Sacagawea

Not to brag, but I’m kind of an expert on the Lewis and Clark expedition. My credentials? In 2004 I was in Shrevewood Elementary’s production of Lewis and Clark: The Musical. Heh, impressive, right? And you’ll never guess who I played (hint: I had my own solo song)…No, I wasn’t Sacagawea, silly! I was the Napoleon Bonaparte!

Calm down. I’m still the same girl you knew before. And anyway, this isn’t about me. This about another really cool girl — one could argue even cooler than I am: Sacagawea.

Let’s be so for real, those boys definitely would have died out there without our gal Sacagawea. Like, they would have perished. Exposure, wild animal attacks, starvation, brutally murdered by natives, you name it. Sacagawea was their guide out there, helping them determine what they could eat, how to communicate with tribes, natural cures to ailments, etc.

She was born around 1788 in what is now the state of Idaho. Generally believed to be of Hidatsa origin, her name is thought to mean “bird woman.” At around age 12, she was kidnapped by an enemy tribe in North Dakota. While she was there, French-Canadian trader Toussaint Charbonneau came to live with the Hidatsa, and claimed her as one of his wives. You read that correctly. Charbonneau married around five native women under the age of 16 within his lifetime. During the Lewis and Clark expedition, he was married to both Sacagawea and a native girl named Otter Woman. But we don’t have time to unpack all that mess.

Fast-forward to 1803, and Thomas Jefferson has just bought a bunch of land in the west from Napoleon Bonaparte in the Louisiana Purchase. (I know this because I once channelled Bonaparte for an acting role.) All this new land was completely unknown and needed to be mapped. Enter: two lads from Virginia: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. These guys set out up the Missouri River with 40 men to chart these exciting new frontiers. When winter came, Lewis and Clark set up their encampment, Fort Mandan, close to the Hidatsa village. There, they met Charbonneau who successfully pitched himself as a guide. He knew the Hidatsa language, while Sacagawea was a Shoshone woman, which would help them with the tribes as they ventured further west. Together, they formed the Corps of Discovery.

Sacagawea was actually pregnant with her first child when they joined the Corps, so they waited until her baby was born in February, 1805 before they moved on from Fort Mandan. In April, they began their journey west, Sacagawea traveling with baby Jean-Baptiste on her back. She was only 17 years old, and the only woman in the expedition, but was a crucial member of the group.

She knew both the Shoshone and Hidatsa languages and served as a translator and interpreter for the group to other tribes. She also was able to show then what plants were edible, and which were poisonous, helping them survive when rations grew scarce. Her presence helped the group avoid conflicts, as a group of men traveling alone were more likely to be seen as hostile than a group traveling with a woman and a baby. Basically, she made their shit possible. All while taking care of an infant child. She was incredibly resilient and brave as they faced sometimes grueling conditions. One day, their boat was hit by a strong gust of wind and tipped over into freezing water, their supplies falling overboard. While her husband stood frozen, she sprung into action, rescuing gunpowder, books, clothes, and more from the water — and essentially saving the expedition. This earned her major respect and admiration from Lewis and Clark.

In July, as they traveled up the Missouri River, Sacagawea started to recognize her surroundings. In August, she realized she was close to her old village and Lewis and Clark set up a meeting with the Chief, with her as an interpreter. When the Chief emerged, she realized to her tearful joy that it was her brother, who she hadn’t seen since she had been kidnapped years before. Despite this emotional reunion, she remained dedicated to the Corps of Discovery.

She continued to travel with them, all the way to the Pacific Coast. She had earned the immense respect of the men, who turned to her to make decisions like where to make winter camp, where they stayed until March 1806. On the journey back east, the group split into two and Sacagawea went with Clark, leading him through the Rocky Mountains. Clark had this to say about her:

“The Indian woman…has been of great service to me as a pilot through this country.”

We don’t know much more about her life after the expedition. We do know that she had gotten close enough to Clark that he wound up letting her son Jean-Baptiste come live with him in St. Louis, where he was provided an education.

TLDR; The Lewis and Clark expedition would not have succeeded without Sacagawea. Her expertise, her bravery, and her grit proved invaluable to their incredible journey west. That’s what we in the history biz call an icon ꩜