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Sacagawea
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Sacagawea was the only female member of the Corps of Discovery. She was only sixteen years old when Lewis and Clark met her at their winter headquarters at Fort Mandan, South Dakota, and she was six months pregnant. Just two months before the Expedition headed west in the spring, Sacagawea gave birth to a boy, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, whom Clark nicknamed “Pomp” or “Pompy”—the youngest member of party.
Sacagawea's husband, a fur trader named Toussaint Charbonneau, was hired by the Corps as an interpreter. Charbonneau had lived among the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes and spoke French and Hidatsa. Toussaint had met Sacagawea among the Hidatsa; however, she was actually a member of the Shoshoni nation, who had been captured and enslaved by the Hidatsa five years earlier. She spoke Hidatsa and Shoshoni.
Lewis and Clark realized that Sacagawea would be of great help to them once they reached the Rocky Mountains, where the Shoshoni lived. Sacagawea was able to translate Shoshoni into Hidatsa and Charbonneau further translated this into French, which many members of the Corps understood. In fact, Sacagawea later proved vital to the Expedition, as she was able to negotiate with the Shoshoni for horses that the Corps needed to cross the Rockies.
At the end of the trip, Charbonneau received $500 and 320 acres of land; Sacagawea was given nothing. She is believed to have died when she was just twenty-five years old. After her death, Clark adopted both her son and a young daughter who had just been born.
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Sacagawea
p.61
