1884: Death Revisited 1932: The Debate Begins
1996: Sudden Popularity 1998: Sacagawea as a Symbol
Lewis and Clark seem to
appreciated all the work that Sacagawea did, especially
one day when the boat Sacagawea was in flipped over and Sacagawea was able to save some of
the papers and important items that went overboard. Ambrose writes
“All this time,
calm, collected, and invaluable. As
Lewis put it the following day, ‘The Indian woman to whom I
ascribe equal fortitude and resolution, with any person on board at
the time of the accedent, caught and preserved most of the light
articles which were washed overboard.’ Whether he praised her, or
upbraided her husband, he did not say.” (Ambrose 225).
If Lewis was to describe Sacagawea as
with “fortitude and resolution,” it is
probable that he usually treated her with respect. It is unclear how Lewis and Clark treated
Sacagawea on a regular basis. Did they ignore her, treat her as a slave, or did they treat her with
respect, sensitivity, and kindness? On one occasion when Charbonneau began to beat
Sacagawea, Lewis and Clark stepped in to stop. This action shows a desire on their part to
protect her, as well as their need to keep their men in line.
“One wonders too how the man who could be so observant about so many things,
including the feelings and point of view of his men, could be so unobservant and
Sacagawea’s situation. A slave, one of only two in the party, she was also the
only Indian, the only mother, the only woman, the only teen-aged person. Small
wonder she kept such a tight grip on her emotions” (260).
Ambrose suggests that Lewis was
possibly ignoring the sensitivity of
Sacagawea’s situation. Did Sacagawea keep a “tight grip on her emotions” because she need to
protect herself and her baby? Was she constantly making sure she was safe? The contradicitons
and inconsistences in the journals distract from the real picture of Sacagawea at the same time
that they give insight into her personality. Even though the journals is a primary source, they are
certainly not objective; if they were, then there would be no “mystery of Sacagawea” today.
On August 14th 1806, the Corps returned to the place where they first found Sacagawea.
Sacagawea, Charbonneau, and their son stayed behind as Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis
and the East. Charbonneau was given $500.33 and 320 acres of land, whereas Sacagawea was
given nothing except the experience of the trip and of seeing the Pacific Ocean. What did
Sacagawea sacrifice to go on that expedition? Was she adequately rewarded for her efforts?
Beyond Lewis and Clark’s
of Sacagawea’s life for the year and
half they were together, there exists nothing else to prove what Sacagawea did for the rest of her
life. There are two main version of what happened to her, and the date of her death is dependent
of what must have transpired. Why has Sacagawea become such a popular character with such
great significance when the only part of her life that was documented was the year and a half
that she spent with Lewis and Clark? There is little that we know about her life after she left the
There are two main theories about what could have happened to Sacagawea, a Shoshoni
legend, and another. One, which is mostly widely held today, says that Sacagawea died after
giving birth to a daughter in 1812 at the age of 25 at Fort Manuel, a fur trading outpost in South
Dakota (Howard).The other version of Sacagawea’s life is one that many people believed for
years because it was the version passed down in Shoshoni oral history. In her book, Sacajawea,
Grace Raymond Hebard contends that she met and has proof for the theory that Sacagawea had
moved with Charbonneau, their two sons, and Charbonneau’s new wife, Eagle, to a reservation.
The story goes that Sacagawea died in 1884, not 1812; the reason people think she died in 1812
was because Charbonneau’s other wife died, and their identities were mixed up. The clerk at
Fort Manuel wrote on December 20, 1812, “This evening the wife of Charbonneau, a snake
squaw, died of a putrid fever. She was a good and the best woman in the fort, aged about 25
years. She left a fine infant girl” (qtd. in Hebard 160). The two competing versions of
Sacagawea’s death work to continue the mystery and the intrigue that comes from the fact that
so much of her character is unknown. Sacagawea dying in 1812 is not as much of a “fun” story.
If Sacagawea died at an old age, there is much more to her life than anyone can ever know.
Living to an old age makes Sacagawea live longer in the minds of Americans, sort of making her
Her name: Spelling and Pronunciation
Part of the difficulty
allowed the debate to go on over Sacagawea is the many names
she had during her lifetime, because of her moving about the country from tribe to tribe, and her
Indian heritage and the tradition of Indian names. The difficulty people had in pronouncing and
spelling her name contributed to the confusion surrounding the date of her death. Throughout
the journals, Lewis and Clark spelled Sacagawea’s name with a “g,” taking her name to mean
“bird woman” in Shoshone. But the woman who claimed to be Sacagawea spelled her name
“Sacajawea” which means “boat launcher.”
|Bah-ribo||Guide of White river men|
|Bazil’s mother of Bazil Umba|
|Nyah Suwite||constant lover|
|Yanb-he-be-joe||the Old Comanche woman|
|Lewis and Clark spelled
Some of their spellings and references:
Sacarjawea, and Sacajawea.
Some historians contend that it is improbable that Sacagawea thought about the importance of the voyage she was on, or her part in it. The legend of Sacagawea continues today, with historian Steven Ambrose’s book about Lewis and Clark’s expedition, Undaunted Courage, reaching the number one spot of the New York Times Bestseller list. (Women's Wire). This book portrays Sacagawea as an important character, but Lewis and Clark as the two mastermind-explorer-soldiers behind the expedition. Ambrose suggests the expedition was a great adventure. A recent PBS Ken Burns documentary also created new found interest in Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea. Two totally different forms of media, both attacking the same subject. Why did the public snatch these two versions of the expedition up? Americans love adventures full of scary challenges and great heroes who had a a hand in creating America. Not everyone always needs or wants to look at the primary sources or find out the real events. A mystery, a myth, and a legend are the stuff of which fun is made.
A committee, headed by the Secretary of the
Robert Rubin, was searching for an
American woman to replace Susan B. Anthony on the dollar coin. They chose an image
“inspired by” Sacagawea, since there are no pictures of what she really looked like. They see her
as a symbol of liberty that can represent courageous American women. When asked to explain
their decision, Philip Diehl, the chairman, said,
“She was simply a woman of exemplary physical courage and stamina, who
through a remarkable confluence of circumstances contributed to the success of
one of the greatest American adventures. . . She has heroism and the element of
tragedy. She was reclaimed from history for our generation” (Women’s Wire).
Americans may have “reclaimed” Sacagawea, but they have reclaimed from her story what they
wanted to. A majority of people wish to see her as a representative American Indian woman
who did much for the nation; they continue her legacy by holding her up as a symbol, and this
symbol is made “better” by the debate that people can still have about her life. Diehl’s quote
represents what most Americans probably think of Sacagawea. Sacagawea was a slave who was
not even thought of as a real American. She was accidentally involved in the expedition, and
Americans know very little about her. Despite all these realities that could be considered to go
against Sacagawea being any sort of politically correct legend, she has become a sort of romantic
symbol of American women. This could be attributed to the few women in the 19th century who
are known by people today. When Americans find one woman who was part of something great,
they grab her and hold her up for all to see. It is important not to say that Sacagawea was the
heroine of the expedition at the same time we cannot say she did not aide them at all.
Sacagawea was not the most important member of the Corps, but her presence was valuable to
Lewis and Clark, the Corps, and therefore, America.
Newsweek, a weekly popular periodical, mentions Sacagawea’s upcoming appearance on
the dollar coin, responding with, “You can only wonder. What might the Christian right have to
say upon learning that the plucky teen was an unwed mother who schlepped her baby and lover
along with her? Next to that, the yelps over the new $20 will seem like petty change”
(Newsweek). The authors are already anticipating controversy over Sacagawea, or at least some
light-humored discussion. This controversy is the modern day world, imposing itself and its
morals on history. How will this predicted controversy compare to the debates and controversy
that has always plagued Sacagawea’s legend?
Sacagawea can be a role model for women because she was a wife and a mother at the
same time as she was working hard for what was the best for the expedition. She must have had
an incredible amount of strength to carry her baby on her back while gathering food, walking
nearly across a continent, and acting as a sort of “ambassadress” to all the Indian nations.
(Possible Coin Designs courtesy of the U.S. Mint)
What is Sacagawea's legacy?
It is a legacy that is still changing as we
at what she actually did and what she is supposed to have done.
are sentimental about their heroines. More memorials honor Sacajawea
any other American woman” (Howard, vii). Regardless of the actual facts that suggest
Sacagawea significantly helped Lewis and Clark, her legend continues because people want it to.
She has been “reclaimed from history,” and that reclaimed person is not necessarily the same
one that actually existed.