Famous Native Americans
Sacagawea was a Shoshone woman. The Shoshone lived from the Rocky Mountains to the Plains. They lived primarily on buffalo meat. The Shoshone traveled for many days searching for buffalo. They hunted on horseback, using the buffalo for food, clothing, homes, and tools.
One day, while Sacagawea and her brother were hunting, the Hidatsa people attacked their Shoshone village. They killed Sacagawea’s father and captured Sacagawea. Sacagawea went from being a free person to being a captive.
When Sacagawea became too old to be a Hidatsa captive, she was sold to Charbonneau. Charbonneau was a trapper from Canada. He married Sacagawea and took her to the Mandan village. The Mandan lived much the same as the Hidatsa.
One day, some white men guided by Lewis and Clark arrived in the Mandan village to the loud beating of drums. Charbonneau said he would travel west with Lewis and Clark when the spring came. They needed a guide. In February, Sacagawea and Charbonneau had a baby and named him Pomp. Captain Clark wanted Sacagawea to travel with the group because she spoke the Shoshone language and could ask the Shoshone for horses to travel west. Sacagawea was the only one who could speak the Shoshone language. Sacagawea represented peace as she traveled with Lewis and Clark because war parties did not travel with women and children.
While traveling a large gust of wind came up. The boat Sacajawea was traveling in filled with water. Sacajawea gathered up the supplies that were about to be lost in the river. Captain Clark was so grateful that he gave her a belt of blue beads.
They had many other adventures on the journey. When Lewis and Clark came to a waterfall, they built wagons to carry the boats across the land. While traveling over land up a steep, rocky hill, the rain poured and filled up the canyon. Sacagawea slipped. Captain Clark helped her and Pomp climb out. The travelers also ran into rattlesnakes and grizzly bears.
After coming to a three-branch split in the river, the group had to guess which branch to take. Captain Lewis named the river they were traveling on for his friend Thomas Jefferson.
Sacagawea knew she had reached her home when she found the rocks she had hidden behind during the Hidatsa raid. The explorers found old campfires and footprints, but no people. Sacagawea was sad when she walked through the village because she could not find her family. When Sacagawea reached the chief’s teepee, she found her brother. She told her brother how Clark had saved her life and that he was her friend. Then she asked for horses for their trip west.
Sacagawea had to decide if she would go on with Lewis and Clark or stay with the Shoshone. She decided to go. Lewis and Clark traveled by horseback over the Rocky Mountains. The group then traveled on the rivers for three months.
After reaching the Pacific Ocean, the men built a fort to live in during the winter. Sacagawea felt happy for helping Lewis and Clark find the Pacific Ocean and for also finding her people. In the spring, Sacagawea returned to the Shoshone village. When she returned, Sacagawea could not find her brother. No one knows if she ever saw him again.
