Introduction
Sacagawea is a very important female figure in the history of the U.S. She helped Lewis and Clark during their expedition in many ways. Besides the Lewis and Clark expedition, she had a very complicated life. Sacagawea was born to the Shoshone Indians in about 1788. At the age of 12 she was kidnapped by the Hidatsa Indians and she was s
eparated from her family. Later she was sold as a slave to a trader named Toussaint Charbonneau along with another woman. He took both as wives and later Sacagawea and Charbonneau’s son was born. His name was, Jean- Baptiste Charbonneau.
The very first expedition Sacagawea travelled on with Lewis and Clark included trading with the Shoshone for horses. Sacagawea spoke no english, however, she could translate to hidatsa to Charboneau, who could translate to french to another member of the expedition who could then translate to english for Lewis and Clark. The second expedition she travelled on was the expedition to
wards the west where Sacagawea did many things for the men while traveling. She provided useful foods and medicines along the way. She also cooked, foraged for food, sewed, mended and cleaned the clothes for the men. She also saved records and instruments from being lost overboard during a storm.
Sacagawea was treated as a very valuable member of the party. Lewis and Clark respected the indians as fully human and treated them as sources of information. Sacagawea also helped the indians realize that the party of whites she traveled with were friendly , this way they would cooperate better. Without Sacagawea, I don't think that the Lewis and Clark expedition would run as smoothly as it did originally. Everything would have been much more difficult. Infact, in my opinion it might have turned out to be a disaster. They would have been very unsucsessful during their journey to expand the west.
