The Life and Achievements of Sacagawea

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Sacagawea was a mother, navigator and symbol of family for all of Lewis and Clark's discover corps. She provided direction, natural plants for boiling and eating, bargained for much needed horses with her recently reunited brother and was a message for the group that hope should be kept alive. Sacagawea navigates Lewis and Clark through dangerous passages to find a northwest passage and reach "the great waters". Many things have been vague about her life, such as her childhood and death but the voyage she took is known very well.

Sacagawea's birth is unknown but she was born a Shoshone Indian. Many things about her childhood are based on the information known about the other women of her childhood. “She along with other female children experienced mistreatment. They experienced beatings, given only to girls, and did work not required of men. They were prostituted and made to do all the work of the camp.”

(www.bonniebutterfield.com) after 11 years of living Shoshone, she was captured by Minneatree’s. She lived there with them until she was 14 and then was purchased by 44 years old, Toussaint Charbonneau and forced to marry him. While she was about 8 months pregnant with their child, at the age of 16, the Lewis and Clark crew came into town to hire a trapper. A main reason that Charbonneau was hired is because his wife could speak Shoshone and that would be very helpful when they reached the Shoshone lands. “Sacagawea was dumbfounded. Home. She was going home. She would see her family and friends and the towering mountains that she loved. Not only that but she would also see the big sea, The Great Waters.” (St.George 7) Sacagawea was more than excited to realize that she was going to make the long journey and possibly be re...

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... Wyoming, theory, a person who lived to the age of 100 on the Wind River Indian Reservation was the Sacagawea of the Lewis and Clark expedition.” (www.lizzarddesign.com) A contradictions to this theory is that after Sacagawea’s 2nd child’s, Lisette, birth she and her brother Jean were adopted by William Clark with the permission if Charbonneau. It is unknown whether or not Sacagawea was alive during this time but it is questionable why she would release her children so easily. Another theory, the most known, results in a sudden illness as the cause of her death. “Shortly after giving birth to a daughter, Lisette, Sacagawea died around age 25 due to what later medical researchers believed was a serious illness she had suffered most of her life. Her condition may have been aggravated by Lisette’s birth. Clark legally adopted both children.” (www.lizzarddesign.com)

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