Our blog is called Burnin' Daylight with Sacagawea. Why did we choose Sacagawea? The idea for the name came from a friend (thanks, Adjective Queen!), but honestly, I knew very little about Sacagawea. All I knew about her was that she was part of the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark expedition, but I knew little else about her personal history. Turns out I wasn't alone; not much is known for sure about Sacagawea's life before and after the expedition. In fact, there is no known contemporary likeness of Sacagawea so we don't even know what she looks like.
The Shoshone Indian, born in circa 1787 in what is now Idaho, was kidnapped at roughly age 12 by Hidatsa Indians and taken to one of their villages in what is now North Dakota. At age 13, she was sold to Toussaint Charbonneau as a "wife", but in actuality she was his slave. In fact, he bought another Shonshone girl at the same time and made her his "wife" as well.
Sacagawea was pregnant with her first child in 1804 when the Lewis and Clark expedition arrived at the Hidatsa villages. The two explorers hired the couple as a translating team as Sacagawea knew Shoshone and Hidatsa and Charbonneau knew Hidatsa and French. So for example, when the expedition met up with a Shoshone Indian, Sacagawea would speak to the Shoshone, translate his words to Hidatsa, Charbonneau would translate the Hidatsa to French, then finally a French member of the Corps would translate to English so Lewis and Clark could understand. Quite a translation assembly line they had going there!
Sacagawea was the only woman of the permanent party to make the complete trip to the Pacific and back. The Corps left the Hidatsa villages in April of 1805 and reached the Pacific Ocean on November 24, 1805. The Corps voted on where to camp for the winter, and Sacagawea's and William Clark's slave York's votes were counted. Click here for the National Park Service website for the winter camp, Fort Clatsop, which Carrie and family have already visited on a previous visit to the Northwest. I would like to visit the fort, perhaps on our way back from the reunion. Maybe I'll even be able to blog from Fort Clatsop. I can only imagine what Sacagawea would have thought of this!
The Corps returned to the Hidatsa villages on August 14, 1806. Sacagawea's compensation for this arduous, sixteen-month voyage, where her skills as a translator and food gatherer were invaluable? Zero. Her husband's compensation? $500 and 320 acres of land. Read more about Sacagawea's life and the theories surrounding her death here and here.
What is my point in giving you this brief history of Sacagawea? Mainly it's just because I knew very little about Sacagawea, and I wanted to learn more about her and introduce her to everyone. I'm going to keep her in mind as we travel. What was she thinking as she set off into the unknown? How did she interact with friendly natives? Hostile ones? How did she interact with her master-husband and with Lewis and Clark? How can the answers to these questions inform present-day travelers in 21st century America? My hope is that the courageous example set by this common Shoshone woman will be an example to all of us as we set out on our own journey into the unknown. Now if I only knew anything about digging roots and collecting berries!
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2 comments:
Do you know about her incredible, coincidental reunion with her brother in the Rocky Mountains when the group was nearing starvation? They ran into a party of 60 warriors, whose chief happened to be elder brother.
Can you imagine the conversation?
"Fancy running into you here. Small world, isn't it?"
Yeah, I read that in both accounts of her life that I consulted. Although with Sacagawea, you never know what is true and what is legendary. That is pretty incredible, though. What about the conversation between her brother and her "husband"? Now, THAT would be interesting. ;)
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