How did General Kearny find his way across North America (especially the U.S. West)? He was led by English-speaking "Mountain Men," like Kit Carson and James ?Ohio? Pattie, who had explored the West in the 1820s and 1830s. Also important were French-Canadian "voyageurs," like Antoine Leroux, Michele Robidoux, and Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, son of the Shoshoni Indian woman, Sacagawea who led the Lewis & Clark expedition in the early 1800s.