Sacagawea & the Corps of Discovery Expedition
Two Overviews
1. © Sacagawea. (2014). Retrieved 02:02, Sep 22, 2014. http://www.biography.com/people/sacagawea-9468731
Sacagawea was a Shoshone interpreter best known for being the only woman on the Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West. Sacagawea, the daughter of a Shoshone chief, was born circa 1788 in Lemhi County, Idaho. At around age 12, she was captured by an enemy tribe and sold to a French-Canadian trapper who made her his wife. In November 1804, she was invited to join the Lewis and Clark expedition as a Shoshone interpreter. After leaving the expedition, she died at Fort Manuel in what is now Kenel, South Dakota, circa 1812. Born circa 1788 (some sources say 1786 and 1787) in Lemhi County, Idaho, the daughter of a Shoshone chief, Sacagawea was a Shoshone interpreter best known for serving as a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West—and for being the only woman on the famous excursion. Much of Sacagawea's life is a mystery. Around the age of 12, Sacagawea was captured by Hidatsa Indians, an enemy of the Shoshones. She was then sold to a French-Canadian trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau who made her one of his wives. Sacagawea and her husband lived among the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians in the upper Missouri River area (present-day North Dakota). In November 1804, an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered the area. Often called the Corps of Discovery, the expedition planned to explore newly acquired western lands and find a route to the Pacific Ocean. The group built Fort Mandan, and elected to stay there for the winter. Lewis and Clark met Charbonneau and quickly hired him to serve as interpreter on their expedition. Even though she was pregnant with her first child, Sacagawea was chosen to accompany them on their mission. Lewis and Clark believed that her knowledge of the Shoshone language would help them later in their journey. In February 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to a son named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Despite traveling with a newborn child during the trek, Sacagawea proved to be helpful in many ways. She was skilled at finding edible plants. When a boat she was riding on capsized, she was able to save some of its cargo, including important documents and supplies. She also served as a symbol of peace - a group traveling with a woman and a child were treated with less suspicion than a group of men alone. Sacagawea also made a miraculous discovery of her own during the trip west. When the corps encountered a group of Shoshone Indians, she soon realized that its leader was actually her brother Cameahwait. It was through her that the expedition was able to buy horses from the Shoshone to cross the Rocky Mountains. Despite this joyous family reunion, Sacagawea remained with the explorers for the trip west. After reaching the Pacific coast in November 1805, Sacagawea was allowed to cast her vote along with the other members of the expedition for where they would build a fort to stay for the winter. They built Fort Clatsop near present-day Astoria, Oregon, and they remained there until March of the following year. Sacagawea, her husband, and her son remained with the expedition on the return trip east until they reached the Mandan villages. During the journey, Clark had become fond of her son Jean Baptiste, nicknaming him "Pomp" or "Pompey." And he even offered to help him get an education. Once Sacagawea left the expedition, the details of her life become more elusive. In 1809, it is believed that she and her husband—or just her husband according to some accounts—traveled with their son to St. Louis to see Clark. Pomp was left in Clark's care. Sacagawea gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Lisette, three years later. Only a few months after her daughter's arrival, she reportedly died at Fort Manuel in what is now Kenel, South Dakota, around 1812. (There were stories that it was another wife of Charbonneau who died at Fort Manuel, but historians don't give much credence to this.) After Sacagawea's death, Clark looked after her two children, and ultimately took custody of them both. Over the years, tributes to Sacagawea and her contribution to the Corps of Discovery have come in many forms, such as statues, place-names, and she was even featured on a dollar coin issued in 2000 by the U.S. Mint.
2. Sacagawea © 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/sacagawea
The bilingual Shoshone woman Sacagawea (c. 1788 – 1812) accompanied the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition in 1805-06 from the northern plains through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean and back. Her skills as a translator were invaluable, as was her intimate knowledge of some difficult terrain. Perhaps most significant was her calming presence on both the expeditioners and the Native Americans they encountered, who might have otherwise been hostile to the strangers. Remarkably, Sacagawea did it all while caring for the son she bore just two months before departing.
a. Sacagawea’s Early Life Possibly the most memorialized woman in the United States with statues and monuments, Sacagawea lived a short but legendarily eventful life in the American West. Born in 1788 or 1789, a member of the Lemhi band of the Native American Shoshone tribe, Sacagawea grew up surrounded by the Rocky Mountains in the Salmon River region of what is now Idaho.
b. Did You Know? Sacagawea was a highly skilled food gatherer. She used sharp sticks to dig up wild licorice, prairie turnips (tubers the explorers called “white apples”) and wild artichokes that mice had buried for the winter. The Shoshone were enemies of the gun-possessing Hidatsa tribe, who kidnapped Sacagawea during a buffalo hunt in 1800. The name we know her by is in fact Hidatsa, from the Hidatsa words for bird (“sacaga”) and woman (“wea”). (Today, however, many Shoshone, among others, argue that in their language “Sacajawea” means boat-pusher and is her true name. And in North Dakota the official spelling is “Sakakawea.”) Her captors brought her to the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement near what is now Bismarck, North Dakota; the Mandan is an affiliated tribe. In 1803 or 1804, through a trade, gambling payoff or purchase, Sacagawea became the property of French-Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau, born no later than 1767 and well over two decades her senior. Charbonneau had lived among Native Americans for so long he had adopted some of their traditions, including polygamy. Sacagawea became one of his two wives and was soon pregnant.
c. Sacagawea Meets Lewis & Clark Meanwhile, President Thomas Jefferson had made the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803—828,000 square miles of almost completely unexplored territory. Within this vast wilderness he hoped would lie the rumored Northwest Passage (a waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans). But Jefferson wanted more from the explorers who would search for the passage: He charged them with surveying the natural landscape, learning about the varied Native American tribes and making maps. He turned to his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to head the Corps of Discovery. Lewis, 29, chose his friend and former military superior, 33-year-old William Clark, as his co-captain. After more than a year of planning and initial travel, Lewis and Clark and their men reached the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement—about 60 miles northwest of present-day Bismarck, South Dakota–on November 2, 1804, when Sacagawea was about six months pregnant. They recognized the potential value of Sacagawea and Charbonneau’s combined language skills. Most of the Corps members spoke only English, but one, Francois Labiche, spoke French as well. Charbonneau spoke French and Hidatsa; Sacagawea spoke Hidatsa and Shoshone (two very different languages). Through this translation chain, communications with the Shoshone would be possible, and Lewis and Clark recognized that as crucial: the Shoshone had horses they would need to purchase. Without horses, they wouldn’t be able to transport their supplies over the Bitterroot Mountains (a section of the Rockies) and continue toward the Pacific. And they couldn’t procure horses earlier, because they’d be traveling by water until they reached the Rockies’ edge. Sacagawea delivered her son Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau (known as Baptiste) on February 11, 1805. On April 7, Sacagawea, the baby and Charbonneau headed west with the 31 other Corps members.
d. Sacagawea and the Corps of Discovery Within a month, a near-tragedy earned Sacagawea particular respect. The boat in which she was sailing nearly capsized when a squall hit and Charbonneau, the navigator, panicked. Sacagawea had the presence of mind to gather crucial papers, books, navigational instruments, medicines and other provisions that might have otherwise disappeared—all while simultaneously ensuring her baby’s safety. In appreciation, Lewis and Clark named a branch of the Missouri for Sacagawea several days later. Clark, in particular, developed a close bond with Sacagawea as she and Baptiste would often accompany him as he took his turn walking the shore, checking for obstacles in the river that could damage the boats. Five days after the first members of the Corps crossed the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass, Sacagawea did, as planned, translate the captains’ desire to purchase horses to the Shoshone they encountered. Sacagawea was surprised and happy to recognize the Shoshone’s leader, Chief Cameahwait, as her brother, and they had an emotional reunion. Sacagawea also put her naturalist’s knowledge to use for the Corps. She could identify roots, plants and berries that were either edible or medicinal. Sacagawea’s memories of Shoshone trails led to Clark’s characterization of her as his “pilot.” She helped navigate the Corps through a mountain pass—today’s Bozeman Pass in Montana—to the Yellowstone River. And although it couldn’t be quantified, the presence of a woman—a Native American, to boot—and baby made the whole corps seem less fearsome and more amiable to the Native Americans the Corps encountered, some of whom had never seen white faces before. This eased tensions that might otherwise have resulted in uncooperativeness at best, violence at worst. After reaching the Pacific, Sacagawea returned with the rest of the Corps and her husband and son—having survived illness, flash floods, temperature extremes, food shortages, mosquito swarms and so much more—to their starting point, the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement, on August 14, 1806. For his service Charbonneau received 320 acres of land and $500.33; Sacagawea received no compensation.
e. Sacagawea’s Final Years and Legacy Three years later, in fall 1809, Sacagawea, Charbonneau and Baptiste ventured to St. Louis, where Charbonneau was taking the kind-hearted Clark up on an offer: Clark would provide the Charbonneau family with land to farm if the parents would agree to let Clark educate Baptiste. The farming didn’t work out, however, and Sacagawea and Charbonneau left Baptiste in St. Louis with Clark—now his godfather—in April 1811 so that they could join a fur-trading expedition. In August 1812, after giving birth to a daughter, Lisette (or Lizette), Sacagawea’s health declined. By December, she was extremely ill with “putrid fever” (possibly typhoid fever). She died at 25, on December 22, 1812, in lonely, cold Fort Manuel on a bluff 70 miles south of present-day Bismarck. Within a year, Clark became legal guardian to both Lisette and Baptiste. While little is known of Lisette’s life, Baptiste traveled in Europe and held a variety of jobs in the American West before he died in 1866. Charbonneau died in 1843. Sacagawea’s fictionalized image as a “genuine Indian princess” was promulgated most widely in the early 20th century by a popular 1902 novel by Eva Emery Dye that took liberties in recounting the travails of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A suffragist, Dye was not satisfied to present the facts then known about Sacagawea; she wanted to make her a compelling model of female bravery and intelligence, and didn’t mind rewriting history to do so. “Out of a few dry bones I found in the old tales of the trip, I created Sacajawea…” Dye wrote in her journal. Today, some scholars contend that the romanticized versions of the Sacagawea “legend” popularized before and after the publication of Dye’s novel do the real woman a disservice, as her true legacy of accomplishments speaks for itself.
a. Sacagawea’s Early Life Possibly the most memorialized woman in the United States with statues and monuments, Sacagawea lived a short but legendarily eventful life in the American West. Born in 1788 or 1789, a member of the Lemhi band of the Native American Shoshone tribe, Sacagawea grew up surrounded by the Rocky Mountains in the Salmon River region of what is now Idaho.
b. Did You Know? Sacagawea was a highly skilled food gatherer. She used sharp sticks to dig up wild licorice, prairie turnips (tubers the explorers called “white apples”) and wild artichokes that mice had buried for the winter. The Shoshone were enemies of the gun-possessing Hidatsa tribe, who kidnapped Sacagawea during a buffalo hunt in 1800. The name we know her by is in fact Hidatsa, from the Hidatsa words for bird (“sacaga”) and woman (“wea”). (Today, however, many Shoshone, among others, argue that in their language “Sacajawea” means boat-pusher and is her true name. And in North Dakota the official spelling is “Sakakawea.”) Her captors brought her to the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement near what is now Bismarck, North Dakota; the Mandan is an affiliated tribe. In 1803 or 1804, through a trade, gambling payoff or purchase, Sacagawea became the property of French-Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau, born no later than 1767 and well over two decades her senior. Charbonneau had lived among Native Americans for so long he had adopted some of their traditions, including polygamy. Sacagawea became one of his two wives and was soon pregnant.
c. Sacagawea Meets Lewis & Clark Meanwhile, President Thomas Jefferson had made the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803—828,000 square miles of almost completely unexplored territory. Within this vast wilderness he hoped would lie the rumored Northwest Passage (a waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans). But Jefferson wanted more from the explorers who would search for the passage: He charged them with surveying the natural landscape, learning about the varied Native American tribes and making maps. He turned to his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to head the Corps of Discovery. Lewis, 29, chose his friend and former military superior, 33-year-old William Clark, as his co-captain. After more than a year of planning and initial travel, Lewis and Clark and their men reached the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement—about 60 miles northwest of present-day Bismarck, South Dakota–on November 2, 1804, when Sacagawea was about six months pregnant. They recognized the potential value of Sacagawea and Charbonneau’s combined language skills. Most of the Corps members spoke only English, but one, Francois Labiche, spoke French as well. Charbonneau spoke French and Hidatsa; Sacagawea spoke Hidatsa and Shoshone (two very different languages). Through this translation chain, communications with the Shoshone would be possible, and Lewis and Clark recognized that as crucial: the Shoshone had horses they would need to purchase. Without horses, they wouldn’t be able to transport their supplies over the Bitterroot Mountains (a section of the Rockies) and continue toward the Pacific. And they couldn’t procure horses earlier, because they’d be traveling by water until they reached the Rockies’ edge. Sacagawea delivered her son Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau (known as Baptiste) on February 11, 1805. On April 7, Sacagawea, the baby and Charbonneau headed west with the 31 other Corps members.
d. Sacagawea and the Corps of Discovery Within a month, a near-tragedy earned Sacagawea particular respect. The boat in which she was sailing nearly capsized when a squall hit and Charbonneau, the navigator, panicked. Sacagawea had the presence of mind to gather crucial papers, books, navigational instruments, medicines and other provisions that might have otherwise disappeared—all while simultaneously ensuring her baby’s safety. In appreciation, Lewis and Clark named a branch of the Missouri for Sacagawea several days later. Clark, in particular, developed a close bond with Sacagawea as she and Baptiste would often accompany him as he took his turn walking the shore, checking for obstacles in the river that could damage the boats. Five days after the first members of the Corps crossed the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass, Sacagawea did, as planned, translate the captains’ desire to purchase horses to the Shoshone they encountered. Sacagawea was surprised and happy to recognize the Shoshone’s leader, Chief Cameahwait, as her brother, and they had an emotional reunion. Sacagawea also put her naturalist’s knowledge to use for the Corps. She could identify roots, plants and berries that were either edible or medicinal. Sacagawea’s memories of Shoshone trails led to Clark’s characterization of her as his “pilot.” She helped navigate the Corps through a mountain pass—today’s Bozeman Pass in Montana—to the Yellowstone River. And although it couldn’t be quantified, the presence of a woman—a Native American, to boot—and baby made the whole corps seem less fearsome and more amiable to the Native Americans the Corps encountered, some of whom had never seen white faces before. This eased tensions that might otherwise have resulted in uncooperativeness at best, violence at worst. After reaching the Pacific, Sacagawea returned with the rest of the Corps and her husband and son—having survived illness, flash floods, temperature extremes, food shortages, mosquito swarms and so much more—to their starting point, the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement, on August 14, 1806. For his service Charbonneau received 320 acres of land and $500.33; Sacagawea received no compensation.
e. Sacagawea’s Final Years and Legacy Three years later, in fall 1809, Sacagawea, Charbonneau and Baptiste ventured to St. Louis, where Charbonneau was taking the kind-hearted Clark up on an offer: Clark would provide the Charbonneau family with land to farm if the parents would agree to let Clark educate Baptiste. The farming didn’t work out, however, and Sacagawea and Charbonneau left Baptiste in St. Louis with Clark—now his godfather—in April 1811 so that they could join a fur-trading expedition. In August 1812, after giving birth to a daughter, Lisette (or Lizette), Sacagawea’s health declined. By December, she was extremely ill with “putrid fever” (possibly typhoid fever). She died at 25, on December 22, 1812, in lonely, cold Fort Manuel on a bluff 70 miles south of present-day Bismarck. Within a year, Clark became legal guardian to both Lisette and Baptiste. While little is known of Lisette’s life, Baptiste traveled in Europe and held a variety of jobs in the American West before he died in 1866. Charbonneau died in 1843. Sacagawea’s fictionalized image as a “genuine Indian princess” was promulgated most widely in the early 20th century by a popular 1902 novel by Eva Emery Dye that took liberties in recounting the travails of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A suffragist, Dye was not satisfied to present the facts then known about Sacagawea; she wanted to make her a compelling model of female bravery and intelligence, and didn’t mind rewriting history to do so. “Out of a few dry bones I found in the old tales of the trip, I created Sacajawea…” Dye wrote in her journal. Today, some scholars contend that the romanticized versions of the Sacagawea “legend” popularized before and after the publication of Dye’s novel do the real woman a disservice, as her true legacy of accomplishments speaks for itself.
Web Resources: Print
HER NAME: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=286381099056071 OVERVIEW: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sacagawea OVERVIEW: http://www.nps.gov/lecl/historyculture/sacagawea.htm BIOGRAPHY: https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/sacagawea BIOGRAPHY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea BIOGRAPHY: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sacagawea OVERVIEW (Lewis and Clark Alliance): https://lewis-clark.org/people/sacagawea/sacagaweas-story/ CONTROVERSIES: https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.sup.ronda.01.appendix SACAGAWEA TIMELINE: https://www.history.com/news/lewis-clark-timeline-expeditionLEGACY: https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=kt4q2nc6k3&chunk.id=ss2.25&toc.depth=1&toc.id=ch11&brand=ucpress SACAGAWEA’S SON (Jean Baptiste): http://lewisandclarktrail.com/sacagaweasbaby.htm SACAGAWEA’S SON (Jean Baptiste): https://lewis-clark.org/members/jean-baptiste-charbonneau/ SACAGAWEA’S DAUGHTER (Lisette): http://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=ELCE0058&DataType=AmericanHistory YORK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_(explorer) YORK: https://www.nps.gov/lecl/york.htm YORK: https://lewis-clark.org/members/york/ CHARLES FLOYD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Floyd_(explorer) LEWIS AND CLARK ALLIANCE: https://lewis-clark.org/
Web Resources: Video
LEWIS, CLARK, SACAGAWEA (Bio Channel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhPBfnDkO2w
OVERVIEW (2.5-minute video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb7qr4spTx4
NBC NEWS REPORT (St. Louis): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vD2J_31Iro&t=44s
JEAN BAPTISTE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktfbO6iHbPc
YORK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaTmA7UGd9g
TOUSSAINT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZjt_GlZzEc
SERGEANT CHARLES FLOYD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo7u4Hmz8CU
York
A frontiersman, hunter, and likely the first African American to cross the continent, York was an American explorer who made important contributions to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was enslaved by Captain William Clark and after the expedition's return was denied his payment and his freedom. https://www.nps.gov/lecl/york.htm
Jean-Baptiste
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was the son of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s most popular member, Sacagawea, and the too-often maligned French Canadian Toussaint Charbonneau. His storied life can be roughly divided into periods. His first 24 years were his education when he traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, lived in a Hidatsa village, and was schooled in St. Louis and Württemberg, Germany. The second period (seventeen years) was in the Rocky Mountains as trapper, guide, and hunter. He lived his last twenty years in California where he served as an alcalde, miner, and hotel clerk in the California gold fields. Because we have no journal or memoir, what can be learned of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau must come from the writings of others.
https://lewis-clark.org/members/jean-baptiste-charbonneau/
Toussaint
Toussaint Charbonneau played a brief role in Oregon’s past as part of the Corps of Discovery, the historic expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1804-1806. He is one of the most recognizable among members of the Corps of Discovery, principally as the husband of Sacagawea and father of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the infant who accompanied the expedition. The captains hired Charbonneau as an interpreter on April 7, 1805, at Fort Mandan in present-day North Dakota and severed his employment on August 17, 1806, on their return journey. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/charbonneau_toussaint/
Timeline
© Adapted from HISTORY.COM TimeLine: https://www.history.com/news/lewis-clark-timeline-expedition
• 1788-1790: Sacajawea born• 1799-1801: Sacajawea captured by Hidatsas. Sold or gambled away to Toussaint Charbonneau, who makes her one of numerous wives.• May 14, 1804: The Corps of Discovery embarks from Camp Dubois outside of St. Louis, Missouri, in a 55-foot keelboat to begin the westward journey up the Missouri River. Among the 41-man crew of volunteers, soldiers, and one African American slave, is Patrick Gass, a carpenter from Pennsylvania. Gass writes in his journal about the expected dangers ahead, including “warlike nations of savages of gigantic stature” and impassable mountain ranges. “The determined and resolute character, however, of the corps, and the confidence which pervaded all ranks dispelled every emotion of fear, and anxiety for the present,” writes Gass, “[and] seemed to insure to us ample support in our future toils, suffering and dangers.”• August 20, 1804: Sergeant Charles Floyd, the youngest man on the expedition, dies of a suspected ruptured appendix near modern-day Sioux City, Iowa. Incredibly, Floyd's death is the only one during the entire two-year expedition.• September 25, 1804: Of all Lewis and Clark’s encounters with Native American tribes, the meeting with the Teton Sioux (Lakota) near modern-day Pierre, South Dakota, is among the most tense. Jefferson had charged the Corps with Indian diplomacy, which consisted mainly of announcing the Louisiana Purchase and presenting tribal chiefs with peace medals and American flags. However, communication breakdowns are common during the expedition, given that Lewis and Clark often rely on three-way translation (native language to French to English and back) or sign language to converse with chiefs who often have their own political agendas. On this day, the Teton Sioux mistake the explorers for merchants and don’t like the idea of the Americans selling weapons to rival tribes up the Missouri River. A young Teton Sioux chief, trying to insert himself into the confrontation, feigns drunkenness and stumbles into Clark, who rashly draws his sword. In an instant, Clark’s soldiers raise their rifles and the Teton braves draw their bows and arrows. After exchanging angry threats and boasts through nervous interpreters—at one point Clark claims that he has "more ‘medicine’ on board [his] boat than would kill twenty such nations in one day"—the elder Chief Black Buffalo breaks the tension and calls for peace. After three restless days at the Teton Sioux village, the upriver journey is allowed to proceed.• November 11, 1804: With winter fast approaching, the Corps construct Fort Mandan in North Dakota among the hospitable Mandan and Hitatsa Indians. On November 11, Clark makes a hasty scribble in his journal about the arrival of "two Squars of the Rock Mountain, purchased from the Indians by...a Frenchmen." One of those nameless women is the famous Sacagawea. At first, Sacagawea is an afterthought. She is the 17-year-old, pregnant wife of Toussaint Charbonneau, a French Canadian trader hired by Lewis and Clark as a Hidatsa interpreter. But she soon proves to be an invaluable member of the expedition. Two days after the Corps depart Fort Mandan in the spring of 1805, Lewis writes in his journal that “[Sacagawea] busied herself in serching for… wild artichokes… by penetrating the earth with a sharp stick… her labour soon proved successful, and she procurrd a good quantity of these roots.”• February 1805: Sacajawea gives birth to Jean Baptiste ("Pomp")• Spring 1805: The expedition leaves its winter camp. Sacajawea, carrying Jean Baptiste, accompanies her husband Charbonneau on the journey.• May 14, 1805: A sudden storm nearly capsizes one of the expedition's boats. Sacajawea's quick action saves many valuable supplies from floating away.• June 2, 1805: Lewis and Clark rely largely on navigation tips from Indians and white traders to chart the fastest and safest route westward toward the Pacific. But they are fully unprepared for a major fork in the Missouri River in north-central Montana. Only one fork is the true Missouri, and they will know it by a series of majestic waterfalls upstream mentioned by the Mandan-Hidatsa. Lewis and Clark call for a vote. Thirty-one people vote for the right fork and only two vote for the left—those two were Lewis and Clark. Not willing to defy their men, Lewis and Clark send exploring parties up each fork and have them report back. A second vote is taken with the same result.• June 13, 1805: Anxious to prove he’s right, Lewis scouts ahead of the rest of the Corps and is overjoyed (at first) to find the Great Falls, describing them as a “truly magnifficent and sublimely grand object, which has from the commencement of time been concealed from the view of civilized man." But it soon becomes clear that the portage (carrying canoes over land) around the Great Falls is going to be far more difficult and will require more than the one day he planned. To help with challenge, the men fashion crude wagons from felled trees and drag the canoes and equipment across miles of unforgiving, cactus-strewn terrain.• August 8, 1805: Before she was kidnapped by the Hidatsa at age 12, Sacagawea lived among the Shoshone people along the border of modern-day Montana and Idaho. By August 1805, Lewis and Clark believe the fate of the expedition hangs on finding the Shoshone and buying horses from them. It’s the only way the Corps can hope to cross the Rocky Mountains before winter. While Sacagawea doesn’t literally “guide” the expedition, her childhood memories provide valuable clues that they are on the right path. On August 8, Lewis writes in his journal: “The Indian woman recognized the point of a high plain to our right which she informed us was not very distant from the summer retreat of her nation on a river beyond the mountains. . . . this hill she says her nation calls the beaver's head from a conceived resemblance. . . . she assures us that we shall either find her people on this river on the river immediately west of it's source. . . . as it is now all important with us to meet with those people as soon as possible.”• August 17, 1805: After Lewis and Clark finally make contact with the Shoshone, Sacagawea is joyfully reunited with her brother Cameahwait, who is now the Shoshone chief.• September 11, 1805: Even with horses and a Shoshone guide named Old Toby, the crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains in Idaho proves to be the most grueling and life-threatening section of the entire journey. It was only mid-September, but the snow on the western flank of the Bitterroots is already deep and Old Toby gets lost. Horses slip and tumble down the mountain. The men, who have grown accustomed to eating five to seven pounds of meat daily in the game-rich plains, begin to starve. They become so desperate they start eating the colts. • September 20, 1805: They stumble out of the forest snow-blind and weak with hunger, and are taken in by a village of Nez Perce Indians. Buckley says that the Nez Perce debate killing the half-dead intruders, who are accompanied by a Shoshone woman, their bitter enemy. But a Nez Perce woman named Watkueis, who lives among white men as a captive, convinces them to spare the strangers and befriend them. The Nez Perce hospitality has one drawback. Lewis and Clark’s men make themselves sick from overindulging on piles of dried fish and boiled roots.• October 6, 1805: Water travel resumed, now on the Columbia River.• November 7, 1805: After paddling dugout canoes down the treacherous Columbia River for weeks, Clark believes the men have finally reached the Pacific. Alas, to Clark’s dismay, they have only arrived at the edge of Gray’s Bay, a storm-tossed brackish estuary 20 miles inland from the Pacific. Powerful waves and strong winds swamp and paralyze the canoes. The Corps finally crosses the estuary with the help of local Clatsop Indians and their large, ocean-going canoes.• November 24: After finally reaching the Pacific Coast, it‘s time to hunker down in Winter quarters. Lewis and Clark put the decision to a vote as to where to build Fort Clatsop, their home for the next five months. A tally of the votes is recorded in Clark’s journal, including historic votes from York, the African American slave, and Sacagawea, an Indian woman.• December 1805 - March 1806: Conditions at Fort Clatsop are “horribly miserable,” says Buckley. “From December to March, it rained all but 12 days. They were stuck in cramped, smoky quarters subsisting on lean elk meat. They were ready to start the return journey as soon as they thought possible, and they actually left too soon.”• May 1806: Returning to the Nez Perce, Lewis and Clark go against the natives’ advice and try to cross the thickly forested Bitterroots before the snow fully melts. “It was their only retreat during the whole expedition,” says Buckley.• June 8, 1806: The month spent with the Nez Perce waiting for the snow to melt is one of the most enjoyable and leisurely of the entire two-year journey. By day, Lewis and Clark’s men and the Indians compete in foot races and boyhood games like “prison base,” a type of tag. And by night, they stay up late dancing and playing the fiddle around the fire.• July 3, 1806: After easily crossing the Bitterroots with the help of Nez Perce guides, the Corps split into four different groups for the next leg of the journey. Clark, taking Sacagawea, leads a group to explore the Yellowstone River. Lewis takes another up the Marias River, which includes the northernmost edge of the Louisiana Territory. Without any way to communicate with each other, they plan to reunite at Fort Mandan.• July 25, 1806: Clark etches his name and the date into a sandstone outcropping near modern-day Billings, Montana that he names Pompy’s Tower after Sacagawea’s son. It remains rare physical evidence of Lewis and Clark’s expedition that survives today.• July 26, 1806: Lewis’s group is met by a small band of Blackfeet warriors in Montana. After camping together overnight, Lewis catches the Blackfeet trying to steal their guns and horses, and kills a young brave. “That was the only native death on the whole expedition,” says Buckley. “And Lewis was so concerned that the Blackfeet would come after him, he and his men jump on their horses and ride for almost 24 hours straight to get down to the Missouri River and meet up with the rest of the party.”• August 12, 1806: Lewis and Clark's groups reunite• August 17, 1806: Sacajawea and Charbonneau leave the expedition
• Three years later, in the fall of 1809, Sacagawea, Charbonneau, and Baptiste ventured to St. Louis, where Charbonneau was taking the kind-hearted Clark up on an offer: Clark would provide the Charbonneau family with land to farm if the parents would agree to let Clark educate Baptiste. The farming didn’t work out, however, and Sacagawea and Charbonneau left Baptiste in St. Louis with Clark—now his godfather—in April 1811 so that they could join a fur-trading expedition.
• In August 1812, after giving birth to a daughter, Lisette (or Lizette), Sacagawea’s health declined. By December, she was extremely ill with “putrid fever” (possibly typhoid fever). She died at 25, on December 22, 1812, in lonely, cold Fort Manuel on a bluff 70 miles south of present-day Bismarck. Within a year, Clark became the legal guardian to both Lisette and Baptiste. While little is known of Lisette’s life, Baptiste traveled in Europe and held a variety of jobs in the American West before he died in 1866. Charbonneau died in 1843.