Lewis and Clark
Expedition for kids: Facts about the
Sacagawea
The following fact sheet provides short, interesting facts
about the Sacagawea.
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Lewis and Clark
Expedition: Facts about the Sacagawea
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Sacagawea Fact
1: |
The name Sacagawea in
the Shoshone language means “Bird Woman” and in the Hidatsa
language means “Boat Launcher”. William Clark once referred
to Sacagawea as "Janey" in one of his journals.
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Sacagawea Fact
2: |
Sacagawea was born in
Lemhi County, Idaho c1788. She was a member of the Agaidika
band of the Northern Shoshone Native American tribe who
also known as Snake Indians. |
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Sacagawea Fact
3: |
She was captured by the
Hidatsa Native American Indian tribe when she was just a
child and treated as a slave. |
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Sacagawea Fact
4: |
The Hidatsa tribe sold
13 year old Sacagawea and another slave called 'Otter Woman'
to 38 year old Toussaint Charbonneau, a rough and unpleasant
man, who was a trader and interpreter. |
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Sacagawea Fact
5: |
Toussaint Charbonneau
married both Sacagawea and Otter Woman but treated them
both as a slave wives. |
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Sacagawea Fact
6: |
On November 2, 1804 the
Lewis and Clark expedition settled for the winter in the
lands of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes in modern day North
Dakota. It was here that they built
Fort Mandan as their winter
quarters. |
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Sacagawea Fact
7: |
It was at Fort Mandan
that Lewis and Clark met Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacajawea,
who was just 16 years old and pregnant. Charbonneau was
hired as an interpreter and guide. Sacajawea was not supposed
to be part of the expedition but her husband insisted that
she came with them. |
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Sacagawea Fact
8: |
Her child was believed
to have been born at Fort Mandan in February 1805. He was
named Jean Baptiste but was called 'Pomp'. |
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Sacagawea Fact
9: |
On April 7, 1805 the
Lewis and Clark expedition departed from Fort Mandan accompanied
by Charbonneau, Sacagawea and their baby son. She carried
her son in a cradleboard on her back |
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Sacagawea Fact
10: |
On May 14, 1805 she prove
to be of great help to the explorers. A powerful storm almost
overturned one of the expedition’s boats but Sacagawea retrieved
many important articles from the waters including research
notes, books and scientific instruments. |
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Sacagawea Fact
11: |
The members of the expedition
were extremely grateful to her and, in recognition of her
brave deed, they named the Sacagawea River after her on
May 20, 1805. |
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Sacagawea Fact
12: |
Her harsh husband had
become the most unpopular man on the journey. Meriwether
Lewis referred to him in his journal as “a man of no peculiar
merit”. |
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Sacagawea Fact
13: |
On August 17, 1805 the
Lewis and Clark expedition arrived at the lands occupied
by the Shoshone Native Indian tribe - the homelands of Sacagawea.
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Sacagawea Fact
14: |
She received the sad
news that her parents had died but also the good news that
her brother, Cameahwait, had become the new chief of the
Shoshone tribe. Her brother agreed to sell some of the horses
to the Lewis and Clark expedition and they continued their
journey of exploration. |
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Sacagawea Fact
15: |
On November 15, 1805
the Lewis and Clark expedition at last reached the Pacific
Ocean. |
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Sacagawea Fact
16: |
The only request she
ever made on the journey was to be allowed to see the great
Pacific Ocean and the whale that had been washed ashore. |
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Sacagawea Fact
17: |
The Lewis and Clark expedition
set up their winter quarters and built
Fort Clatsop
where they spent 106 days from December 7, 1805 until March
23, 1806 in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia
River. |
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Sacagawea Fact
18: |
During the journey home
Pomp fell ill with a fever and, according to the journals,
was treated by William Clark and soon recovered. |
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Sacagawea Fact
19: |
On July 25, 1806 the
expedition were traveling along the Yellowstone River. William
Clark climbed a 200-feet tall rock and named it “Pompy’s
Tower” after Jean Baptiste. |
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Sacagawea Fact
20: |
On August 17, 1806 the
Lewis and Clark expedition arrived back at Fort Mandan.
Toussaint Charbonneau was paid $533.33 and given 320 acres
of land for his service as interpreter. Sacagawea recieved
nothing at all. |
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Sacagawea Fact
21: |
On September 6, 1806
the Lewis and Clark expedition reached St. Louis, Missouri.
William Clark offered to raise Pomp as his own and provide
him with an education. Jean Baptiste stayed with Clark who
enrolled him in a boarding school. |
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Sacagawea Fact
22: |
Charbonneau and Sacagawea
moved to Ford Manuel Lisa and on August 12, 1812 Sacagawea
gave birth to a baby girl who was named Lizette. |
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Sacagawea Fact
23: |
Sacagawea was believed
to have died on December 20, 1812 in South Dakota. The cause
of death was putrid fever or typhus. |
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Sacagawea Fact
24: |
In 1813 William Clark
signed the adoption papers for both her children |
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Sacagawea Fact
25: |
So ended the life of
the Shoshone heroine. It should have been the end of her
story. However, in 1875 a woman living in the Wind River
Reservation, Wyoming, with the Comanche name of Porivo,
claimed to be Sacagawea. Porivo died in 1884 but left a
mystery surrounding the famous heroine. |
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Sacagawea Fact
26: |
There was considerable
speculation about this famous woman and in 1925, Dr. Charles
Eastman was hired by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to locate
Sacagawea's remains and investigate her death.
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Sacagawea Fact
27: |
Dr, Eastman went to the
Wind River Reservation and he came to the conclusion that
Porivo was Sacagawea. |
Lewis and Clark
Expedition: Facts about the Sacagawea
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