The statue of Sacagawea and her infant son by Jim Demetro stands near the Fort Clatsop Visitor Center, along the trail leading to the reconstruction of Fort Clatsop in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. "In 1804, Sacagawea was living among the Mandan and Hidatsa, near present day Bismarck, North Dakota. Approximately four years earlier, a Hidatsa raiding party had taken Sacagawea from her home in Idaho and from her people, the Lemhi Shoshone. Living among the Mandan and Hidatsa, Sacagawea married French trader Toussaint Charbonneau. In February of 1805, she gave birth to a baby boy, her first child. Captain Lewis recorded the event in his journal: “about five o’clock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy.” Her presence within the Corps of Discovery was a boon to the group because it "dispelled the notion that the group was a war party." On the expedition's return trip to St. Louis, they stopped once again at the Mandan and Hidatsa villages, where "Sacagawea and her family ended their journey. Historians have debated the events of Sacagawea’s life after the journey’s end. Although opinions differ, it is generally believed that she died at Fort Manuel Lisa near present-day Kenel, South Dakota. At the time of her death she was not yet 30."
- By Rebecca Latson - January 24th, 2022 4:00am
