Sacagawea

Sacagawea was born about 1788, in a Northern Shoshone village in the vicinity of Lemhi River valley in what is today Idaho. Although little is known of her life, she has been recently honored with her portrait on the new dollar coin. There are claims that no woman in the US has more statues in her honor. Many public schools, especially in the Northwest, are named for Sacagawea, as are mountain peaks, streams and lakes.

In 1800, at the age of 12, she was kidnapped by Hidatsa (or Minitari) Indians and taken from what is now Idaho to what is now North Dakota. Later, she was sold as a slave to the French Canadian trader Toussaint Charbonneau, along with another Shoshone woman. He took them both as wives, and in 1805, Sacagawea's and Charbonneau's son, Jean-Baptiste, was born.

The Lewis and Clark expedition recruited Charbonneau and Sacagawea, who was about 15 years old, to accompany them westward, expecting to make use of Sacagawea's ability to speak to the Shoshone. The expedition expected that they would need to trade with the Shoshone for horses. Sacagawea spoke no English, but she could translate to Hidatsa to Charbonneau, who could translate to French for Francois Labiche, a member of the expedition, who could translate into English for Lewis and Clark. They insisted that she and her baby, Jean Baptiste, accompany the group. Not only could Sacagawea provide valuable help in communicating and dealing with the Shoshoni, but her presence would make a clear statement to the Indians that they might encounter that the expedition must not be a threat because war parties do not travel with a woman and child.

Sacagawea's expertise in reading the landscape, understanding rivers, finding food, gathering plants, and maintaining a clear head stood out during the expedition. At one point while the expedition was navigating a river, a sudden storm washed numerous items overboard. Sacagawea alone had the presence of mind to retrieve the items, including the now famous journals of the trip, from the water.

Upon returning to St. Louis after the expedition ended, Sacagawea entrusted her young son to Clark, who raised and educated him. However, historians disagree on her fate after leaving St. Louis. Some believe she died six or seven years later. Others, basing their opinion on Shoshoni oral history, contend Sacagawea married several more times, had more children, and became a political speaker and an advocate of agriculture for her people. According to this theory, she was reunited with Jean Baptiste, a frontiersman, and died at the age of 96. She is buried in Wyoming.

Sacagawea's place in history transcends Lewis and Clark's journals or Shoshoni oral history. With a baby strapped to her back, this capable teenager, guide, interpreter, and negotiator, blazed a trail followed by many modern women. She is a true inspiration to all people with her courageous spirit and undying strength.

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