Sacagawea
Sacagawea (c. 1788–1812 or 1884) was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition as an interpreter and guide from Fort Mandan in present-day North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and back. Captured by a Hidatsa raiding party around age 12 and later purchased by French-Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau, she joined the expedition with her husband and their infant son, Jean Baptiste, who was born just two months before departure in February 1805. Sacagawea proved invaluable to the Corps of Discovery: her presence with an infant signaled peaceful intentions to the Native nations they encountered, she identified edible plants and geographical landmarks, and at a critical juncture she recognized the homeland of her own people, the Shoshone, facilitating the acquisition of horses essential for crossing the Rocky Mountains. Her emotional reunion with her brother Cameahwait, who had become chief of the Lemhi Shoshone, is one of the most celebrated moments of the expedition. Sacagawea is one of the most commemorated women in American history, with more statues dedicated to her than any other American woman.
Portrait: Edgar S. Paxson, 1912
Related Locations
Note: the longest gap between tagged appearances is about 3 months (Jun 22, 1804 → Sep 26, 1804). Sacagawea may have been present in the corps during that span but is not named in the journals.
Art (6)
Tent of Many Voices (17)
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Journal Entries (68)
Cross-Narrator Analyses
AI-assisted scholarly analyses that cite or discuss Sacagawea — showing 24 of the most recent matches.
Letters, Tailors, and a Trunk of Damaged Papers: The Captains Re-enter St. Louis Society
On their second full day back in St. Louis, Clark records a brisk return to civilian correspondence and commerce, while Ordway's published…
Two Departures at the Mandan Villages: Colter Turns Back, Sheheke Heads East
On the same August afternoon in 1806, Sergeants Gass and Ordway record the expedition's most consequential partings — John Colter's choice to…
Two Camps, Two Registers: Skins, Goose Berries, and a Missing Pair
On August 9, 1806, the expedition's two halves remain separated. Lewis waits for Clark while his men dress skins; Clark drifts downriver…
Sawyers by Moonlight: Four Voices on a Near-Drowning Above Milk River
On a single August day in 1806, four expedition narrators record the same descent past Big Dry and Milk Rivers — yet…
Two Rivers, Two Captains: Divided Command on the Plains
On July 17, 1806, the expedition's split detachments produce strikingly different journals. Lewis scans the Marias plains for hostile signs while Clark…
Two Camps, Two Worlds: Caching at the Falls While Clark Swamps Among Beaver Dams
On a single July day in 1806, the divided Corps of Discovery produces strikingly different journals: Lewis and Gass secure baggage against…
Spoiled Caches and Parting Ways: Four Voices at the Three Forks
On July 13, 1806, the expedition divided at the Three Forks while Lewis surveyed water-damaged caches at the White Bear Islands. Four…
Cold Rain on the Divided Plains: Two Camps, One Expedition
On July 9, 1806, the recently split Corps of Discovery worked along separate rivers in cold summer rain. The four journals reveal…
Two Captains, Two Continents: The Divided Corps on Divergent Trails
On July 6, 1806, the split expedition pursued separate routes across the Continental Divide. The four journals reveal not only different landscapes…
Parting at Travelers’ Rest: Four Voices on a Pivotal Division
On the day the Corps of Discovery split into two reconnaissance parties at Travelers' Rest, four journalists recorded the same departure with…
Fir Trees Aflame: Four Accounts of a Single Day on Hungry Creek
On June 25, 1806, four expedition journalists recorded the same day's march toward Hungry Creek, but only two captured the Nez Perce…
A Finished Canoe, an Empty Larder: Four Voices at Camp Chopunnish
On May 26, 1806, four expedition journalists record the same day at Camp Chopunnish — a launched canoe, a sick child, exhausted…
A Sweat That Failed and a Bear of Many Colors
On a rainy Sunday at Camp Chopunnish, four expedition narrators record a failed attempt to heal a paralyzed Nez Perce man, while…
The Sweat Hole at Camp Chopunnish: Four Voices on Frontier Medicine
On a warm May day at Camp Chopunnish, four expedition journalists record the same medical drama from sharply different vantages — an…
An Eagle’s Salmon and a Bear of Many Colors: Four Voices at Camp Chopunnish
On a cloudy May Sunday at Long Camp, four expedition journalists record the same hunting failures, the same Nez Perce visitors, and…
Bears, Roots, and a Harmless Snake: Four Voices at Camp Chopunnish
On a damp May day during the expedition's long wait beside the Kooskooskee, four journalists record the same events with strikingly different…
Four Pens, One Council: Diplomacy and Doctoring Among the Chopunnish
On a crowded May day in 1806, four expedition narrators recorded the same Nez Perce council from strikingly different vantages — Lewis…
Hunger’s Evidence: Pine Bark, Fish Traps, and Diplomatic Strain on the Kooskooskee
On May 8, 1806, three expedition journals converge on a single Nez Perce camp where evidence of winter starvation, an ingenious willow…
A Kettle Refused, a Sword Accepted: Four Voices at Yelleppit’s Camp
On the Walla Walla, Chief Yelleppit's gift of a white horse and his insistence the Corps stay to dance produced four distinct…
Crossing the Columbia for Horses: Four Pens at The Dalles
On April 16, 1806, the expedition split across the Columbia near The Dalles to bargain for horses. Four narrators—Lewis, Clark, Gass, and…
The Whale at Tillamook Head: Three Vantage Points on a Single January Day
On January 8, 1806, Clark scrambles across slippery headlands to barter for whale blubber while Lewis, confined to Fort Clatsop, turns ethnographer.…
Weather, Whale, and the Salt Camp: Two Journals on a Pivotal Day
On January 6, 1806, Patrick Gass and John Ordway record fragments of a day defined by clearing skies and a whale on…
Salt, Storms, and a Beached Whale: Three Voices at Fort Clatsop
On a rainy December Saturday at Fort Clatsop, Clark, Ordway, and Gass record the same day in strikingly different registers — one…
A Damp Christmas at Fort Clatsop: Two Enlisted Men Mark the Day
On Christmas Day 1805, sergeants Patrick Gass and John Ordway recorded nearly identical accounts of the Corps' first morning at Fort Clatsop…
From Heacock's Writings
7 mirrored articles by Robert Heacock that mention Sacagawea.
