Sacagawea
Shoshone
Topics covered in this document:
Introduction
Sacagawea, the near-legendary daughter of a Shoshone chief, was
kidnapped by the Hidatsa when she was about 10 years old. She grew up
among the Hidatsa in their village on the upper Missouri River.
Later she and another captive girl were purchased and wed to Toussaint
Charbonneau, a French Canadian trapper.
Lewis and Clark
When Lewis and Clark hired Charbonneau as an interpreter for their 1804
expedition, they insisted that Sacagawea accompany them. Lewis and Clark
figured that having her with them would make it easier to talk to the
Natives along the way. As Clark noted in his journal, "a woman with a
party of men is a token of peace."
Eight weeks before Lewis and Clark set out, Sacagawea gave birth to her
first child, a son named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. However, Clark nicknamed
the boy Pomp or Pompey.
In April 1805 Sacagawea headed upriver with the small expedition,
carrying her infant son in a cradleboard.
Family Reunion
Four months later, the "Corps of Discovery" reached the end of the
navigable portion of the Missouri River. Lewis set out to talk to a nearby
Shoshone band from whom he hoped to obtain horses for the next leg of the
trip across the mountains. Sacagawea accompanied him to act as an
interpreter.
When they rode up to the encampment, Sacagawea was surprised to find
her older brother, Cameahwait ... who had become chief after their father's
death. It would have been the opportune moment for Sacagawea to return
to her people.
Instead Sacagawea remained true to her marriage vows, helped secure the
needed horses, said goodbye to her brother, and journeyed on with the
expedition (and her husband) to the Pacific.
Later Life
On the return trip, Sacagawea and Charbonneau parted with Lewis and
Clark at a Hidatsa village on the upper Missouri. From that time on, the
historical record of their lives is limited and somewhat conjectural.
William Clark, who had grown fond of the young Pompey, invited
Charbonneau for a visit, hoping to convince him to move to St. Louis.
After a brief time, however, Charbonneau found he missed the open
wilderness ... and returned to trapping, leaving his son in Clark's
care.
Whether Sacagawea accompanied her husband and son to St. Louis is
uncertain. Some evidence indicates that she did make the trip, then
returned to the upper Missouri with her husband, where she died in an
epidemic of "putrid fever" late in 1812. Other accounts say that she
ultimately rejoined the Shoshone on the Wind River reservation and died
there in 1884. That's a gap of 72 years!
What Next?
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