Sacagawea

Sacagawea or Sacajawea (1787?-1812), Shoshone Native American woman, who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 and 1806. Her presence helped persuade many Native American tribes of the peaceful intentions of the expedition. Sacagawea also acted as an interpreter and during one incident, helped save some of the Lewis and Clark journals.

Sacagawea was probably born in present-day Idaho.

A member of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe, she was captured by members of the Hidatsa tribe when she was about 13 years old and traded to the Missouri River Mandans. The Mandans, in turn, traded her to a Canadian trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau. She became one of his wives and gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste, in February 1805. Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who had spent the winter of 1804-1805 with the Mandans in present-day North Dakota, hired Charbonneau as an interpreter and guide for the rest of their trip west. Valued by the expedition team as a potential interpreter of the Shoshone language, Sacagawea accompanied Charbonneau and their young son when the party set out in April 1805.

The expedition traveled through what are now North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. During the journey, Sacagawea proved invaluable. Popular histories of the expedition once described her as a guide, but in fact most of the country was also new to her. Present-day historians believe her most valuable role was to persuade other Native American tribes that the explorers were peaceful. As Clark noted in a journal entry: “The wife of Shabono [Charbonneau] our intepreter we find reconsiles all the Indians, as to our friendly intentions a woman with a party of men is a token of peace.”

Sacagawea’s other contributions to the expedition are noted in several journal entries. When one of the expedition’s boats nearly capsized, Sacagawea saved some of the expedition’s most valuable possessions, including navigational instruments, goods for trade, and journal entries. When the expedition encountered a group of Shoshone, Sacagawea recognized her brother Cameahwait. Their reunion helped the expedition obtain food, horses, and guides, making it easier for the explorers to continue. Sacagawea, carrying her young son on her back throughout the journey, was noted for her perseverance and resourcefulness.

Sacagawea and Charbonneau parted with the expedition when it returned to present-day North Dakota in 1806. Lewis and Clark then continued on to St. Louis, Missouri, where the expedition began. Clark later paid for Jean Baptiste’s education in St. Louis. Most historians believe that Sacagawea died in 1812 at Fort Manuel on the Missouri River in present-day Montana, shortly after giving birth to a daughter named Lisette.

In 2000 the United States Mint issued a new gold dollar coin with the image of Sacagawea on it. The coin depicts Sacagawea with her infant son asleep on her back. Of the many memorials to Sacagawea, among the most famous are statues in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon, and on the grounds of the State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck.