Biography on sacagawea

Native American explorer (c.1788 – 1812)

This article is about the Native American woman. For the Hewlett-Packard processor, see HP Sacajawea. For the coin, see Sacagawea dollar.

Sacagawea (SAK-ə-jə-WEE-ə or sə-KOG-ə-WAY-ə; also spelled Sakakawea or Sacajawea; May c. 1788 – December 20, 1812) was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, in her teens, helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American people and contributing to the expedition's knowledge of natural history in different regions.

The National American Woman Suffrage Association of the early 20th century adopted Sacagawea as a symbol of women's worth and independence, erecting several statues and plaques in her memory, and doing much to recount her accomplishments.

Early life

Reliable historical information about Sacagawea is very limited. She was born c. 1788 into the Agaidika ('Salmon Eater', aka Lemhi Shoshone) tribe near present-day Salmon, Idaho. This is near the continental divide at the present-day Idaho-Montana border.

In 1800, when she was about 12 years old, Sacagawea and several other children were taken captive by a group of Hidatsa in a raid that resulted in the deaths o

Who Was Sacagawea?

Possibly the most memorialized woman in the United States, with dozens of statues and monuments, Sacagawea lived a short but legendarily eventful life in the American West. Born in 1788 or 1789, a member of the Lemhi band of the Native American Shoshone tribe, Sacagawea grew up surrounded by the Rocky Mountains in the Salmon River region of what is now Idaho.

The Shoshone were enemies of the gun-possessing Hidatsa tribe, who kidnapped Sacagawea during a buffalo hunt in 1800. The name we know her by is in fact Hidatsa, from the Hidatsa words for bird (“sacaga”) and woman (“wea”).

Today, however, many Shoshone, among others, argue that in their language “Sacajawea” means boat-pusher and is her true name. (And in North Dakota the official spelling is “Sakakawea.”) Her captors brought her to the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement near what is now Bismarck, North Dakota; the Mandan is an affiliated tribe.

In 1803 or 1804, through a trade, gambling payoff or purchase, Sacagawea became the property of French-Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau, born no later than 1767 and well over two decades her senior. Charbonneau had lived among Native Americans for so long he had adopted some of their traditions, including polygamy. Sacagawea became one of his two wives and was soon pregnant.

The Louisiana Purchase

Meanwhile, President Thomas Jefferson had made the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803—828,000 square miles of almost completely unexplored territory. Within this vast wilderness he hoped would lie the rumored Northwest Passage, the legendary waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that was long-sought trade route.

But Jefferson wanted more from the explorers who would search for the passage: He charged

Sacagawea is one of the most recognizable names in American history.  

But who was she? 

Sacagawea spoke both Shoshone and Hidatsa. We know that she grew up with Shoshone people near what is now the Montana/Idaho border, and that, at the age of twelve, she was captured by Hidatsa people. There is some debate over whether she was originally born in a Hidatsa or Shoshone village, but we do not know for sure.  

From age twelve to sixteen, she lived along the Knife River in a Hidatsa village called Awatixa.

She was married by age sixteen, and we do not know how much choice she had in the matter. Her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, was thirty years older than her and had another wife, named Otter Woman. Sacagawea had a baby at age sixteen, and her son had a French name, like his father.

We know she was happy to reunite with her Shoshone family and friends. She served as a translator and diplomat for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a liaison between cultures.  

But there is so much we will never know. Oral histories and written documents only tell us so much.  

What would it have been like to be an Indigenous woman on this American military expedition? In their respective journals, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Patrick Gass, and Joseph Whitehouse often used an offensive term to describe Sacagawea. These men, on a colonizing mission, saw her usefulness while also discriminating against her based on her race and gender. How was Sacagawea different than the woman we read about in those journals?  

Whoever she was, Sacagawea has captured the imagination of so many people over the last two hundred years. In the 1910s, women fighting for suffrage used Sacagawea as an example of a woman casting a vote. In 2000, the U.S. Mint put an image of Sacagawea and her baby on a dollar coin. There are more statues of Sacagawea in this country than of any other American woman. 

Perhaps it is because she was a woman—with a baby!—in a male space. Perhaps it is because she had a

(1788-1812)

Who Was Sacagawea?

Sacagawea, the daughter of a Shoshone chief, was captured by an enemy tribe and sold to a French Canadian trapper who made her his wife around age 12. In November 1804, she was invited to join the Lewis and Clark expedition as a Shoshone interpreter. After leaving the expedition, she died at Fort Manuel in what is now Kenel, South Dakota, circa 1812.

Early Life

Born circa 1788 (some sources say 1786 and 1787) in Lemhi County, Idaho. The daughter of a Shoshone chief, Sacagawea's name means "boat puller" or "bird woman" (if spelled as Sakakawea). She was a Shoshone interpreter best known for serving as a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West — and for being the only woman on the famous excursion.

Much of Sacagawea's life is a mystery. Around the age of 12, Sacagawea was captured by Hidatsa Indians, an enemy of the Shoshones. She was then sold to a French-Canadian trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau who made her one of his wives.

Lewis and Clark Expedition

Sacagawea and her husband lived among the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians in the upper Missouri River area (present-day North Dakota). In November 1804, an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered the area. Often called the Corps of Discovery, the Lewis and Clark Expedition planned to explore newly acquired western lands and find a route to the Pacific Ocean. The group built Fort Mandan, and elected to stay there for the winter.

Lewis and Clark met Charbonneau and quickly hired him to serve as interpreter on their expedition. Even though she was pregnant with her first child, Sacagawea was chosen to accompany them on their mission. Lewis and Clark believed that her knowledge of the Shoshone language would help them later in their journey.

In February 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to a son named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Despite traveling with a newborn child during the trek, Sacagawea proved to be