Sacagawea And Her Journey

How would you feel if random people showed up on your property and invited you to go on a 2-year journey with them? That’s what happened to Sacagawea and her husband Toussaint Charbonneau. Sacagawea had a tough childhood but had a short but fulfilling future.

Sacagawea was born in 1788 in the Lemhi River Valley in Idaho. She was part of the Shoshone tribe her father was the chief. When she was an older tween she was captured by the Hidatsa tribe while on a buffalo hunt. She was a slave and worked in their fields. Then when she was a younger teen she was marketed to a trapper called Toussaint Charbonneau. He made her one of his wives then soon after that she became pregnant with her first child.

Lewis and Clark were hired by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the unspecified territory of the Louisiana Purchase and track new plants and animals. Sacagawea’s husband, Toussaint Charbonneau was immediately hired by Lewis and Clark to assist them on their expedition. They also asked Sacagawea to come because they thought that her comprehension of the Shoshone

language would be helpful.1804 the Meriweather Lewis Willam Clark expedition began. That winter she gave birth to her son Jean Baptiste or some called him “Pomp” or “Pompy”. Sacagawea also assisted the men to find edible roots and plants.Sacagawea was a big advantage because she was a woman and she had a child. Which showed that they were not a war party. Another time she was useful was when they were caught in a storm while in a canoe that tipped over, but Sacagawea quickly acted and saved very important supplies from being gone forever. They named that river Sacagawea because of that heroic deed. They got to the Pacific ocean in November 1805 and they decided to stay for the winter. The exhausted explorers traveled home in March 1806. Then they got home around September 1806.

After the explorers arrived home in September 1806. After the expedition, August 1812 Sacagawea had a baby girl named Lizette Charbonneau. Sacagawea lived about 6 more years after the expedition. She died of putrid fever in 1812. She lived to the age of 24, but according to Bonnie Butterfield “The Shoshone – Sacagawea’s Birth Tribe Believe She Returned Home And Died At 78 Years Old”, but most facts point to her death at 24 of the putrid fever. When she died Clark took full custody of both children.

That includes the life and wonders of Sacagawea. Even though she had a difficult childhood she had a fulfilling but short future. She really impacted the Westward Expansion by helping Lewis and Clark on their expedition. But sadly she died at 24 of a putrid fever. We look at her today as a heroine and many look up to her.