Toussaint Charbonneau (March 20, 1767 – August 12, 1843) was a French Canadian explorer, fur trapper and merchant who is best known for his role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition as the husband of Sacagawea.

His genealogy compiled by the PRDH project at the Université de Montréal shows a strictly French ancestry.

[5] For a time, Charbonneau worked as a fur trapper with the North West Company (NWC), assigned to the Pine Fort on the Assiniboine River in what is now Manitoba.

Charbonneau eventually considered these women to be his wives, though whether they were bound through Native American custom or through common-law marriage is undetermined.

In November 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark came to the area, built Fort Mandan, and recruited members to the Corps of Discovery.

With Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and Otter Woman's skills combined, the expedition gained the ability to speak Hidatsa and Shoshone.

[11] This upset Lewis and Clark as they saw these gifts as a bribe for Charbonneau to work with the company to deter American ventures in the fur trade.

[11] On top of being dissatisfied with the requirement to stand guard and perform manual labor amongst other tasks, he was also being treated as a traitor by his new employers.

His performance during the journey was mixed: Meriwether Lewis called him "a man of no peculiar merit",[12] and many historians have painted Charbonneau in a distinctly unfavorable light.

Several members of the party praised his boudin blanc, a boiled and fried sausage made from bison meat.

[16] Additionally, his skill in striking a bargain came in handy when the expedition was in strong need for horses and was at a Shoshone encampment, the people of his wives.

[12] In addition to the payment, William Clark wrote a parting letter to Charbonneau, inviting a continued relationship.

[18][better source needed] In April, 1811, Charbonneau started working for Henry M. Brackenridge, an explorer headed up the Missouri River.

The following year Charbonneau signed over formal custody of his son Jean Baptiste and daughter Lisette to William Clark.

[15] Charbonneau is known to have had a total of five wives, all young Native American women whom he married when they were sixteen years old or younger.