Women's History Month, Day Six

Sacagawea

(Lewis & Clark at Three Forks by Edgar Samuel Paxson, 2012)

Sacagawea is one of the most famous women in American history due to her association with Lewis and Clark’s discovery of the West but not much in known about her early life. We know that she is strong and probably endured great hardship being separated from her family and home when she was kidnapped. We also know she was incredibly resourceful and smart. I wish we knew more about her side of the story; she is such an interesting and strong figure in history.  

Biography:

            Sacagawea was born in 1788 or 1789 as a “member of the Lemhi band of the Native American Shoshone tribe” in the land which is now commonly known as Idaho (History.com Staff). Their enemies were the Hidatsa tribe who during the year of 1800 kidnapped Sacagawea, who was 12, while a buffalo hunt was occurring.  She was taken to the Hidatsa-Mandan location in what is now North Dakota. Her name is actually a combo of two Hidatsa words, “sacaga” which means bird and “wea” which means woman (History.com Staff). The Shoshone, however, say that her name’s meaning is “boat-pusher (History.com Staff).” During 1803 0r 1804 Sacagawea was traded to Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader who was twenty years her senior and she was made one of his two wives and soon became pregnant (History.com Staff).

            When President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803, an area of uncharted territory that stretched 828,000 square miles, he realized he would have to send people out to explore the land (History.com Staff).  He hoped they would find a passage to the Pacific Ocean. He sent Meriwether Lewis, his secretary and head of the Corps of Discovery and Lewis’s friend, William Clark, to discover what the territory held.  It took the two a year of planning and traveling to finally reach the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement on November 2, 1804. Sacagawea was about six months pregnant with her son; she would give birth on February 11, 1805 to Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau.  Lewis and Clark realized that Sacagawea and her husband provided the wonderful advantages of being bilingual, Sacagawea spoke both Hidatsa and Shoshone and her husband spoke Hidatsa and French (History.com Staff). This would help them to communicate with local tribes and purchases goods from them. Having a Native American woman and a baby along would also make them look less threatening. The couple and their child set out with Lewis and Clarke and the rest of their company on April 7, 1805.

Sacagawea immediately proved her worth, when one of their boats almost sank; she was calm and quick enough to not only secure her baby’s safety but also the safety of many crucial items on board. She successfully translated for them and helped them gain horses and supplies from her brother Cameahwait, who was at this point the Shoshone’s Chief. William Clark developed a friendship with Sacagawea. The two and Sacagawea’s son were often spotted walking on the shores of the river to check to see what they would encounter next. They named part of Missouri in her honor for her help. She also remembered the old Shoshone trails and was able to navigate through the territory which caused Clark to remember her as his “pilot (History.com Staff).” She was a skilled gatherer of food and plants which came in handy when she could identify different plants that could be eaten or used as medicine. At one point near Fort Clatsop they found a stranded whale and Sacagawea joined them when visiting it so that she could see the ocean. Lewis wrote that ““[T]he Indian woman was very impo[r]tunate to be permited to go, and was therefore indulged; she observed that she had traveled a long way with us to see the great waters, and that now that monstrous fish was also to be seen, she thought it very hard she could not be permitted to see either (PBS).”  Once the company had finally reached the Pacific Ocean, they returned home.

            Upon returning back to the Hidatsa-Mandan Settlement in August of 1806, Sacagawea’s husband received “320 acres of land and $500.33 (History.com Staff).” For her part in the journey and all of the help that she had provided, Sacagawea received nothing. Clark and Sacagawea’s friendship continued when in 1809, her and her husband went to St. Louis where Clark gave them farming land and in exchange Clark would educate their son. He became Jean-Baptiste’s god-father and when Sacagawea and he husband left to start fur-trading again in 1811; their son would stay with Clark.  Sacagawea gave birth to Lisette, their daughter, in August of 1812 which caused her health to suffer. Only a few months later in December she fell ill and died on December 22, she was only 25. Clark would go on to become the “legal guardian to both Lisette and Jean-Baptiste (History.com Staff).”

Books to Read:

Sacagawea: A Biography by April R. Summitt

Works Cited:

History.com Staff. “Sacagawea.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/sacagawea.

, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/saca.html.