Sacagawea: Guide to the West

Jeffrey R Gudzune, MA

Though no portrait was taken during her lifetime, there are more images of Sacagawea than any other female figure in American History. There is much that is still unknown about the Shoshoni guide to the Corps of Discovery, and much that has been recently reinterpreted. Even her name has undergone a change of interpretation. When it first appeared in print, the spelling was Sacagawea—which in the language of the Hidatsa (the people with whom she was living) means “bird woman.” However, her name has also been spelled with a j, which in Shoshoni means “boat launcher.” The confusion comes from the journals of Lewis and Clark, who were uncertain as to the proper spelling and used both letters interchangeably. The 1814 edition of the journals of Meriwether Lewis show her name spelled with the hard g; and this has been the most commonly accepted form. Some historians have argued that Sacagawea was a guide to Lewis and Clark as they explored western territories of the United States. Others have claimed that she was simply along for the ride. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. While she was not taken into the expedition at her own insistence, she proved to be a valuable interpreter and diplomat—especially when it came to first contact situations with some of the more hostile western Indian nations. It is only through a thorough examination of her life that an accurate picture of this remarkable woman can be formed.

Though there is still uncertainty as to the exact year of her birth, it is believed that Sacagawea was born around 1790 in the Rocky Mountain region. Her people, the Shoshoni, were well known for their military prowess and had once dominated surrounding nations with their mounted cavalry. However, by the time of Sacagawea’s birth, the Shoshoni were under constant raid from several fronts. Their most dangerous opponent was the Hidatsa nation, which had already seriously encroached on Shoshoni territory. In 1800, when she was ten years old, Sacagawea was abducted by a Hidatsa war party while fishing along the Missouri River. She remained with her captors until she was purchased by a French-Canadian trader named Toussaint Charbonneau at the age of fourteen. She soon became his wife. How then did this young woman become a part of America’s quest for expansion?

When Lewis and Clark first encountered Sacagawea she was traveling with Charbonneau along the Missouri River—their exact location was somewhere near present day Washburn, North Dakota. After traversing nearly 1600 miles and experiencing the loss of one member of the expedition due to ill health, Lewis and Clark sought a respite among the Mandan; a people who populated the banks of the Missouri. By this time, however, an outbreak small pox had caused many of the Mandan towns to fall into disrepair. On October 24, 1804, Clark recorded in his journal that negotiations between the Americans and the Mandans began “with great cordiality and ceremony.” The captains were optimistic, yet cautious.

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