| Sacagawea | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 "Sacagawea" (1910), North Dakota State Capitol, Leonard Crunelle, sculptor. | |||
| Born | c. 1788 Lemhi River Valley (near present-day Salmon, Idaho) | ||
| Died | December 20, 1812 (aged 24) Fort Lisa, present-day NorthDakota (probable) | ||
| Other names | Sakakawea, Sacajawea, Sakagawea | ||
| Ethnicity | American Native (Shoshone) | ||
| Known for | Accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition | ||
| Spouse | Toussaint Charbonneau | ||
| Children | jean baptiste charbonneau lizette charbonneau | ||
Sacagawea Facts
Sacagawea (also Sakakawea, Sacajawea; English pronunciation: /ˌsækədʒəˈwiːə); (c. 1788 – December 20, 1812; see below for other theories about her death) was a Lemhi Shoshone woman, who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition, acting as an interpreter and guide, in their exploration of the Western United States. She traveled thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean between 1804 and 1806.
She has become an important part of the Lewis and Clark legend in the American public imagination. The National American Woman Suffrage Association of the early twentieth century adopted her as a symbol of women's worth and independence, erecting several statues and plaques in her memory, and doing much to spread the story of her accomplishments.[1]
In 2000, the United States Mint issued the Sacagawea dollar coin in her honor, depicting Sacagawea and her son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. The face on the coin was modeled on a modern Shoshone-Bannock woman named Randy'L He-dow Teton. No contemporary image of Sacagawea exists.In 2001, she was given the title of Honorary Sergeant, Regular Army, by then-president Bill Clinton.
Early Facts:
At about thirteen years of age, Sacagawea was taken as a wife by Toussaint Charbonneau, a Quebecer trapper living in the village. He had also taken another young Shoshone named Otter Woman as a wife. Charbonneau was reported to have purchased both wives from the Hidatsa, or won Sacagawea while gambling.
The lewis and clark expedition:
Sacagawea was pregnant with her first child when the Corps of Discovery arrived near the Hidatsa villages to spend the winter of 1804–05. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark built Fort Mandan. They interviewed several trappers who might be able to interpret or guide the expedition up the Missouri River in the springtime. They agreed to hire Charbonneau as an interpreter when they discovered his wife spoke Shoshone, as they knew they would need the help of Shoshone tribes at the headwaters of the Missouri.
Lewis recorded in his journal on November 4, 1804:"a French man by Name Chabonah, who speaks the Big Belly language visit us, he wished to hire and informed us his 2 squars ("squaws") were Snake Indians, we engage him to go on with us and take one his wives to interpret the Snake language…"
Charbonneau and Sacagawea moved into the expedition's fort a week later. Clark nicknamed her Janey.[3] Lewis recorded the birth of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau on February 11, 1805, noting that another of the party's interpreters administered crushed rattlesnake rattles to speed the delivery. Clark and other European Americans nicknamed the boy "Little Pomp" or "Pompy".
In April, the expedition left Fort Mandan and headed up the Missouri River in pirogues. They had to be poled against the current and sometimes pulled from the riverbanks. On May 14, 1805, Sacagawea rescued items that had fallen out of a capsized boat, including the journals and records of Lewis and Clark. The corps commanders, who praised her quick action, named the Sacagawea River in her honor on May 20.
By August 1805, the corps had located a Shoshone tribe and was attempting to trade for horses to cross the Rocky Mountains. They used Sacagawea to interpret and discovered that the tribe's chief was her brother Cameahwait.
Lewis recorded their reunion in his journal:
"Shortly after Capt. Clark arrived with the Interpreter Charbono, and the Indian woman, who proved to be a sister of the Chief Cameahwait. The meeting of those people was really affecting, particularly between Sah cah-gar-we-ah and an Indian woman, who had been taken prisoner at the same time with her, and who had afterwards escaped from the Minnetares and rejoined her nation."
Later life and death:
After the expedition, Charbonneau and Sacagawea spent three years among the Hidatsa before accepting William Clark's invitation to settle in St. Louis, Missouri in 1809. They entrusted Jean-Baptiste's education to Clark, who enrolled the young man in the Saint Louis Academy boarding school.
Sacagawea gave birth to a daughter, Lizette, sometime after 1810. According to Bonnie "Spirit Wind-Walker" Butterfield, historical documents suggest Sacagawea died in 1812 of an unknown sickness:
"An 1811 journal entry made by Henry Brackenridge, a fur dealer at Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post on the Missouri River, stated that both Sacagawea and Charbonneau were living at the fort. He recorded that Sacagawea "…had become sickly and longed to revisit her native country." The following year, John Luttig, a clerk at Fort Manuel Lisa recorded in his journal on December 20, 1812, that "…the wife of Charbonneau, a Snake Squaw [the common term used to denote Shoshone Indians], died of putrid fever." He went on to say that she was "aged about 25 years. She left a fine infant girl". Documents held by Clark show that her son Baptiste had already been entrusted by Charbonneau into Clark's care for a boarding school education, at Clark's insistence (Jackson, 1962)."
A few months later, fifteen men were killed in an Indian attack on Fort Lisa, then located at the mouth of the Bighorn River. John Luttig and Sacagawea's young daughter were among the survivors. Toussaint Charbonneau was mistakenly thought to have been killed at this time, but he apparently lived to at least eighty. He had signed over formal custody of his son to Clark in 1813.
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| "Sacagawea" statue in (1910), North Dakota State Capitol, Leonard Crunelle, sculptor. |
The last recorded document citing Sacagawea's existence appears in William Clark's original notes written between 1825–1826. He lists the names of each of the expedition members and their last known whereabouts. For Sacagawea he writes: "Se car ja we au- Dead." (Jackson, 1962)."
There is no later record of Lizette among Clark's papers. It is believed that she died in childhood.
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| "Sacagawea" (1905), Washington Park (Portland, Oregon), Alice Cooper, sculptor. |
After his infant son died, Jean-Baptiste came back from Europe in 1829 to live the life of a Western frontiersmen. He became a gold miner, hotel clerk, and in 1846, he led a group of Mormons to California. While in California he became a magistrate for the San Luis Rey Mission. He did not like the way Indians were treated in the Missions and left to become a hotel clerk in Auburn, California, once the center of gold rush activity.[11]
After working 6 years in Auburn, the restless son of Sacagawea left in search of riches in the gold mines of Montana. He was 61 years old, and the trip was too much for him. He became ill with pneumonia and died in a remote area near Danner, Oregon on May 16, 1866.
Film:
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| Sacagawea cast in Night at the museum |
Several movies, both documentaries and fiction, have been made about Sacagawea.
- Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) – played by Mizuo Peck
- The Spirit of Sacajawea (2007)
- Night at the Museum (2006) – played by Mizuo Peck
- Bill and Meriwether's Excellent Adventure (2006) – played by Crystal Lysne
- Journey of Sacagawea (2004)
- Jefferson's West (2003) – played by Cedar Henry
- Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002) – played by Alex Rice
- The Far Horizons (1955) – played by Donna Reed
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