“Jean Baptiste Charbonneau” by Richard Vernon Greeves is a quiet and intimate bronze bas-relief honoring the infant son of Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau—cradled in a traditional cradleboard, wrapped in furs, and swaddled in legacy. Though small in scale, the sculpture resonates with weight; this child was not only carried across a continent—he became part of its story.

Born during the Lewis and Clark expedition, Jean Baptiste symbolized unity across cultural lines. He was Shoshone, Métis, and American—all before he learned to speak. Greeves captures him not as a figure of innocence alone, but as a vessel of generational passage—safe, protected, and already in motion.

The textures of the wrap, the lacing of the cradleboard, and the delicate features of the baby’s face evoke maternal care, tribal identity, and the fragile hope woven into every journey. Rather than idealize, Greeves honors—the child as child, the cradle as shelter, the bronze as memory.