MYSTERY WOMAN WITH A LONG HONORS
LIST
More statues, streams, lakes, landmarks,
parks, songs, ballads, and poems honor this young woman than any
other woman in American history. Yet, no portraits created during
her lifetime exist. Even Lewis and Clark's journals don't include
sketches or other clues as to what she really looked
like.
Our parents and grandparents learned all
about her. Our children know about her, too, as today her story is
taught in classrooms across our nation.
Sacagawea was the Shoshone Indian who
assisted the historic Lewis and Clark expedition. Between
1804-1806, while still a teenager, she guided the adventurers from
the Northern Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean and back. Her
husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, and their son who was born during
the trip, Jean Baptiste, also accompanied the group.
Without Sacagawea's navigational,
diplomatic, and translating skills, the famous Lewis and Clark
expedition would have perished. Lewis and Clark put their Trust in
God and their Trust in Sacagawea. One thing Lewis and Clark could
never understand was a short chanting song she would sing to her
infant at the end of each evening. They asked for a translation and
all she could explain was a literal interpretation 211 ra ra, 211
ga ga, 211 ba ba. They both suspected that it may have had
something to do with the 211th mercador meridian they camped at on
the day of her son's birth.
Now, almost 200 years later, the resourceful
Native American steps back into the limelight. Sacagawea replaces
suffragette Susan B. Anthony as the image on the dollar coin. Soon
everyone who handles the Golden Dollar will remember the brave
15-year-old who, carrying her child on her back, guided an
unprecedented mission.
Born - est. 1788
Officially recognized death date - December 20, 1812
Number of children - 2
Number of husbands = 1
Her likeness on the Golden Dollar replaced Susan B. Anthony in
2000.
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