SACAGAWEA

[Carol Anne Kincaid~Paradis]

HAPPY TRAILS X

Sacagawea

Sacagawea Interpretive Center in Salmon, Idaho. Photo: Wikimedia Co...

Sacagawea is so famous that her face has graced United States coinage. The Shoshone woman is best known for being a guide and translator for the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition in the early 19th century.

According to the National Women’s History Museum, Sacagawea was born around the year 1788 to the Lemhi tribe of the Shoshone, but was captured at a young age by an enemy tribe, the Hidatsa, and enslaved.

She was taken to the region about today’s Bismarck, North Dakota, and exposed to whites who traded with them at a young age. One of these was Toussaint Charbonneau, a French Canadian who lived among the tribe. Britannica tells us that he bought Sacagawea to add to his growing number of wives.

When the Lewis and Clark expedition arrived and spent the winter of 1804 to 1805, they hired Charbonneau as a translator. His relationship with Sacagawea was thought to be a boon since they would encounter the Shoshone as they pushed west. They waited, therefore, for her to give birth to her son on February 11, 1805. With the baby on her back, they pushed ahead.

Sacagawea was remarkable. In one instance when her boat nearly capsized and knocked important contents out of it, she remained cool headed, quickly retrieving documents and instruments.

She made the expedition clothing, and found edible plants. She eased passage for the white explorers, and the presence of the Shoshone mother and child lessened the anxieties of various tribes they encountered.

This was especially true among the Shoshone, where she was reunited with her brother. Sacagawea was so valuable to the expedition that this group of older men listened to her advice when establishing winter quarters when they reached the Pacific Northwest. 

It is unclear when Sacagawea died, but it was most likely in 1812 of typhoid fever. However, some traditions hold that she lived far longer. Either way, she has been immortalized as an important figure in American history.