Stacey Colvin

Sacagawea

My name is Sacagawea and I am of the Shoshone tribe. When I was twelve years old I was kidnapped by a war party of the Hidatsa Indians who were enemies of my people. I was sold to Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader, who later became my husband. He was asked to go along with the Lewis and Clark expedition. Since I was pregnant I was allowed to accompany him on this expedition. Out of the thirty-three members of the company I was the only woman who was permitted to come.

As we came across many Indian tribes I became a valuable asset to the party. The Indians were more inclined to believe that the white men were not a war party because I was traveling with them and my baby. During council meetings in which Shoshone was spoken I was able to translate for Lewis and Clark.

One day as we were walking I began to recognize the surroundings around me. I knew that this is where my tribe had stayed during the summers as I was growing up. The next day we found a group of Shoshone Indians and I realized that this was my band. I was able to reunite with my brother, who had now become the chief of our tribe. Our expedition ended in 1806. Six years after the expedition I gave birth to my second child, Lisette. I died at the age of 25 of unknown causes. After my death Clark legally adopted my two children.

Sources

Bruchac, Joseph. Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. San Diego: Silver Whistle Harcourt, Inc., 2000.

I really enjoyed reading the work of Joseph Bruchac. His perspective on Sacajawea was extremely helpful in learning more about her life. Bruchac is very knowledgeable on the subject, and has written multiple accounts on the life of Sacajawea.

Clark, Ella and Margot Edmonds. Sacagawea of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.

This text by Clark and Edmonds was satisfactory in finding the information needed for this project. One thing I really did enjoy about this book was that it covered her entire life, not just her part in the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Hebard, Grace Raymond. Sacajawea: A guide and interpreter of the Lewis and Clark expedition, with an account of the travels of Toussaint Charbonneau, and of Jean Baptiste, the expedition papoose. Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1957.

I didn’t particularly enjoy reading this text although the information found inside its covers was very helpful.

Howard, Harold P. Sacajawea. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.

I thought the work of Harold Howard was the best of these texts that I have read. I enjoyed the descriptions of the various events that occurred during her life. He really brought the stories to life with his colorful explanation. I would highly recommend this text for additional research on Sacajawea.

Pelz, Ruth. Women of the Wild West: Biographies from many cultures. Seattle: Open Hand Publishing Inc., 1995.

This book was the least helpful of any of the sources that I found. There was little information on Sacagawea and I found most of the information to be lacking detail. I would not recommend this book to someone who is researching her in depth.

Sacagawea. PBS, accessed on October 25, 2005 available on http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/saca.html

This article found on the PBS website was written very well. This gave detailed information about Sacagawea and the events of her life. Although this article is shorter than the other works analyzed it provided a great amount of help to me in my research.