Pompey and the Prince

art and natural wonders from Australia. His palace would be the largest private collection at the time of natural history in Germany, possibly even in Europe. But as a younger man, Duke Paul was also a collector of experiences. He was bored with the military and bored with royal court. He was a prince in the most powerful family in the region, nephew to the King of Wurttemberg, but he was the fifth son, and so he had the flexibility and freedom to take some time to do what he wanted. And

what Paul wanted to do was explore. Early in the eighteen twenties, when Paul Wilhelm was in his early twenties, he wrote a letter to the American government requesting permission to travel throughout the country. He wanted to learn as much as he could about the natural world, and though of course he didn't actually want to do it anonymously, he was going to request permission, after all, he did

want to do it incognito. President Monroe scoffed at that part, and without Paul Wilhelm's knowledge, Monroe went ahead and ensured that the Secretary of State informed all local authorities that a German prince was to be protected by whatever means necessary,

even military guards if need be. But Paul Wilhelm didn't know that an entire government had mobilized to ensure his safety, and in eighteen twenty two he sailed to New Orleans from Hamburg in a three masted ship to begin his grand adventure, probably imagining he was in more physical peril than the American government would have ever let befall such an important visitor, the Duke brought with him what was considered an incredibly paltry entourage, only one servant, one hunter,

and one master woodworker, who I imagine is the type of person you want to bring along when you're doing so much travel by boat. Duke Paul was amazed at the natural beauty of the so called New World, the flora and fauna, the vast mountains and sweeping vistas. He eventually even joined an expedition to track one of the sources of the Missouri River. After three years spent exploring North America, Duke Paul returned to Germany. But he wouldn't

do so empty handed. Like I said, Paul was a collector and it wasn't just animals and objects that he liked to fill his palace with. Paul had met a young man only a few years younger than he was, named Jean Baptiste Charboneaux in Kansas. Charboneau was the son of a Native American woman and a French fur trapper, and when Paul returned to Germany, Jean Baptiste Charboneau would accompany him, living abroad with the Prince for six years in something that was framed as sort of a cultural

exchange program. If the name Jean Baptiste Charboneau doesn't ring any bells, would you believe me if I told you you've almost certainly seen a picture of him, or at least if you're American, you've almost certainly seen a picture of him as a baby On his mother's back. It's an image so iconic it was printed on the gold one dollar coin that was minted in the United States in the year two thousand to honor Jean Baptiste's mother,

saka Jeweya. The story of Sakajawea, the young Native woman with an infant child who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their quest to the Pacific, has become almost an American myth, a story that's been flattened to its broadest, most inspiring strokes. The story of Sakajawea, as myth, ends with Lewis and Clark's successful journey, her son forever an infant, But Jean Baptiste Charboneau grew up and he became a man, and his strange life is perhaps the most American story imaginable.

A life caught between a shifting West and calcified European aristocracy. A life caught between his native ancestry that made him quote exotic and his white connections that allowed him certain privileges, A life of celebrity, of politics of the gold Rush. There's a theme that's recurred on this podcast over and over again. If you allow yourself to become a symbol you get certain privileges, but you sacrifice the right to

be an actual human being. We all know the powerful image of Jean Baptiste Charboneau and what he represented as an infant, But who was he as a man. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. Jean Baptiste Charboneau's life as a symbol began immediately when he was born. In eighteen oh four, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out with a group known as the Core of Discovery with the goal of exploring and mapping the recently purchased

Louisiana territory. The trip began at the border of southern Illinois, what up until then had been the end of the United States, and the group traveled north and west until they reached Oregon and the Pacific Ocean. The entire expedition is mythologized in American culture, particularly when it's taught to younger children, for embodying a spirit of adventure, a piece of Romantic Americana that we can cling to in our comparatively short national history, But the details of that exploratory

trip are less frequently explored in any significant detail. It was about five months into the journey, when the corps reached what is currently North Dakota, where they set up a fort near the native Manden people called Fort Manden. It was there that they hired a French fur trader who had been living among the native people to act as a guide and translator on the arduous journey up

the Missouri River and through the mountains. His name was to Saint Charboneaux, and as luck would have it, his wife, or rather one of his wives, was a Native Shoshone woman, and it was decided that she would come along on the journey to help communicate with the Shoshone people. Her name was Sakajuweya. Now this is the detail that they don't teach in the most romantic versions of the Adventures

of Lewis and Clark and Sakagaweya. She was sixteen years old, and she was Charboneau's wife only in the sense that he had purchased her or won her while gambling when she was thirteen years old, along with another Shoshone girl named Otter Woman. When Sakageweya was twelve twelve, her tribe had been raided by a group of Hidatza people and

she was held captive. Charboneaux purchased Sakajaueya and otter woman from the Hidatza, And so while texts refer to Sakajawea as Charboneau's wife, I want to make very clear that, even though that's the language a lot of texts use, this was in no way a consensual marriage. And just as long as we're being clear eyed about the history, I think it's also important to note that Clark had with him on the journey an enslaved man named York,

a man that he had inherited from his father. Anyway, the corps remained at Fort Manden for the winter, and in February of eighteen oh five, Sakajuweya gave birth to John Baptiste. Less than two months later, the expedition set off again, with Sakajawea and her infant son in tow. Little Jean Baptiste was adored by Clark, who delightedly nicknamed him Pompey. But more than that, the entire expedition quickly realized what a coup it was to have an infant

with them. In his journals, Clark writes about an incident along the riverside of the Columbia Plateau, where a group of Native Americans fled into their homes visibly threatened by Clark. Apparently he had fired a gun nearby, and they, for good reason, assumed he was most likely a threat. No matter how Clark tried to explain that he was part of an exploratory mission, the Native Americans would not engage with him. There was fear that the tension might bubble

into violence. And then Sakajeweya and baby John Baptiste arrived with Lewis by canoe. Clark wrote, they immediately all came out and appeared to assume new life. The sight of this Indian woman, wife to one of our interpreters, confirmed those people of our friendly intentions, as no woman ever accompanies a war party of Indians in this quarter. Sakujueya would also prove to be a boon to the Core

in more than just her physical presence. When a storm caused a boat to capsize, it was Sakajuweya who dove into the river and recovered many of the lost items, including all of the corp's journals, which had been lost when the Corps reached western Montana. Sakjuea was able to point out Beaverhead Rock, a formation she recognized from her childhood from where her nation would spend their summers, and she pointed out where they would approach the pass through

the mountains. The group finally rendezvous with the Shoshone people, and Sacjuwea had what must have been an incredibly surreal and beautiful moment. She had been kidnapped from her home when she was twelve, held captive, sold and married to a stranger, and then years later, as part of the Corps of Discovery, she reunited with her tribe, only to

realize that their chief was now her brother. As thanks for reuniting him with his long lost sister, the chief, Camelwaite, provided the group with the horses they would need to cross the Rocky Mountains. This is also much less of a big deal, but it is a detail I find touching. Zaka Jueya gave up her beaded belt so that Lewis and Clark could use it to trade for a sea otter fur coat that they wanted to give to Thomas Jefferson.

To quote Clark on the incident directly, one of the Indians had on a robe made of two seotter skins. The fur of them were more beautiful than any fur I had ever seen. Both Captain Lewis and myself endeavored to purchase the robe with different articles. At length we procured it for a belt of blue beads, which the wife of our interpreter, Charboneau, wore around her waist. I feel like he could have at least given her named

credit on that one. But alas and so that was little Pompey's life for his first year, traveling across the brand new nation, serving as silent ambassador, a mascot with his mother for the expedition's peaceful intentions. When the expedition was finally over, Lewis and Clark dropped Sakaguweya to Saint Charbono and Pompey, now a year and a half old,

back near the Mandon people where they had started. Clark had grown attached to Little Pompey and told his parents that he would take him off their hands for them, raising him as his own and seeing to his education. A little while after the expedition, Clark wrote to tous Saint Charbono, entreating him and Sakageweya to common move to Illinois to be closer to him. At the letter's end, Clark added, as to your little son, my boy Pomp, you well know my fondness for him and my anxiety

to take and raise him as my own child. I once more tell you, if you will bring your son Baptiste to me, I will educate him and treat him as my own child. Wish you and your family great success, and with anxious expectations of seeing my little dancing boy Baptiste, I shall remain your friend. William Clark three years later to Saint Charboneau and sack Juwea did move to Saint Louis, where they allowed Clark to take command of little Jean

Baptiste's education. Clark quickly enrolled the boy in Saint Louis Academy boarding school. I do think that Clark genuinely liked Jean Baptiste and was attached to him, after all, he was there for the first year and a half of his life, and he was his boy Pomp. But I do think it would be a mistake to imagine that his offer of paying for Jean Baptiste's education was entirely altruistic,

or rather altruistic without some slightly uncomfortable colonial implications. Because Jean Baptiste was half Native American, his education could serve as a model for assimilation for one of the most famous women in American history, at least in terms of name recognition. It's a little astonishing how little recorded history there is about what happened to Secduea next. Most likely, she died in eighteen twelve, presumably while living with Toussaint

at the Fort. Lisa trading Port, a clerk at the fort, recorded in his journal on December twentieth, eighteen twelve, that the wife of Charboneau died of putrid fever. The fur trader and later Congressman Henry Breckinridge had also written that zakajuwea Quote had become sickly and longed to revisit her

native country. As for Toucsant's other quote wife, otter woman, after the Corps journals note that they were taking one of Toucsant's wives along but not the other Otter woman fully disappears from the record, and I haven't found any reputable information at all about what happened to her. And so, though while some claim that Zaca Joweya left Fort Lisa and did return to her home people. She most likely died when she was twenty five years old, having recently

given birth to an infant girl. Almost immediately, Toussains Charboneau signed over custody of both Jean Baptiste and the little girl, Lizette, over to Clark. Adoption papers in the Saint Louis records make clear quote on August eleven, in eighteen thirteen, William Clark became the guardian of tous Saint Charbono, a boy of about ten years and Lizette Charboneau, a girl about one year old. As for Lizette, it's assumed she also died young because, and perhaps you notice a pattern here,

there is nothing more written about her. She simply disappears from the record. Toussaint Charboneau would live for another thirty years, going on to mary at least three more teenage Native American girls, including a fourteen year old when he was

seventy years old. We have to imagine Jean Baptiste Charboneau's childhood, his guardian, the famous William Clark, his mother dead, his father gone, possibly raised alongside a young sister, possibly alone, sent to boarding school until he was sixteen, when he would meet the man who would change the course of his life. Life. Duke Paul Wilhelm, thrilled by the promise of natural discovery in the New World, had sailed across the ocean to America. He was a fairly accomplished naturalist

and amateur painter dedicated to documenting the natural world. On June twenty first, eighteen twenty three, he arrived at a small chateau settlement near the mouth of the Kansas River. That was where he first met Jean Baptiste Charboneau, and from their first meeting, Paul Wilhelm was aware of the celebrity of his mother. He wrote, quote here I also found a youth whose mother, a member of the tribe of Shoshones or Snake Indians, had accompanied the Messrs Lewis

and Clark as an interpreter to the Pacific Ocean. The European continued up the Missouri River to its source, and actually at one point hired to Saint Charbonneau as a guide and translator. His mission was successful, and when the Duke came back through America's interior that fall, when he reached the Kansas River again. This time he would take Jean Baptiste along with him, with the plan that the two of them would both go back to Germany together.

The trip turned out to be a challenging one. The steamboat that the men were on to get to New Orleans sank, but they did make it eventually, though The trip across the Atlantic would prove to be its own arduous journey. Duke Paul wrote, the sea fought us with huge waves, and the ship was tossed about so violently that the rolling action became unbearable. The waves struck with such force overboard that part of the railing was shattered, but the pair did eventually make it safely back to Germany.

So it wasn't just John Baptiste that Duke Paul brought back. He also brought back a live alligator that he had captured in New Orleans. Jean Baptiste was only a few years younger than Duke Paul, but it's difficult to discern whether the relationship between the two men was one of friendship or whether it was something more paternalistic or colonial.

The first major English translation of the original German texts was done in the nineteen thirties, by Professor Lewis C. Butcher at the University of Wyoming, and historians today are fairly dismissive of his translations for being let's say, overly

romantic at best and more than a little embellished. Professor Butcher's version of the story is the two men becoming instant and close friends, both young men from illustrious families, one a German prince, the other the scion one of the most romanticized fables of Americana, and Professor Butcher is correct in the facts that for the next six years, Jean Baptiste Scharpeneau would live alongside Duke Paul in Germany in a palace with him, and travel across the world

at his side, including travels to Africa and Australia. Imagining that the two were just best friends who shared a taste for adventure is appealing, and in fact, if you are listening and looking for the subject of a historical rom com that you want to write, I would be delighted to read a fictional account of the two explorers sharing an intimate and loving friendship. But unfortunately, as you are probably predicting, the reality was a little more uncomfortable.

I actually don't think it's as nefarious as it could have been. I've seen some suggestions that Jean Baptiste was brought over to Germany to be a servant, but there actually isn't really evidence of that either. Like Clark, Duke Paul Wilhelm was likely excited by the chance to quote enlighten a quote primitive Native American, and he would get a personal encyclopedia on hand to answer any questions he

might have about America or Native American culture. In return, Jean Baptiste would get to travel the world, live in a palace, and get new experiences, all while having an education funded. Jean Baptiste already spoke several languages at this point, and over the course of his time in Germany he

would add a few more to the roster. According to most twentieth century sources, the arrangement was something partly between studying abroad and being a member of someone's entourage, with John Baptiste receiving an education and enjoying the freedom to meet new people, explore the Black forest, and practice his hunting and horseback riding. The Duke had also previously brought a young man, Juan Alverdo from Mexico, who, in theory,

received a similar education math, history, geography, and languages. The Duke also brought back two men from Africa and one from India. So all of these men were, depending on your interpretation, either nineteenth century study abroad students quote unquote, exotic servants, personal cultural encyclopedias, or some combination of all

of the above. We might have gotten a more detailed account of the men's time spent together, but many of the Duke's personal journals were destroyed in the damage of World War II. Given that lack of evidence, Professor Albert

Furtwegler favors the more pessimistic framing. In two thousand one, he wrote, quote, there is no evidence that the Prince educated Charboneau, saw him as an equal, took interest enough in him to learn about him directly after eighteen twenty nine, or treated him as anything better than an exotic specimen brought back to Europe along with other Indian items for his collections. Indeed, we have almost nothing that the Prince

wrote about Charboneau. We know that John Baptiste remained in Europe for six years until eighteen twenty nine, but it wouldn't be until more than twenty five years later that Charboneau emerges again in Paul Wilhelm's writings. The Duke was back in California on a trip where he encountered a

group of Shoshone Native Americans. One of these, he wrote, was a fine young lad, quite intelligent, who reminded me strangely and with a certain sadness, of b Charboneau, who had followed me to in eighteen twenty three Europe, and whose mother was of the tribe of the Shoshones. Why or when they lost touch, Whether Paul Wilhelm viewed Jean Baptiste as a friend or just another specimen lost or misplaced in his travels is something lost to us. We do know one fact about the time that Jean Baptiste

was in Germany. A parish birth announcement for a child named Anton Fryes born on February twentieth, eighteen twenty nine, the child of quote Johann Baptiste Charbonneau of Saint Louis, called the American in service of Duke Paul of this place, and Anastasia Katerina Fries, unmarried daughter of the late George Fries,

a soldier. Here. The infant unfortunately died that spring, and a few months later, when he was twenty five years old, Jean Baptiste would leave Europe forever and returned turned to the place he was born. Jean Baptiste joins a fur company. He sets out west and joins several other parties of men who hunted buffalo and traded furs. He traveled almost constantly. When his father died in eighteen forty three, he sold some land he had inherited for three hundred and twenty dollars.

He appears in the record as a guide on several hunting expeditions, including one for another European nobleman, a Scottish baronet named Sir William Drummond Stuart. Jean Baptiste would spend the rest of his years living a rustic life on the western frontier, seemingly a complete reversal of the years

he spent among the sophisticated finery of German court. The historian Grace Hebberd, writing in nineteen thirty three, can barely mask her condescension and frankly racism in her dismissal of Jean Baptiste Charboneau, who quote seems to have deteriorated despite his education, his contact with civilization, and his efficient services in earlier years. Baptiste thus apparently forgot his classical education and superior attainments. She continues that Charboneau is not a

unique case. Quote examples without number have occurred of the same sort of reversion, both among Indians and Whites who have lived under similar conditions among savages or in the wild. She finally concludes that quote culture that is only a veneering is easily rubbed off by constant association with uneducated

Indians and illiterate Whites. Anne Haefen, writing in the sixties, presents a similarly condescending but more romanticized explanation of Jean Baptiste Charboneau's life out west, quoting an anecdote of a man from eighteen thirty nine who had met a Native American trapper near Bent's Fort who may or may not

have actually been Jean Baptiste. In the anecdote that may or may not have actually happened, as she reports, the man apparently asked the Native American, why did you leave civilized life for a precarious livelihood in the wilderness, to which the Native American trapper replies quote for reasons found in the nature of my race, explaining that Indians aren't satisfied with quote the description of things, and that they have to experience quote treasures and realities as they live

in their own native magnificence on the eternal mountains. Eventually, Charbonneau was hired as a scout in the Mexican American War, and in eighteen forty seven he was appointed the alcad Or Mayor of Mission San Luis Rey de Frentancia. The next year he would join in on the California Gold Rush, mining the Big Crevice in California, an operation that was successful enough for him that he did it for at least sixteen years, living in whereas now Auburn, California, and

working as a hotel manager. He eventually left California when he was sixty one years old, whether driven by wanderlust or by the slowing local economy. While crossing the rugged Oye River, Charboneaux slipped off his horse and fell into the icy water. He became ill, either from the fall or maybe he had been ill before from a lifetime lived rough, breathing in alkali dust and living in Rugged surroundings.

He was brought to Danner, Oregon, where he died. The city is now a ghost town, but there's a grave site not too far which marks the final resting place of the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the grave of the man who traveled across America before he could walk, who spent six years in Germany alongside a prince, who spoke five languages, and spent the better part of the nineteenth century working as a guide, a trapper, and gold prospector. As a child, he had represented the

promise of peace. As an adult, he can be reframed to represent a romanticized version of the American West, a mascot for a certain spirit of adventure onto whom people can project their fears or prejudices or fascination with Native Americans and the American West itself. It's a version of our history that maybe never existed in the first place, or only ever existed in the slivers of real people's stories.

But Jean be Baptiste Charboneau did exist. That's the story of Jean Baptiste Charboneau and his relationship with Duke Paul Wilhelm of Wurtemberg, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about Jean Baptiste's lasting legacy in America. So much of this story has been lost to history, forced into the realm of speculation or wishful thinking. Even Lewis and Clark's journey, one of the most famous adventures in American history, left almost no

physical evidence on the trail itself. It seems the two men took the idiom to heart, leave only footprints, take only detailed journal entries. But there is one tiny exception. Near the banks of the Yellowstone River, a sandstone pillar stretches more than one hundred feet into the air, covering over two acres at its base. Enamored with Saka Juwaya's baby son, Clark named the site Pompey's Pillar, and, perhaps ironic on a monument named for a man for whom

there is such a dearth of primary physical sources. Pompey's Pillar is the site of the only known physical evidence of the core of discoveries journey. Carved into the stone itself is W. Clark July twenty fifth, eighteen o six. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is created and hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman.

The show is edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows you