Summary
We know extremely little about Sacajawea before she joined
the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Sacajawea, whose name means "Bird Woman",
was a Shoshoni woman probably born around 1788 or 1789. The Shoshoni
(also spelled "Shoshone") were a large Native American group that
spanned from southeastern California across central and eastern
Nevada and northwestern Utah into southern Idaho and western Wyoming.
Although the group comprised various different tribes, all Shoshoni
spoke a similar language. Sacajawea's tribe was the Northern Shoshoni,
and it dwelled in present-day Idaho. She spent much of her youth
moving around the mountainous regions of Idaho and Montana, and
she knew these regions very well.
As a young girl, Sacajawea was alone with some other women and
children from her tribe when they were attacked by a war party from
an enemy tribe, the Hidatsa. Sacajawea tried to flee into a nearby
stream, but was captured. Sacajawea lived essentially as a slave
under the Hidatsas, although she probably did not receive excessively
harsh treatment. Then, when she was twelve years old, sometime
around the turn of the century (1800), a French-Canadian fur- trader
and trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau got possession of her.
Charbonneau either traded for her or won her in a game of cards.
Charbonneau made the young Sacajawea his wife, although he already
had another wife, a Mandan woman named Otter Woman.
Charbonneau had lived in the frontier regions for years,
working for the Montreal based North West Fur Company before working for
himself. He hated civilized areas, even small towns. Considered something
of a scoundrel and an incompetent by some, he preferred the wilderness,
where he was free from civilization and free to chase Indian girls.
Charbonneau lived among the Hidatsa, with whom he could communicate
in a crude sign language. Although they sometimes made fun of him,
the Hidatsa got along fairly well with the trapper, and Charbonneau
was skilled enough in his sign language to communicate with various
other Indian groups and serve as a sort of translator.
Sacajawea and Charbonneau weren't married by any formal
ceremony, but they lived together and had children. Many trappers and
traders of the frontier considered Indian wives highly desirable, so
these types of relationships proliferated.
The facts of Sacajawea's life have provoked much disagreement, and
the debates have only increased as she has gained more attention
for her role as a female Native American hero. Even the correct spelling
of her name has sparked contention, and various groups are now
lobbying for what they believe is the "correct" spelling. During
the Lewis and Clark Expedition, her name was spelled in a wide
variety of ways (Lewis and Clark were creative spellers). Most often,
her name was spelled "Sacagawea" in these men's accounts, and that
was probably close to how her name was pronounced. Today, some
Hidatsa Native Americans argue "Sakakawea" is a more accurate spelling,
following the conventions for spelling that region's Native people's
words in the English alphabet. The spelling that has perhaps the
least real merit of all is the spelling used here, "Sacajawea".
The author of the earliest account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,
although he had never heard the actual woman pronounce her name,
decided to spell it "Sacajawea" simply because he thought it looked
better. As a result, the majority of novels and historical biographies
written about Sacajawea use the "j" spelling. Most texts today
use this spelling, although a movement to change it to "Sacagawea,"
almost certainly a more accurate phonetic spelling, is now underway.
During her youth among the Shoshoni and the Hidatsa, Sacajawea
learned much that would later enable her to help the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. For instance, she became an expert in the local
flora, becoming skilled at finding berries and nuts, a skill that would
help feed the expedition and diversify its diet. Perhaps most importantly,
her early capture by enemies accustomed her to hardship; somehow,
Sacajawea managed to develop into a cheerful person who accepted
the most difficult situations calmly. For this reason, she would
practically never complain during the expedition, despite carrying
a baby on her back on an 8,000-mile trek, a grueling journey that
led even rugged frontiersmen into ill health and exhaustion.
