Who is Sacagawea?
Sacagawea, sometimes spelled Sacajawea or Sakakawea, was born in 1788 or 1789, into the Shoshone tribe in the western part of the Rocky Mountains. When she was about 10 or 11 years old, her tribe was attached by the Hidatsa tribe, who killed many Shoshone, including Sacagawea’s mother. Sacagawea tried to escape but was captured by the Hidatsa and taken hundreds of miles away to their village. Sacagawea spent the next few years living with the Hidatsa near the Missouri River. She was either sold by the tribe to Toussaint Charbonneu, a French trapper and trader, or else Charbnneu won her gambling. He already had one Shoshone wife and took Sacajawea to be his second. Around the same time, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and further explored the Missouri River. Along with their “Corps of Discovery,” which consisted of about 40 soldiers, boatmen, and frontiersmen, they were asked to learn about the plants, animals, and Native Americans who lived in the West. In 1804, the Corps m
