William Drummond Stewart William Drummond Stewart ( Dec . 26 , 1795 - Apr . 28 , 1871 ) was a Scottish adventurer and British military officer . He traveled extensively in the American West for nearly seven years in the 1830s . In 1837 he took along the American artist , Alfred Jacob Miller , hiring him to do sketches of the trip . Many of his completed oil paintings of American Indian life and the Rocky Mountains originally hung in Murthly Castle , though they have now been dispersed to a number of private and public collections . After his older brother John Stewart died childless in 1838 , William inherited the baronetcy and returned to Scotland . In 1842 he returned to America , and in the summer of 1843 hosted a private rendezvous - style party at a remote lake in the Rockies ( now called Fremont Lake ) . On that trip Jean Baptiste Charbonneau , the son of Sacagawea of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was hired to care for the mules . The so - called " pleasure trip " ended in a dispute that split the party and caused Stewart to return to Scotland earlier than he had planned . Stewart has recently been portrayed for adding a homosexual dimension to the frontier . Early life and education . Born at Murthly Castle , Perthshire , Scotland , Stewart was the second son and one of seven children of Sir George Stewart , 17th Laird of Grandtully , 5th Baronet of Murthly and of Blair . The family decided that William would go into the Army ( as his older brother would inherit his father ' s estate and title ) . After his seventeenth birthday in 1812 , William asked his father to buy him a cornetcy in the 6th Dragoon Guards . After his appointment was confirmed on April 15 , 1813 , he immediately joined his regiment and began a programme of rigorous training . Career . Stewart was anxious to participate in military action ; on December 22 , 1813 , his father purchased for him an appointment to a Lieutenancy in the 15th King ' s Hussars , which was already in action during the Peninsular Campaign . The appointment was confirmed on January 6 , 1814 , and Stewart joined his regiment , subsequently seeing combat during the Waterloo campaign in 1815 . On June 15 , 1820 , Stewart was promoted to a Captain and soon thereafter retired on half pay . Marriage and family . By a servant , Christian Marie Battersby , he had an illegitimate son , William George Drummond Stewart , born in 1831 . He acknowledged the boy , known as " Will " , as his , and assumed full financial responsibility for both mother and son . He never lived under the same roof as Christian , but he did marry her later in life in order to legitimize Will for purposes of inheritance . Will Drummond Stewart had an illustrious career in the British Army and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in relieving the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny . He predeceased his father , however , succumbing to injuries sustained during a drunken attempt to demonstrate sword swallowing . American West ( 1832 - 1838 ) . Seeking adventure , Stewart traveled to St . Louis , Missouri in 1832 , where he brought letters of introduction to William Clark , Pierre Chouteau , Jr . ; William Ashley and other prominent residents . He arranged to accompany Robert Campbell , who was taking a pack train to the 1833 rendezvous of mountain men . The party left St . Louis on May 7 and attended the Horse Creek Rendezvous in the Green River Valley of Wyoming . Here Stewart met the mountain men Jim Bridger and Thomas Fitzpatrick , as well as Benjamin Bonneville , who was leading a governmental expedition in the area . At the rendezvous Stewart met the hunter Antoine Clement , with whom he had a homosexual relationship that lasted for nearly a decade . The relationship is detailed in Stewart ' s two autobiographical novels . With some of the men , Stewart visited the Big Horn Mountains , wintered at Taos , and attended the next rendezvous at Ham ' s Fork of the Green River . Later that year , he journeyed to Fort Vancouver , Washington , at the coast of the Pacific Ocean . Stewart attended the 1835 rendezvous at the mouth of New Fork River on the Green and reached St . Louis in November . Finding that his finances were curtailed because he brother had failed to forward his share of the estate left by their father , Stewart went to New Orleans , speculated in cotton to recoup , and wintered in Cuba . In May , he joined Fitzpatrick ' s train to the Rockies for another rendezvous on Horse Creek . He wintered in 1836 - 1837 and 1837 - 38 at New Orleans , where he speculated again in cotton . In 1838 he learned that his childless older brother John had died of an undisclosed disease ( probably cancer ) . William Stewart would become the seventh baronet of Murthly . For the rendezvous of 1837 , Stewart took along an American artist , Alfred Jacob Miller , whom he hired in New Orleans . Miller painted a notable series of works on the mountain men , the rendezvous , American Indians , and Rocky Mountain scenes . In 1839 he delivered finished oils to Stewart , who hung the works in Dalpowie Lodge on the Murthly estate . Working from watercolor sketches he had made during their trip to the Rockies , Miller painted many canvases while an artist in residence on the estate . Stewart returned to Scotland and Murthly Castle in June 1839 with his partner Antoine Clement , and the couple lived in Dalpowie Lodge , while entertaining in Murthly Castle . Stewart explained Clement ' s presence by at first referring to him as his valet , then as his footman . Because Clement was restless and unhappy in Scotland , the couple spent many months traveling abroad , including an extended visit to the Middle East . Stewart ' s elder brother had incurred extensive debts in constructing a new Murthly Castle . When attempts to earn extra income by hosting hunting parties proved disappointing , Stewart finally sold one the family ' s estates , Logiealmond Castle . The sale provided him with enough money to pay off his brother ' s debts and to allow him to return to the United States for an extended , lavish party held in the Rockies . Stewart returned to North America in late 1842 , and in the September of 1843 he and a large entourage traveled to what is now Fremont Lake . Stewart brought with him a large array of velvet and silk Renaissance costumes for his all - male guests to wear during the festivities . Fur trader William Sublette co - hosted the party with Stewart . Though there had been no rendezvous since 1840 , the party had many elements of the old Rocky Mountain gatherings . Stewart had planned to spend the winter of 1843 - 44 in New Orleans , and visit Taos and Santa Fe the following spring , but the Renaissance pleasure trip ended in a scandal that led him to leave for Scotland immediately , never to return to the United States . Stewart ' s later life was one of turmoil and alienation from his family . His son William George Drummond Stewart died from self - inflicted injuries . In 1856 Stewart ' s friend Ebenezer Nichols , his wife , and three sons , visited from Texas . When it came time to leave Scotland , the Nichols ' s middle son , Franc , declined to return home . He instead stayed on with William Drummond Stewart at Murthly Castle , eventually being adopted by Stewart and becoming his primary heir . Stewart died of pneumonia on April 28 , 1871 . " Men of Paradise " , University Of Nebraska Press , 2012 , by William Benemann