Jean Baptiste Charbonneau - Adult Life

Adult Life

On June 21, 1823, at age eighteen, Charbonneau met Duke Friedrich Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg, the nephew of King Friedrich I Wilhelm Karl of Württemberg. Charbonneau was working at a Kaw Indian trading post on the Kansas River near present-day Kansas City, Kansas. Wilhelm was traveling in America on a natural history expedition to the northern plains with Jean Baptiste's father as his guide. On October 9, 1823, he invited the younger Charbonneau to return to Europe with him, which was agreed upon.

The two set sail on the Smyrna from St. Louis in December 1823. Jean Baptiste lived at the duke's palace in Württemberg for nearly six years, where he learned German and Spanish, and improved his English and French. The latter was still the dominant language of St. Louis, which had first enabled his conversations with the Duke. According to a 1932 translation of Wilhelm's journal by the historian Louis C. Butscher, Wilhelm wrote that Charbonneau was "…a companion on all my travels over Europe and northern Africa until 1829." Another scholar questions the accuracy of Butscher's translation. For instance, in 2001, Albert Furtwangler, noting two more recent translations of the duke's journals, suggests that Charbonneau's role in Wilhelm's court may have been less intimate than Butscher's perhaps romanticized account implied. Charbonneau may have been hired as a servant, rather than invited as a companion. As support, he notes the apparent lack of further contact between the two men after Charbonneau's return to America. However, lack of contact in itself does not mean Charbonneau was a hired hand. Such an act may have been an insult to Clark, which the duke likely would have avoided. As with many aspects of his life, little is known for certain about Charbonneau's time in Europe.