Day 20 After the 1999 introduction of a new US dollar coin which features the Shoshone Indian Sacagawea, many are interested in the real history of this woman. Ironically, the picture on the dollar coin is not really a picture of Sacagawea, for the simple reason that no known likeness exists of her. Little is known of her life, either, other than her brief brush with fame as a guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition, exploring the American West in 1804-1806. Nevertheless, the honoring of Sacagawea with her portrait on the new dollar coin follows many other similar honors. There are claims that no woman in the US has more statues in her honor. Many public schools, especially in the Northwest, are named for Sacagawea, as are mountain peaks, streams and lakes. Sacagawea was born to the Shoshone Indians, about 1788. In 1800, at the age of 12, she was kidnapped by Hidatsa (or Minitari) Indians and taken from what is now Idaho to what is now North Dakota. Later, she was sold as a slave to the French Canadian trader Toussaint Charbonneau, along with another Shoshone woman. He took them both as wives, and in 1805, Sacagaweas and Charbonneaus son, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, was born. The Lewis and Clark expedition recruited Charbonneau and Sacagawea to accompany them westward, expecting to make use of Sacagaweas ability to speak to the Shoshone. The expedition expected that they would need to trade with the Shoshone for horses. Sacagawea spoke no English, but she could translate to Hidatsa to Charbonneau, who could translate to French for Francois Labiche, a member of the expedition, who could translate into English for Lewis and Clark. Accompanied by her infant son, Sacagawea set out with the expedition for the west. Her memory of Shoshone trails proved valuable, according to some sources; according to others, she did not serve as a guide to the trails so much as to useful foods and medicines along the way. Her presence as an Indian woman with a baby helped to convince Indians that this party of whites was friendly. And her translation skills, however indirect from Shoshone to English, were also invaluable at several key points. The only woman on the trip, she also cooked, foraged for food, and sewed, mended and cleaned the clothes of the men. In one key incident recorded in Clarks journals, she saved records and instruments from being lost overboard during a storm. Sacagawea was treated as a valuable member of the party, even given a full vote in deciding where to spend the winter of 1805-6, though at the end of the expedition, it was her husband and not she who was paid for their work. On returning to the home of Sacagawea and Charbonneau, the expedition paid Charbonneau with money and land for the work of Sacagawea and himself. A few years later, Clark apparently arranged for Sacagawea and Charbonneau to settle in St. Louis. Sacagawea gave birth to a daughter, and shortly after died of an unknown illness. Clark legally adopted her two children, and educated Jean Baptiste (some sources call him Pompey) in St. Louis and Europe. He became a linguist and later returned to the west as a mountain man. It is unknown what happened to the daughter, Lisette.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 10:59:53 +0000
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