services in earlier years. Baptiste

26:15

thus apparently forgot his classical

26:17

education and superior attainments.

26:20

She continues that Charboneau is not

26:22

a unique case. Quote examples

26:25

without number have occurred of the same

26:27

sort of reversion, both among Indians

26:30

and Whites who have lived under similar

26:32

conditions among savages or

26:35

in the wild. She finally

26:38

concludes that quote culture

26:40

that is only a veneering is easily

26:42

rubbed off by constant association

26:45

with uneducated Indians and illiterate

26:48

Whites. Anne Haefen,

26:50

writing in the sixties, presents

26:52

a similarly condescending

26:55

but more romanticized explanation

26:58

of Jean Baptiste Charboneau's life

27:00

out west, quoting an anecdote

27:02

of a man from eighteen thirty nine who

27:05

had met a Native American trapper

27:07

near Bent's Fort who may or may

27:09

not have actually been Jean Baptiste.

27:12

In the anecdote that may or may

27:14

not have actually happened, as

27:16

she reports, the man apparently

27:18

asked the Native American, why

27:20

did you leave civilized life for

27:23

a precarious livelihood in the wilderness,

27:26

to which the Native American trapper replies

27:28

quote for reasons found in the

27:30

nature of my race, explaining

27:33

that Indians aren't satisfied with

27:35

quote the description of things, and

27:38

that they have to experience quote treasures

27:40

and realities as they live in their

27:42

own native magnificence on

27:45

the eternal mountains. Eventually,

27:48

Charbonneau was hired as a scout

27:51

in the Mexican American War, and

27:53

in eighteen forty seven he was

27:55

appointed the alcad Or Mayor of

27:58

Mission San Luis Rey de Frentancia.

28:01

The next year he would join in on the California

28:03

Gold Rush, mining the Big Crevice

28:06

in California, an operation

28:08

that was successful enough for him that he

28:10

did it for at least sixteen years,

28:13

living in whereas now Auburn, California,

28:16

and working as a hotel manager.

28:19

He eventually left California

28:21

when he was sixty one years old, whether

28:24

driven by wanderlust or by

28:26

the slowing local economy. While

28:29

crossing the rugged Oye River, Charboneaux

28:32

slipped off his horse and fell into

28:34

the icy water. He became

28:36

ill, either from the fall or

28:39

maybe he had been ill before from

28:42

a lifetime lived rough, breathing

28:44

in alkali dust and living in Rugged

28:47

surroundings. He was brought to

28:49

Danner, Oregon, where he died.

28:52

The city is now a ghost town, but

28:54

there's a grave site not too far which

28:57

marks the final resting

28:59

place of the youngest member of

29:01

the Lewis and Clark expedition, the

29:04

grave of the man who traveled across

29:06

America before he could walk, who

29:08

spent six years in Germany alongside

29:11

a prince, who spoke five languages,

29:14

and spent the better part of the nineteenth

29:16

century working as a guide,

29:19

a trapper, and gold prospector.

29:22

As a child, he had represented

29:24

the promise of peace. As

29:27

an adult, he can be reframed

29:29

to represent a romanticized

29:32

version of the American West,

29:34

a mascot for a certain spirit

29:37

of adventure onto whom people

29:39

can project their fears

29:41

or prejudices or fascination

29:44

with Native Americans and the American

29:46

West itself. It's a version

29:49

of our history that maybe never

29:51

existed in the first place, or

29:53

only ever existed in the slivers

29:56

of real people's stories. But

29:59

Jean be Baptiste Charboneau did

30:02

exist.

30:08

That's the story of Jean Baptiste Charboneau

30:10

and his relationship with Duke Paul

30:12

Wilhelm of Wurtemberg, but keep listening

30:15

after a brief sponsor break to

30:17

hear a little bit more about Jean Baptiste's

30:20

lasting legacy in America.

30:27

So much of this story has been lost

30:30

to history, forced into the realm of

30:32

speculation or wishful thinking.

30:35

Even Lewis and Clark's journey,

30:38

one of the most famous adventures

30:40

in American history, left

30:42

almost no physical evidence

30:45

on the trail itself. It

30:47

seems the two men took the idiom

30:49

to heart, leave only footprints,

30:52

take only detailed journal

30:54

entries. But there is one

30:57

tiny exception. Near

30:59

the banks of the Yellowstone River, a

31:01

sandstone pillar stretches more

31:03

than one hundred feet into the air, covering

31:06

over two acres at its base. Enamored

31:09

with Saka Juwaya's baby son, Clark

31:12

named the site Pompey's Pillar,

31:15

and, perhaps ironic on a

31:17

monument named for a man for

31:19

whom there is such a dearth of primary

31:22

physical sources. Pompey's

31:24

Pillar is the site of the only

31:27

known physical evidence of

31:29

the core of discoveries journey.

31:31

Carved into the stone itself

31:34

is W. Clark July

31:36

twenty fifth, eighteen o

31:39

six. Noble

31:46

Blood is a production of iHeartRadio

31:49

and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.

31:52

Noble Blood is created and hosted

31:54

by me Dana Schwartz, with additional

31:57

writing and researching by Hannah

32:00

Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira

32:02

Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori

32:04

Goodman. The show is edited

32:07

and produced by Noemi Griffin

32:09

and rima Il Kahali, with

32:11

supervising producer Josh Thain

32:14

and executive producers Aaron Manke,

32:17

Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.

32:19

For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

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32:24

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32:27

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