Engagé

Engagé, is an 18th-19th century Modern French term denoting a man, (usually French-Canadian), who is engaged, i.e., employed, with the promise of a steady salary to canoe (or row a boat) and handle all transportation aspects of river and lake-chain travel (maintenance, loading and unloading, propelling, steering, portaging, camp set-up, maps, interaction with Native American people, etc.) in the North American frontier, particularly within the fur trade. It also applied to the men who staffed the pirogues on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Compare with the merchant voyageur and seafaring sailor.