The Rest of the Story ( Jean Baptiste Charbonneau )

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau

Son of Sacagawea 

By

Butch “the Gospel Truth” Carr

One of the stipulations that Sacagawea made for guiding the Corps of Discovery Expedition led by Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean, was that either Lewis or Clark educate her son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau in a ‘white school’ back east. Wm. Clark took a liken to the boy and took Jean back to St. Lewis when the Expedition ended, and enrolled Jean Baptiste in a prestigious school there.
All of this can be found in the history books. But the history books missed a few things about Jean Baptiste life. Through some diligent research, I “Butch the Gospel Truth Carr” have uncovered the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say.
While attending school in St. Lewis Jean Baptiste heard about a young fellow by the name of Abner Doubleday who had just invented a game called Baseball. Its popularity was quickly sweeping the nation. As a side note I might add that this lead to the invention of Hot Dogs, Peanuts and Cracker Jacks. But let me regress.
Jean Baptiste became so enamored with this new game that he dropped out of school and tried out for a position on the newly formed baseball team called the “St. Lewis Blue Jay’s”, later to be called the St. Lewis Cardinals. After a few successful seasons as a pitcher with the “Jays”, Jean was eventually traded to the Chicago White Sox.
While with the Sox, fame and fortune went to his head. He got romantically involved with a popular Actress of the day by the name of Lillie Langtry, “the Jersey Lily”. In later years Lily became involved with the notorious Judge Roy Bean of Pacos County Texas.
Jean began staying out late and missing practice. With one party after another things just went from bad to worse for poor Jean. He eventually got involved with gamblers and became indebted to the local syndicate. The darkest days of poor Jeans life was about to begin. He began throwing games to pay off his gambling debts. When the newly formed Baseball Commission started an investigation into the irregularities of the game, the Chicago Herald quickly coined it the ‘Black Sox’ Scandal. And Jean Baptiste Charbonneau let a fellow teammate, “Shoeless Joe Jackson”, take the blame for Jean indiscretions and misdeeds. History has never exonerated poor ‘Shoeless Joe’. When in reality it should have been referred to as the “Moccasin-less Jean Baptiste Scandal”. The scandal however ended Jean’s baseball career.
Jean Baptist’s attention by this time was averted to a gold strike at Sutters Mill in California. Jean got the ‘Gold Fever’ and headed west to make his fortune. After making a modest gold strike, Jean Baptiste wanted to invest his money into something a little more lucrative. He heard about an Army Post that was closing and was up for sale in the small town of Buffalo in northeast Wyoming.
Jean Baptiste bought the old fort and decided to turn it into a Bed and Breakfast. But it seemed the only clientele he could attract where ex-soldiers who wanted to live out their retirement years at the fort. By this time Jean Baptiste himself was getting up in years and figured he would retire and move to Florida and open an Alligator Farm.
So Jean Baptiste sold the property to a young Lieutenant who was an ‘Aviator’. The Aeroplane had just been invented by a couple of brothers from Ohio, and this ground breaking stuff. The Lieutenant wanted to turn the Fort into an” Aerodrome”. But he was unable to talk the Army into the benefits of having something called an Air Corps to control the Indians. His plan was to swoop down and scare the bejabbers out of any marauding tribe.
So this young Aviator had to bided his time and wait for the Aeroplane to catch on. So he himself converted the Fort into a Home for Veterans. Thus was born the Veterans’ Home of Wyoming.
And now you know the rest of the story.