Born in New Orleans, Jean Pierre Chouteau (1758-1849) moved as a young child to St. Louis, which his father, Pierre Laclede, had just founded. From his adolescence, Chouteau spent much time living among the Osages, and along with his half-brother Auguste, he emerged as one of the leaders of the area fur trade. Strong relations with Spanish authorities helped the Chouteaus acquire a monopoly on trade with the Osages, which they lost to a competitor in 1802. Quickly ingratiating themselves with American representatives after the Louisiana Purchase, the brothers regained trading privileges with the Osages, and TJ named Pierre the U.S. Indian agent for upper Louisiana during Chouteau’s visit to Washington in July 1804. His agency was limited to the Osages in 1807. Despite attempts to dissolve his commission, Chouteau continued to aid U.S. negotiations with various Indian nations. In 1809, he helped form the Missouri Fur Company, which sought unsuccessfully to assume control of trade as far as the Pacific Northwest. He continued to trade more locally before retiring to St. Louis in 1820 (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, New York and Oxford, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; Terr. Papers description begins Clarence E. Carter and John Porter Bloom, eds., The Territorial Papers of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1934-75, 28 vols. description ends , 14:107-8, 290-3, 343-8; William E. Foley and C. David Rice, The First Chouteaus: River Barons of Early St. Louis [Urbana, Ill., 1983], 3, 5-7, 20-1, 60-2, 127-8; William Clark and Meriwether Lewis to TJ, 18 May; TJ to White Hair and Others, 12 July).

troubles: Chouteau likely referred to the killing by Sac warriors of three white settlers on the Cuivre River in September. The following month, a Sac delegation, worried about the American response, traveled to St. Louis and surrendered one of the purported killers to American authorities. They subsequently signed a peace treaty, dated 3 Nov., in which they ceded much of the land occupied by the Sac and Fox nations (Terr. Papers description begins Clarence E. Carter and John Porter Bloom, eds., The Territorial Papers of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1934-75, 28 vols. description ends , 13:62-4, 76-7; ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832-61, 38 vols. description ends , Indian Affairs, 1:693-5; Robert M. Owens, Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy [Norman, Okla., 2007], 87-90).