Sacajawea

Although early Spanish explorers might have had previous contacts with the Shoshone, particularly the Western group, it was the Lewis and Clark Expedition that made non-Indian America aware of them. This voyage of exploration is mentioned in connection with many Native American peoples, since the expedition covered so much territory and encountered as many as 50 tribes. Thomas Jefferson, the president at the time, conceived of a scientific expedition west of the Mississippi River. The United States was a young country seeking out its boundaries. In 1803, Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase with France, which had recently been ceded the land by Spain. A vast expanse of mostly wilderness territory, about 828,000 square miles, from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, came under United States domain. Jefferson chose his private secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to explore the northern part of this enormous tract. Lewis chose his friend, Captain William Clark, as his associate in command.

In the winter of 1803—04, Lewis and Clark organized a team of 29 additional men in Illinois, across the Missouri River from the settlement of St. Louis. One of these was an

Shoshone painted buffalo hide, depicting the Sun Dance and the return of the buffalo

African American known simply as York in historical writings. He would generate much interest among the Indians, who had never seen a person of his ancestry before. The explorers set out up the Missouri River in May 1804. They spent the next winter in MANDAN villages. It was during this period that a Montrealer named Toussaint Charbon-neau and his Shoshone wife, Sacajawea (or Sacagawea, translated as “Bird Woman”), joined the expedition. Char-bonneau had just purchased Sacajawea from the neighboring HIDATSA. She had been brought to their villages by GROS VENTRE (atSINA), who had captured her four years earlier in a raid on a Shoshone band.

This was a remarkably fortunate turn of events for the explorers. In the course of their subsequent travels, Saca-jawea’s presence reassured Indians whom they later encountered. She was able to communicate with the different tribes through sign language. She obtained horses for the expedition from her own Northern Shoshone people to cross the Great Divide. She showed the way through the Lemhi Pass in the Rockies that led from the Missouri to the Columbia River. With her help, the expedition successfully reached the Pacific Ocean and made its way back again, with only one fatality. Char-bonneau and Sacajawea left the expedition where they had joined it, at the Mandan villages. Lewis and Clark returned triumphantly to St. Louis in 1806.

It is not known for certain when or where Sacajawea died. Some historians believe she passed away about 1812. But others have claimed that she died in Wyoming many years later, in 1855. Next to Pocahontas (see POWHATAN), Sacajawea probably is the most famous Native American woman in history. Her involvement as guide, translator, and diplomat makes her as responsible for the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as anyone.