Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Lewis and Clark Expedition

Sacagawea guiding Lewis and Clark.
In late October 1804, Lewis and Clark's expedition reached the territory of the Mandan people, Lewis and Clark camped there for the winter, and thats where they met Sacagawea and her husband Charbonneau. A little while after the expedition began, Sacagawea's baby was born on February 11th, 1805; he was named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. They stopped the for a while to let Sacagawea recover, the expedition was resumed on April 7th, 1805. On August 15th, 1805 Sacagawea was re-united with her tribe. She Learned that almost all of her family was dead, and the only living members were her two brothers. Her Brother Cameahwait was the head chief of the Shoshone tribe; he sold them the horses they needed to cross the mountians. On June 10th, Sacagawea became very ill and almost died. Lewis and Clark discussed this event in length in their journals. They said that if she died, they probably would not be able to finish the expedition. She ended up recovering and finishing the expedition. Sacagawea was the only woman on the expedition, so on top of being a guide and translator; she cooked, foraged for food, sewed, took care of her baby, and cleaned the men's clothes. She had the most work out of everyone on the expedition.