By Topic: Sacagawea

Monday, January 28, 2008

What happened to Sacagawea’s children?

“The court appoints William Clark Guardian to the infant children of Toussaint Charbonneau deceased, to wit, Toussaint Charbonneau a boy about the age of ten years old and Lisette Charbonneau a girl about one year old.”—Orphans Court record, St Louis, August 11, 1813

The earliest probate court records of St. Louis were discovered in an old safe at the courthouse last fall, containing guardianship proceedings regarding Sacagawea’s children.The story made the Fox News broadcast in St Louis on January 21, 2008. The record, shown here, is of an Orphans Court hearing held on August 11, 1813. William Clark’s name is added to the document, substituted for the name of the original guardian, John Luttig, who was the company clerk of the Missouri Fur Company.

What’s the story behind this? Lewis and Clark fans know that Toussaint, also known by his nickname “Pompey,” or as Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, was born on February 11, 1805 at Fort Mandan near Bismarck, North Dakota. This would make him 8 ½ years old. However, William Clark was not in St Louis at the time the hearing was held. He would have known the precise age of his adopted son, who was already living in St Louis and attending a boarding school.The father, Toussaint Charbonneau, Sr. was also not “deceased” though he was believed to be so at the time. He lived until about 1840.

Toussaint and Sacagawea and their son Pompey came to St. Louis in 1809 with Manuel Lisa and Pierre Chouteau, who had successfully delivered the Mandan Chief, Sheheke, or Big White, back to his village in North Dakota where the Charbonneau family was living. William Clark had requested they bring Pompey to St Louis where he would provide for his education when he was old enough to go to school. The Charbonneau family lived in Florissant, the town next to St Charles, for a year or more before returning home. They went back up river with Manuel Lisa in 1811, leaving their six year old son in William’s Clark’s care.

Sacagawea’s Death at Fort Manuel in 1812

Sacagawea died on Fort Manuel in Kenel, South Dakota on December 20, 1812. The Orphan Court record confirms that it was Sacagawea, rather than Charbonneau’s other Shoshone wife, who died at Fort Manuel. John Luttig wrote in his journal on Sunday, December 20, 1812: "this evening the wife of Charbonneau a Snake Squar, died of a putrid fever, she was a good and the best Women in the fort, aged abt 25 years she left a fine infant girl."

The little baby girl, Lisette, and an Indian woman to care for her, must have been brought down to St Louis by Lisa’s men as they retreated back to St Louis after Fort Manuel was attacked by Indians allies of the British during the War of 1812.The attack occurred sometime after March 5, 1813, the last date of entry in Luttig’s Journal. According to Richard Oglesby’s biography of Manuel Lisa, fifteen men of the Missouri Fur Company died in the attack. Was Lisette named for Manuel Lisa? It’s a possibility.

Luttig’s Journal of a Fur Trading Expedition 1812-13 is very interesting to read. The 1920 version is available on the internet. Here’s the link:

http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/Luttig/

The Missouri Fur Company expedition retreated down river to St Louis, stopping to build Fort Lisa near the site of Council Bluffs, where Fort Atkinson was later built, north of Omaha, Nebraska. Fort Lisa became the westernmost fort defending the American frontier during the War of 1812. Lisa returned and made his headquarters there in 1814, appointed as a special Indian Agent by William Clark.

I published a booklet, Defending the Western Frontier: Manuel Lisa and the War of 1812 in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Area, based on a paper I gave at the Missouri Valley History Conference in 1999. I will blog at other times about the children, and also about the War of 1812 out west.

Posted by Kira Gale on 01/28/2008 at 04:51 PM

GEOGRAPHY/PLACES • Forts/Trading Posts • Missouri • North Dakota • PEOPLE • NATIVE AMERICAN • Pomp/Jean Baptiste Charbonneau • Sacagawea • Sheheke/Big White • War of 1812 • (3) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Friday, November 10, 2006

Best Books on Sacagawea

Sacagawea’s life story has been often misrepresented in fiction, fact, and oral history. The real story is much more interesting. These four books are the ones I have chosen for inclusion in the Top 50 Lewis and Clark Books for adults, and Lewis and Clark for Young Readers.

Top 50 Lewis and Clark Books

Sacagawea’s Child: The Life and Times of Jean-Baptiste (Pomp) Charbonneau by Susan Colby (2005).

The author has thoroughly researched her subject, and presents a fascinating, well written account of Sacagawea and her family, filled with colorful insights. One of the finest books ever written on this time period. It includes many dramatic events and famous personalities of the early American West, beginning with the story of Sacagawea, her husband Toussaint Charbonneau, and their baby as members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It then focuses on the life of their son: Pomp’s adoption by William Clark and subsequent schooling in St Louis; six years exploring Europe with a German prince; years as a mountain man and guide in the Rocky Mountains; scout services for the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican-American War; appointment as a government official at the San Luis Mission north of San Diego after the war; and later years as a prospector for gold and inn keeper of "Murderer’s Inn" during the California Gold Rush. Published in the Western Frontiersmen Series of the Arthur H. Clark Company.

Sacagawea Speaks: Beyond the Shining Mountains with Lewis and Clark by Joyce Badgley Hunsaker (2001)

The book is based on a program presented by one of America’s most respected and popular living history story tellers, Joyce Hunsaker. It is beautifully illustrated, and can be enjoyed for its illustrations as well as its lyrical story telling. It includes extensive notes, Shoshone vocabulary, timeline, and biographies of expedition members. The author is part Indian in her ancestry, and has been honored by several tribes as well as giving performances at the Smithsonian and National Geographic in Washington, DC.

Lewis and Clark Books for Young Readers

Sacagawea by Stack DeKeyser (2004)

Grades 3-6. One of a series of Books About Exploration published by Scholastic. It’s a lovely book with fine illustrations and presents information in a way that will interest young readers.

Sacagawea’s Son: The Life of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau by Marion Tinling (2001)

Suitable for adult readers as well as ages 10 and up. Focuses on Jean Baptiste’s life after the expedition: his travels to Europe and adventures as a mountain man, scout in the Mexican-American War, and gold rush prospector. Well illustrated with photos and historic drawings.

Posted by Kira Gale on 11/10/2006 at 07:23 AM

BOOKS/AUTHORS • NATIVE AMERICAN • Sacagawea • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Sakakawea Country, New Town, North Dakota

Sakakawea, Sacajawea, Sacagawea—how do you spell her name? It depends on who’s doing it. In North Dakota, they spell it with two k’s. In the Hidatsa language, her name means "Bird Woman" and it is "Tsakaka-wias." The Hidatsa were the ones who kidnapped Sacagawea as a young girl from her Shoshone homelands in the area of Lemhi Pass (Salmon, Idaho and Dillon, Montana). At the time of Lewis and Clark, the Hidatsas lived with the Mandan Indians in the Knife River Indian Villages, northwest of Bismarck, North Dakota. Today, the Hidatsa, Mandan and Arikara live together on the Fort Berthold Reservation in the northwestern corner of North Dakota, and are known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, or MHA Nation.  New Town, the headquarters town for the reservation, is located on Lake Sakakawea. The annual New Town Pow Wow takes place on the second weekend in August. This photo was taken at the 14th Lewis and Clark National Signature Event, hosted by the Three Affiliated Tribes in August , 2006.

New Town’s Reunion Bay is the place where all the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition came together, after they split up to explore Montana on their return journey during the summer of 1806. This photo shows members of the Discovery Expedition of St Charles reenacting the journey at the New Town Signature Event. The expedition used dugout canoes joined together for traveling. This was the type of canoe they were making at Park City, Montana on the Yellowstone River, when the Crow Indians stole their horses.

 Accomodations at New Town are available at the 4 Bears Casino (motel and RV Park) and local motels. The Three Tribes Museum is located near the casino. Other attractions include Lewis & Clark Jet Boat rides, golfing, hiking, biking and horseback riding, fishing and hunting. Lodging includes cabins, ranch vacations, motels, RV and tent campgrounds in New Town and the surrounding area on the reservation.

To return to the matter of Sakakawea/Sacajawea/Sacagawea. The Shoshone spelling is "Sacajawea"  with a "j"; the name means "Boat Launcher"  in the Shoshone language. Two interpretive centers spell it with a "j": the Sacajewea Interpretive, Cultural and Education Center in Salmon, Idaho and the Sacajawea Interpretive Center in Pasco, Washington.  However, the most accepted spelling is "Sacagawea"  with a "g" which has been the choice of almost all contemporary writers and journal editors. William Clark spelled her name as "Sah-kah-gar-we-a" when the expedition departed from Fort Mandan on April 7, 1805; and as "Se car ja we au Dead" in noting the fate of expedition members in a journal entry made  sometime between 1825-28. 

Read more about Sacagawea and the New Town area in my Lewis and Clark Road Trips book. In the next blog, Best Books on Sacagawea, I recommend two books on Sacagawea for adults among my "Top 50 Lewis and Clark Books" and two books on Sacagawea written for young readers available through our Amazon Associate bookstore.

Posted by Kira Gale on 11/04/2006 at 02:32 PM

Lewis and Clark Trail • TRAVEL • NATIVE AMERICAN • Sacagawea • North Dakota • (1) Comments • (2) Trackbacks • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Signing at the Signature Rock, Pompey’s Pillar near Billings, Montana

Pompey’s Pillar was named by William Clark for Sacagawea’s little boy, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who was called "Pomp" or "Pompey."  The toddler, who was born on February 11, 1805 at Fort Mandan near Bismarck, North Dakota, got a giant graffiti rock, a distinctive outcropping about 150 feet high, named after him when he was 17 months old. William Clark climbed to near the top of the rock, carved "William Clark  July 25 1806" in the soft sandstone, and named it "Pompey’s Tower." The editor of his published journal, Nicholas Biddle, renamed  it "Pompey’s Pillar." Located near a natural crossing of the Yellowstone River, the Crown Indians called the butte, Iishbiiammaache, or "the place where the mountain lion dwelled." For centuries Native Americans made hundreds of their own carvings (petroglyphs) and paintings (pictographs) on the rock. 

I signed Lewis and Clark Road Trips books in the Stephen A Ambrose Authors Tent  in 106 degree heat at Pompey’s Pillar. Despite the heat over 25,000 people attended the the 13th Lewis and Clark National Signature Event which was held 30 miles east of Billings, Montana in late July, 2006.  

 Peyton "Bud" Clark, the great, great, great grandson of William Clark reenacted his ancestor’s carving of his name and date on an outdoor stage at Pompey’s Pillar in that terrible heat, but he’s as tough as William Clark and got it done. Bud  has shown all the leadership skills, endurance and enjoyment of people, adventure, and the great outdoors that William Clark had. His participation in the bicentennial observances as the leader of the Discovery Expedition of St Charles has been one of the most important and lasting memories of these special years.

 Not to worry about climbing  the boardwalk if you are visiting. There is a brand new Visitor Center, which was dedicated at the Signature Event, where you can enjoy a view of the Pillar in comfort and use a telescope to get a close up view. The Visitor Center is open from the last weekend in May to the first weekend in September. There is year round access to the rock itself. It’s just a coincidence that this was called a "Signature Event" as this was the name given to all fifteen places around the country who hosted National Signature Events in the bicentennial years.

Pompey’s Pillar became a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and a National Historic Monument in 2001. William Clark’s signature today is enclosed in a protective glass frame, first put there by the local family who leased the land in the 1950’s and later bought it to preserve this remarkable piece of history. Read about Don and Stella Foote on the web’s great Lewis and Clark history website, Discovering Lewis & Clark.

Posted by Kira Gale on 11/01/2006 at 12:19 PM

BOOKS/AUTHORS • Lewis and Clark Trail • Montana • TRAVEL • NATIVE AMERICAN • Sacagawea • National Historic Landmark/ Monument • (1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us