Sacagawea Research Paper

This is the life of Sacagawea

Taylor Feenstra

7th English

912 words

This girl at a very young age was kidnapped by the enemy of the Shoshone tribe, the Hidatsas Indians. She was then later sold to a French Canadian fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau. Lewis and Clark hired him as a guide on their expedition; Sacagawea came along as an interpreter for the Shoshone language. She interpreted for them when they ran into Indians. She led Americans first explorers into finding the Western region of America (Sacagawea:childhood / The true story of Sacagawea).

Her story all started in Lemhi County, Idaho in 1778, where she was born. She was born into the Shoshone tribe of witch her father was the chief (The true story of Sacagawea).

The name Sacagawea is spelled many different ways and has a lot of different meanings each way spelled. For example there is, Sacatzahweyah, Sacagawea, Sacajawea, and Sakakawea. Her real name was Sacatzahweyah, but was later changed to Sakakawea by most people because it was hard to pronounce and spell (Sacagawea:childhood). The Indians spelled it with a J but most people spell it with a G making it Sacagawea. “Sacaga” means bird and “wea” means women (www.history.com).

Until she was old enough to walk, she spent most of her time in a cradleboard made of willow branches. In her tribe if a child was not quiet enough they would often get its noise pinched; this was because crying or giggling could give them away to enemies or even bears.

Sacagawea’s tripe was very poor. Compare it to the Agaidika tribe. They got necklaces with elk teeth on them for being good or going out on a good hunt. They always got rewarded for good behavior and good hunting skills, but Sacagawea’s tripe was too poor to afford...

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...ion for it, her beaded belt (The true story of Sacagawea).

A little over three years after the expedition began, it finally ended in ST. Louis. Most people think that Sacagawea was the ONLY guide for the expedition but that’s not true. Even though she was the most helpful, Toussaint and about 24 others came along. People learn about her in school and think she was a heroic guide, which she was, but really, her life was hard and sad (Sacagawea:childhood).

After the expedition, in 1809, she traveled to St. Louis to see Clark. She left Pompy in Clark’s care. Three years later she gave birth to her second child. A girl whom she named Lisette. A few months later after the birth, she died at Fort Manuel in what is now Kennel, South Dakota around 1812. After her death Clark looked after both children and ultimately took custody of both of them (Sacagawea:childhood).