“Sacagawea”
by Judith St. George
In 1800, when Sacagawea was about 11 years old, Sacagawea was kidnapped by a war party of Hidatsa Indians, enemies of her people, the Shoshones. She was taken from her Rocky Mountain homeland, to the Hidatsa-Mandan villages; she was later sold as a slave to Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader, and interpreter, who claimed her as his wife. In November 1804, the Corps of Discovery arrived at the Hidatsa-Mandan villages and soon built a fort nearby. In the American Fort Mandan on February 11, 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to her son Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau.
The Shoshones possessed horses that the expedition needed to cross the Bitterroot Mountains. The captains felt that because of her Shoshone heritage, Sacagawea could be important in trading for horses when the Corps reached the western mountains and the Shoshones. While Sacagawea did not speak English, she spoke Shoshone and Hidatsa. Her husband Charbonneau spoke Hidatsa and......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 750
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |