Sacagawea - Explorer of the American Frontier

Sacagawea - Explorer of the American Frontier

In order to understand how important Sacagawea was to the Lewis and Clark's mission to the Pacific, her history and the history of her people must be told.

An explorer known as Captain Clarke wrote that in order to pronounce the Indian words correctly, every letter sound must be made. There has been much debate on the spelling of the young explorer's name, since the letters to not match the sound (ex. "Sacajawea" does not match "Sah-cah' gah-we-ah). In fact, in finding her name written on multiple documents from various explores, there have been seventeen different spellings with only the "g" matching in all of them. When her name is divided in two, the Hidatsas translation is "Bird (Sacaga) Woman (Wea)" (Sacagawea, PBS - 2005).

In 1788, Sacagawea was born to the Shoshone tribe, (otherwise known as the "Snake Nation") which was located in the Rocky Mountain region. If their territory was still around today, it would cover the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Sacagawaea's tribe made up the more northern/eastern part of the territory, lived in tepee's, and were superb buffalo hunters. These people, called Lemhi Shoshone, were great warriors and excellent on horses. It was around this time (1790's) that the Lemhi were forced to retreat to the Rocky Mountains due to their enemy tribes, Blackfeet, Atsinas and Hidatsas, invading their land. These enemies carried muskets so they were much more forceful in making the Lemhi leave their land. The Lemhi would plan hunting trips back to their homeland when the village was terribly scarce on food. These trips were very dangerous, and on one of the trips in 1800 the Lemhi men were caught by the Hidatsas. The men were beaten, tortured, and killed while the rest of the village (located in present day Idaho) was destroyed and many were taken captive (Shoshone, PBS - 2005).

It was during this massacre that Sacagawea (approximately 12 years old) was kidnapped. She was taken to the Hidatsas-Mandan village which where Bismarck, North Dakota is located today. It was here where Sacagawea was sold into slavery to a man by the name of Toussaint Charbonneau. Charbonneau was a French fur trader from Canada. Four years later, the Corps of Discovery came to the village and built themselves a fort near the village. When Sacagawea was seventeen, she gave birth to her first child, who also became the youngest explorer ever, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau (Sacagawea, PBS - 2005).

Captains Lewis and Clark felt as though Sacagawea would be an important factor to the mission. They knew that the expedition was in need of horses, and the Shoshone's were known for having horses. Sacagawea could help with trading and could translate since she spoke both Shoshone and Hidatsas. Her husband, Charbonneau, could speak both Hidatsas and French. Together Sacagawea and Charbonneau made quite the translating team. Some have said, had it not been for Sacagawea, Charbonneau would not have been asked to go on the expedition because his wife was more off an asset to the mission. In order for the team to understand the trade with the Shoshone, Sacagawea would communicate with them, and then translate to Charbonneau in Hidatsas; he would then translate in French to Francois Labiche (hired by the Corp). He would finally translate to the Captains Lewis and Clark in English (Sacagawea, PBS - 2005).

Sacagawea also proved her talents in other areas during the expedition out and back. While carrying her child, Baptiste, she also collected berries, roots, and plants from the wild. These items were used to eat as well as medicine at times. Baptiste also rode on her back when she rode horse-back and was in her lap when she sat in the boats. She was the only woman on this expedition with thirty-three men, but there was no doubt her importance to the mission. In fact, one day during the mission Sacagawea was riding in a boat when suddenly the wind picked up on the river they were crossing. Her boat began to rock and was hit by a strong wave which almost capsized the boat. Sacagawea recovered the majority of the papers and materials that would have been lost to the water. The character she showed during this time of panic won her respect with Lewis and Clark (Sacagawea, PBS - 2005).

In August of 1805, Lewis decided to take a few of the men ahead of the core group in order to scout the land. On August 13, the four were about 75 miles head when they came upon a Shoshone tribe. The tribe was living in the mountains, off of mostly berries and roots. At various times they might have a few fish, but the tribe was in the process of planning a small group trip to the plains in order to hunt buffalo. A woman was gathering food away from the village when she spotted the men. She called to other women and they gathered together as the strangers came closer. The men, led by Lewis put down their guns to try and show they were friendly. Lewis actually painted the face of the women with vermilion, which he had learned was a mark of peace. Once the women had convinced their people that Lewis and his three men were friendly, the Shoshone chief Cameahwait had the village share their food and make a tepee for the "white visitors" to sleep in. The Shoshone's had never seen white people before this event. (Shoshone, PBS - 2005)

Once settled, Cameahwait told Lewis the news he and Clark had been expecting: there was no all water route in which the expedition could take to reach the Pacific Ocean. The main reason for Lewis and Clark's worry was the Bitterroot Mountains. Lewis knew that if the Shoshone would not trade with his group; the expedition would fail. He decided that Clark and the others needed to know the situation, so Lewis, Cameahwait, and their men journeyed to where Clark and the others had made camp (Shoshone, PBS - 2005). While the captains and the chiefs began exchanging words through the communication line, Sacagawea realized that not only were these men from her home tribe; but Chief Cameahwait was her brother! The reunion of the two Shoshone people was very heart warming. After the reunion and the communications were over, the expedition was able trade some gifts for the horses they needed (Sacagawea, PBS - 2005).

As the expedition proceeded to the west, Sacagawea continued to prove her importance to the group. When entering territories which belonged to other