– 1805
When
she was about 12 years old, she was kidnapped from her own Shoshone
Indian tribe by Hidatsa Indians.
When
she was around 13 years old, she was purchased by (and married off to) a
French fur trapper.
When
she was 14 years old, she became pregnant.
Now,
just 15 years old, she was living in a fort with her husband and a
whole lot of English-speaking white men who were part of the Corps of
Discovery (which we call the Lewis and Clark Expedition). Her husband
had been hired as interpreter—even though it was she who
knew the Shoshone language the group desired!
And
her baby was ready to be born...
 |
| This Sacagawea dollar honors the brave teenage mom/ interpreter/explorer! |
Sacagawea
gave birth to little Jean Baptiste Charbonneau on this date in 1805.
One of the other Indian interpreters helped out by “administering”
crushed rattlesnake rattles to speed the delivery. (I have no idea
how or where he “administered the crushed rattles – did he make
them into a paste and smear it somewhere? Did he make the rattles
into a drink? Or did he just lay the crushed rattles on Sacagawea's
hand?)
William
Clark nicknamed the baby “Pompy.” And when the expedition left
the fort and went up the Missouri in their canoes, Sacagawea held
little Pompy the whole way!
By
the way...
When
Pompy was just three months old, one of the expedition's boats
capsized. Sacagawea was able to stay calm and rescue several items
that fell out of the boat, including Lewis and Clark's journals and
records. The corps commanders commended her for her quick action and
named the river Sacagawea in her honor.
Sacagawea
and Little Pompy had many other adventures on the expedition,
traveling from what is now North Dakota to Oregon and then back
again. Read about some of them here.
(Click the various words “interpreter,” “her return home,”
and so forth.) The story of Sacagawea is also told here
and, in a briefer version, here.
Also
on this date:
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