“Toussaint Charbonneau Family – August 17, 1806” by Richard Vernon Greeves is a rare and moving bronze group portrait, capturing a moment of return, resilience, and understated triumph at the close of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Depicted here are Toussaint Charbonneau, his wife Sacajawea, and their young son Jean Baptiste—figures often referenced in history but seldom shown as a family.

Charbonneau leads the way with Jean Baptiste perched atop his shoulders, while Sacajawea walks beside him, robed in cultural regalia, her posture grounded yet graceful. Each figure is carved with individual character, but together they move as one—unified, weathered, and whole. Greeves avoids hero worship and instead shows the lived intimacy of survival, partnership, and parenthood across thousands of miles.

The date marks their return journey—months after they had helped guide the Corps of Discovery from the headwaters of the Missouri to the Pacific and back again. By portraying them not as supporting characters, but as a family in motion, Greeves reframes the narrative: this was never just an expedition—it was a crossing shaped by interdependence.