Sacajawea, Shoshone Indian

Sacajawea was born to a Shoshone tribe in what was then Idaho territory, in the Lemhi Valley. She was kidnapped at a young age by the Hidatsas and taken east to the Great Plains. By either trade or gambling, Charbonneau "acquired" her.

Lewis and Clark first met Sacajawea in November, 1804 when making winter camp with the Mandan Indians in North Dakota. She was married to the French-Canadian fur trapper and interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau, who would be the expedition's interpreter. Charbonneau didn't have a good reputation, but they took a chance on him because of the possible usefulness of Sacajawea. Lewis and Clark thought they would be in a position of needing to purchase horses from the Shoshone and thought Sacajawea might help them in the bargain.

She was pregnant when she arrived in camp. She was just sixteen years old when she gave birth to Jean Baptiste just before the expedition left in the spring. The expedition set out from Fort Mandan in April, 1805. Sacajawea proves her usefulness right away by collecting native plants to supplement their boring diet. A month into the journey, Sacajawea rescues some valuable supplies from the river when one of the boats almost capsized. And when they reached the Shoshone to bargain for horses, she acted as interpreter, resulting in a successful deal.

Her role on the Lewis and Clark Expedition has long been assumed to be that of guide and ambassador. But it was even more important than that. Her very presence had a calming effect on the Indians; it was long tradition with native tribes that a woman with a child did not accompany a war party. The natives on the river route of the Columbia and Snake were apprehensive of the white men until they saw Sacajawea and her baby. Therefore, they realized the Lewis and Clark group must be peaceful. This fact left the expedition unmolested by the Indians and even helped by them in some cases.

After the expedition was over, Charbonneau, Sacajawea, and Jean Baptiste sailed down the Missouri to St. Louis to meet Clark. They lived there a short time until Charbonneau became restless. They later joined the Manuel Lisa fir trading party. Charbonneau went was far as Mandan country where the new Ft. Manuel would be built on the border of North and South Dakota. Sacajawea was with him.

Stories disagree about Sacajawea's death and how old she was. Luttig, the clerk at the new fort, records her death on December 20, 1812 of "a putrid fever." He also recorded an infant girl left behind. When the fort was abandoned, Luttig took the girl Lizette back to St. Louis. He applied to be guardian for her and Jean Baptiste but court records have his name crossed out and Clark's written in. Despite what Luttig recorded, Shoshone oral tradition says she came back years later to the reservation and that she supposedly died on April 9, 1884. She had supposedly encouraged the Indians to adopt white ways and learn to farm.

In any case, what the Shoshone believe to be her remains are buried at the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. A stone was erected there in 1963 by the Wyoming branch of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which reads "Died April 4, 1884."

Sacajawea has more monuments, schools, and buildings named in her honor than any other American woman.

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Last revised 3/12/00