Born: c. 1786, probably near present-day
Lemhi, Idaho, U.S.
Died: Dec 20, 1812, Fort Manuel,
on the Missouri River, Dakota Territory
Sacagawea or Sacajawea was a Shoshone Native American woman, who served as an interpreter and guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 and 1806. Sacagawea was probably born in present-day Idaho. She was captured by the members of the Hidatsa tribe and was sold as a slave to the Missouri River Mandans, who sold her to a Canadian trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau. She became one of his wives and gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste, in February 1805. Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who had spent the winter of 1804 and 1805 with the Mandans, hired Charbonneau as an interpreter and guide for the rest of their trip west. Sacagawea and her young son were allowed to go with the expedition when it set out in April 1805. The expedition left present-day North Dakota and traveled through what are now Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon; during the journey, Sacagawea proved invaluable. When the expedition encountered a tribe of Shoshone led by her brother, Sacagawea obtained food, horses, and guides; this enabled the explorers to continue. Sacagawea, carrying her young son on her back, was legendary for her perseverance and resourcefulness. She and Charbonneau remained in North Dakota when the expedition returned to Missouri in 1806.
Scholars are not sure when Sacagawea died. One of the two Native American wives of Charbonneau died in 1812 and was thought to be Sacagawea; however, an old Native American woman who died on a reservation in 1884 also claimed to be Sacagawea and displayed considerable knowledge of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Of the many memorials to Sacagawea, the most famous is a statue in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon.
In 2000, the United States Mint issued a new golden dollar coin with the image of Sacagawea on it. The coin depicts Sacagawea with her infant son asleep on her back.
