The Survivor: Sacagawea

While there is little known about Sacagawea, we do know that she was born in Idaho (probably in 1788), a Lemhi Shoshone Indian.

History tells us that her early life would have been difficult because of her gender. While Shoshone boys were never physically punished, the girls were often beaten. It was believed that physical punishment would break the spirits of the future braves, while the girls were destined to a life of drudgery.

Shoshone women were treated with little respect and their husbands could be quite inhumane in their expectations of them.

Sacagawea's tribe was particularly distressed, as they were being chased by enemy tribes. This left them constantly on the run and they began to lose their social values.

In 1800, the Lemhi tribe was attacked by a band of Minnetaree Indians and Sacagawea, along with several other women from her tribe, were kidnapped. She was twelve years old when she was sold into slavery by the Minnetaree, who sold her to the Mandan Indians.

Some time in the next few years she was either gambled off or sold to an irritable and abusive French Canadian trapper by the name of Troussaint Charbonneau. He forced her to become one of his wives.

Sacagawea with Lewis and Clark During Their Expedition of 1804-06 Giclee Print

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In 1805-1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent the winter near the Hidatsa villages where Sacagawea lived with her husband and his other squaw. During the time that they stayed, they interviewed several trappers, seeking someone who would be able to guide them on their expedition and possibly translate for them so that they would be able to communicate with the Shoshone peoples. When they discovered that Sacagawea spoke the Shoshone language, they hired Charbonneau to be their guide. Really, they were hiring Sacagawea. She was about four months pregnant at the time.

Charbonneau moved into fort Mandan with Sacagawea a week later.

In February, Sacagawea gave birth to a baby boy who Charbonneau named Jean Baptiste. The birth was recorded by Meriwether Lewis, who noted that Sacagawea was given crushed rattlesnake rattles to speed the delivery (aren't native American birth practices fascinating?).

Clark and other members of the expedition party referred to Jean Baptiste as "Little Pomp" or "Pompy."

Two months later the expedition began (in April of 1805).

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Sacagawea proved to be invaluable to the expedition. Not only was she able to communicate with the Indian tribes the expedition encountered as they moved westward, but the young woman and her child acted essentially as a living shield. The tribes that were encountered by Lewis, Clark and the others left the members of the party unharmed because of the Shoshone woman and her infant!

Although Charbonneau had been hired so that Sacagawea could translate for the expedition, she proved herself to be a good choice in other ways as well. In fact, her knowledge of the terrain the party crossed aided in the expedition!

Sacagawea was additionally skilled at finding edible plants for the party to consume and when a boat capsized and valuables were thrown into the ocean, she rescued them with her quick thinking.

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While there isn't a great deal known about Sacagawea during the expeditions themselves, there is even less known about her life after Lewis and Clark.

Charbonneau and Sacagawea were invited by William Clark to live in St. Louis, Missouri in 1809, where Jean Baptiste was enrolled by Clark in Saint Louis Academy boarding school. A year or two later, Sacagawea gave birth to a daughter, Lizette.

Historical documents suggest that Sacagawea might have died in 1912, though there are some questions about the accuracy of this finding. Charbonneau had two wives, both Indians.

While historical tradition would indicate that Sacagawea died of a fever in 1812, there is an oral Indian tradition that is most fascinating. Due to interest in the location of the body of of Sacagawea, Dr. Charles Eastman learned of a Shonone woman with the Comanche name of Porivo (chief woman).

During his interviews with Reservation residents, he discovered that Porivo had often spoken of taking a long journey with white men where she helped them. Additionally, she was in possession of a silver Jefferson peace medal, much like those carried by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Eastman was in contact with a woman who claimed to be the granddaughter of Porivo, who said that she (Porivo) had married into the Comanche tribe and had left when her husband, Jerk-Meat was killed.

It is then believed that Porivo lived for some time in Wyoming with her two sons Bazil and Baptiste (who each spoke several languages including English and French) and eventually found their way back to the Lemhi Shoshone at the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Porivo died in 1884 (at quite an age if this woman was, indeed, Sacagawea!).

The Sacagawea dollar was first minted in 2000 and is currently one of two dollar coins. Originally the coin was commissioned as Liberty as a native American woman since there were no known portraits of Sacagawea.

During the competition for the design of the coin, however, the concept changed, and the artist Glenna Goodacre won with a portrait of a young Shoshone woman posing a Sacagawea with Jean Baptiste on her back.

This is a beautiful coin and a great tribute to a woman who helped America to become what it is today -- Sacagawea.

I almost skipped out writing this lens. I became frustrated by the lack of information and solid sources on Sacagawea. I felt as though I was restricted entirely at first to using Wikipedia as my source (and I did rely on it heavily!) but eventually I managed to dig up some fascinating information about the Shoshone tribe that kept me going.

Sacagawea is a fascinating historical figure. She endured so very much from the time that she was born (at the hands of the Lemhi Shoshone), then kidnapped, then gambled off to an abusive husband. It took courage and strength for her to lead the expedition of Lewis and Clark. She was a woman in a man's world, young and with a child, and yet she was in her element.

Sacagawea led the expedition into the west. Where would we be without her? Would our world be the same? It is difficult to say. I, for one, am glad that she had the strength and courage to lead those men. She took a stand, even in the nineteenth century, for all women, and I appreciate her!