REVISITING SACAGAWEA’S CONTRIBUTIONS

Lewis & Clark’s Guide Was First Woman To Vote

Sacagawea stands out in America’s history for a number of reasons; but, one reason is never mentioned: She was the first woman, in recorded history, to vote on the North American continent.

WINTERING ON THE PACIFIC COAST

The Corps of Discovery thought they spotted the Pacific Ocean on November 7, 1805.  Captain William Clark wrote in his journal: “Ocian in view!  O! the joy.”  Then he added “Ocian 4142 Miles from the Mouth of Missouri R.”  In reality, they had spotted the Columbia River’s broad estuary.  No matter, as they knew they had reached the last leg of their westward journey.

Clark and his crew reached the actual Pacific Coastline, on present-day Long Beach Peninsula, Washington, on November 18th.  This was after eleven days of abject misery on the northern side of the Columbia River’s mouth near present day Ilwaco, WA: “we are all wet and disagreeable.”  Besides personal comforts, they needed to locate a good hunting ground near their second winter camp, as well as a place to extract salt from sea water and timber with which to build their winter quarters. 

The Clatsop Indians assured them that elk were plentiful on the southern side of the Columbia River.  Several men wanted to return 190 miles upriver to the Celilo Falls area (present-day The Dalles, Oregon) to winter over. 

Lewis and Clark took the unprecedented step of putting it up to a vote by ALL members of the Corps.  There were three choices: 1) to stay on or near the Long Beach Peninsula, 2) to return upriver, or 3) to cross over to the southern side and take a look before deciding.  They built Ft. Clatsop on the southern side, just south of present-day Astoria, Oregon.

It is doubtful that Sacagawea (AKA Sakakawea, AKA Bird Woman, AKA Janey), understood the significance of her contribution to the new country.  Although she lived barely 25 years (1788-1812), Americans are still intrigued by her.

SACAGAWEA MEETS LEWIS & CLARK

The Corps chose as their first winter camp a place near the Mandan Villages, not far from present-day Bismarck, North Dakota.  As they were building their quarters Toussaint Charbonneau (1767-1843), a French-Canadian trader approached Clark.  On November 4, 1804, Clark recorded the encounter in his journal: “a French man by Name Chabonah, who Speaks the Big Belly language visit us, he wished to hire & informed us his 2 Squars were Snake Indians, we engau him to go on with us and take one of his wives to interpet the Snake language.”

The two captains recognized the value of Sacagawea and Charbonneau’s combined language skills.  One crew member, Private Labiche, spoke French & English.  All the rest spoke only English.  Charbonneau spoke French and Hidatsa.  Sacagawea spoke Hidatsa and Shoshone.  Through this long translation chain, English to French, French to Hidatsa, Hidatsa to Shoshone, Lewis & Clark hoped to communicate with the Shoshone, far to the west, who owned horses.

FROM FREEDOM TO CAPTIVITY TO MARRIAGE TO MOTHERHOOD

Sacagawea was Shoshone (AKA Snake) by birth and lived in the Rocky Mountains, at the headwaters of the Missouri, later named Three Forks in present-day western Montana.  At about age 12 she was captured by a Hidatsa raiding party and taken east to the northern plains.  A year or two before they met Lewis & Clark, Charbonneau won her in a bet with the warriors who had captured her. 

When Sacagawea encountered the Lewis & Clark Expedition, she was a married woman, pregnant with her first child.  Along with her husband, she wintered over with the expedition near the Mandan Villages.  On February 11, 1805, Lewis recorded in his journal “about five oClock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy.”  He went on to explain in some detail that her labor was long and painful.  The couple named their son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (1805-1866).  Clark nicknamed the baby “Pompey.”

WESTWARD HO!

With two-month-old Pompey strapped to her back, on April 7, 1805 Sacagawea set off toward the west with 31 men.  As the crew made their way west along the Yellowstone River in present-day Montana, the young mother constantly scrutinized the hills, mountains, rivers and lakes, looking for familiar terrain from her childhood.  The plains Indians had told Lewis & Clark that they would need to traverse high mountains (Rocky Mountains) before they reached the Columbia River, and horses would be vital to that difficult journey.  The plains Indians didn’t have horses, and the “mountain Indians,” the Shoshone, did.

As they continued their trek, it became increasingly obvious to both captains that Sacagawea was more valuable than her husband.  He could not swim and was, at best, an unreliable crew member, especially when steering a boat through treacherous waters.  His errors, lack of courage and lack of judgment caused numerous problems throughout their journey, including the loss of valuable supplies.  He seemed to be accident prone, and, as the oldest crew member, he took longer to heal from his injuries.  However, Charbonneau did have a special talent that every crew member appreciated: cooking.

Procuring enough food to feed the crew, which needed huge quantities due to extreme daily exertion, was a constant struggle.  Sacagawea contributed significantly to their diet as she was a trained gatherer, able to find and identify numerous types of wild fruits and vegetables.  Lewis wrote “when we halted for dinner the squaw busied herself in serching for wild artichokes   .   .   .   and she procured a good quantity of these roots.”      

Historians also believe that Sacagawea and Pompey benefited the Corps of Discovery by their mere presence.  As these odd-looking strangers made their way west, they encountered numerous tribes, some more war-like than others.  It is likely the presence of a baby and an Indian woman calmed fears that the Corps was a war party intent on doing them harm.  

ALMOST A MIRACLE

By mid-July, 1805, Lewis, Clark and crew were becoming increasingly frustrated and worried they may never meet up with the Shoshone and their horses.  To everyone’s relief, however, on July 22nd, Sacagawea announced that she recognized a section of the river where the Shoshone lived in the summer.  This spot was just short of the coveted Three Rivers (AKA Three Forks).  [These three rivers were named by Lewis & Clark: Jefferson, Madison (Secretary of State), Gallatin (Secretary of the Treasury who funded their expedition).  It wasn’t until August 13th, while walking on a heavily used trail, that some of the men first ran into Shoshone, two girls and an elderly woman.

It was the formal council with the tribe’s chief, however, several days later, that produced a near-miracle.  Using the translation chain, Sacagawea spoke Shoshone with the Indians, translated it into Hidatsa as she spoke to Charbonneau who translated it into French as he spoke to Private Labiche, who translated it into English for Lewis.  [This begs the question: how accurate could each sentence be after it traveled through four mouths and four languages before reaching the intended ears?  The captains were mindful of this potential problem.]

The council had barely begun when Sacagawea, recognizing the chief, Cameahwait, as her brother, “jumped up, ran & embraced him, & threw her blanket over him and cried profusely.”  When she had recovered herself, the council continued, albeit frequently interrupted with her tears.

By August 31st the Corps had a sufficient number of horses.  As the crew made their way over the Continental Divide, the Rocky Mountains, down the Snake and Columbia Rivers, Lewis and Clark made few references to Sacagawea in their journals, until the crew voted upon where to spend the winter of 1805-06.

DEATH OF A LEGEND

On December 20, 1812, as so often happened to women during that time in history, Sacagawea died from “childbed fever” four months after giving birth to a daughter.  She was living with her husband at Fort Manuel Lisa, south of present-day Bismarck, North Dakota.  Adoption papers in Missouri State Court dated August 11, 1813 reveal that William Clark became legal guardian for ten-year-old Jean Baptiste and one-year-old Lizette.  Historians believe Lizette died shortly thereafter as there is no further documented reference to her.