Boy On New Dollar Coin Honored
Shoshone Indians, Lewis and Clark scholars and local ranchers gathered in Danner, Oregon, this past weekend to rededicate the grave of the other person on the new Sacagawea dollar coin.
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, nicknamed "Pomp," was the son of Sacagawea and her husband, a French-Canadian fur trapper.
He was born in 1805 while his mother and father were helping the Lewis and Clark expedition. Before he died at the age of 61, he got an education, toured Europe, lived the life of a mountain man in the West and later settled in California.
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On Saturday, his grave was rededicated in the remote high desert of eastern Oregon in advance of the bicentennial of the 1804-06 expedition that opened the American West. Although it's not close to the expedition's trail, it's still expected to become a site of interest to Lewis and Clark aficionados.
"I guess you could describe it as a beautiful recognition of somebody who played a major part in American history," said RoseAnn Abrahamson, a descendant of Sacagawea's brother, Cameahwait. "For us, it was really uplifting."
During the Lewis and Clark expedition, William Clark took a particular liking to the boy. He saw to it that the youngster received an education in St. Louis after the expedition wrapped up in 1806.
In 1823, Charbonneau traveled to Europe with a German nobleman. For six years he toured Europe, learning to speak several languages and becoming a favorite at royal courts.
He returned at the age of 24, and for the next 15 years he traveled the Rockies as a mountain man, meeting up with legends such as Jim Bridger, John C. Fremont and Jim Beckwourth. He scouted for the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican-American War in the 1840s and settled in California. He served as an alcalde (the mayor or chief judicial official of a Spanish town) for the San Luis Rey Mission, then spent about 20 years in the gold country of Central California.
"Jean Baptiste symbolizes the settlement of not only the West, but the United States," said author and local rancher Mike Hanley. "He's been overlooked for so long it is good he is finally coming into his own."
Roger Wendlick, organizer of the event, said he worked with Shoshone tribal representatives to ensure customs about the dead were not violated. Wendlick worked under the auspices of the Oregon Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.
Charboneau died of pneumonia in May 1866 after crossing the icy waters of the Owyhee River.
He then faded from the nation's memory until his grave was relocated in the 1960s by a historian who found his obituary in an old Idaho newspaper.
His mother is believed to have died in 1812, although another tradition has it that she lived to her 90s.
The Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Council Web site lists other activities connected with the bicentennial.
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