Sacagawea, Sakakawea, Sakagawea, Or Sacajawea? and Her Son Jean Baptiste S Gravesite by Herbert K
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COLUMBIA GORGE INTERPRETIVE CENTER MUSEUM EXPLORATIONS Sacagawea, Sakakawea, Sakagawea, or Sacajawea? And her son Jean Baptistes Gravesite By Herbert K. Beal Among the Emory and Ruth Strong collec- tion of documents and correspondence, there is a file devoted to the only woman member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and her son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. To be more specific, its contents primarily concern two issues: 1) the dis- pute over the origin, meaning, pronunciation, and spelling of her name; and 2) the location, marking and preservation of her son’s gravesite. These are subjects in which the Strongs-Ruth in particular-had a keen interest and had something to contribute in search of the truth. Lewis and Clark’s tendency to use variant and inconsistent spellings in their journals is well known if not legendary. In recording the name of the Shoshoni woman who accompanied the expedition, they used at least eight different phonetic spellings of her name, such as: “Sah-ca- gah-we-a”, or “Sah-ca-gah-we-ah,” or “Sah-cah- gar-weah”, each pronounced “sah KAH gah WEE ah.” Not surprisingly, these and their other pho- netic spellings differ mostly in small details. But in one respect they are all consistent in indicat- ing that the third syllable is always pronounced with a hard “g” sound. This is one of several rea- sons for the current preference among nearly all historian scholars for the spelling “Sacagawea,” Sacagawea, Sakakawea, Sakagawea, or Sacajawea. as opposed to the more popularized “Sacajawea” (pronounced SAK ah jah wee ah). Guide and Interpreter of the Lewis and The late Irving W. Anderson, past Clark Expedition, published in 1933. secretary (1973-79) and president She argued that the name “Sacajawea” (1980-81) of The Lewis and Clark Trail was based on three Shoshoni words: Heritage Foundation, was noted for his sac meaning boat, canoe, or raft; a relentless efforts to track down the meaning the; and ja we meaning truth or falseness behind this and launcher; combined they become sac a other sometimes arcane facets of the ja we, meaning canoe launcher or boat expedition’s history and personnel. pusher. Lewis and Clark sometimes This is relevant to the present discus- referred to their Shoshoni interpreter sion because among the contents of the by names or in ways other than her Strongs’ Sacagawea-Baptiste file there native name, such as: “ Indian squar,” are two handwritten letters addressed “Indian woman,” “ Snake woman,” or to the Strongs by Irving Anderson. One “Bird woman.” Lewis believed that the letter, dated August 30, 1974, mentions meaning of her native name in English an accompanying black-and-white was Bird Woman, a fact confirmed by photograph of the “ Charbonneau her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, gravesite at Danner.” The other letter, This pointed to the likelihood that the of April 15, 1976, opens by stating: “At name Sacagawea was not derived from long last I am returning your her native Shoshoni language but that Sacagawea file. I have kept digging of her captors, the Hidatsa of present- into it from time to time, as you have day North Dakota. It is a compelling kept good notes on some of the more thesis when one considers that the obscure references concerning both Hidatsa word for bird is sacaga and for Sacagawea and Baptiste.” These notes woman is wea. consist of many pages of extracts taken Shortly before his death in August from the Lewis and Clark journals that 1999, Anderson co-authored with mention Sacagawea or Baptiste They Blanche Schroer an article entitled appear to be in Ruth’s handwriting and “Sacagawea: Her Name and Her copied from the Thwaites edition. Destiny,” (published in We Proceeded There is also an extract of the meeting On, The Official Publication of the minutes of the U.S. Board on Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Geographic Names for February 8, Foundation, November 1999). Their 1979, which includes a succinct but article marshaled virtually all of the informative discussion of “the back- most persuasive evidence indicating ground of the name Sacagawea.” the Hidatsa origin of Sacagawea’s Confusion surrounding the pro- name and its appropriate spelling and nunciation and spelling of this pronunciation. Schroer, now deceased, Shoshoni woman’s name stemmed in was a respected Wyoming writer and part from the assumption that it was of scholar, author of two important stud- Shoshoni origin. This view was advo- ies of the Bird Woman’s life and name: cated vigorously by Grace Raymond “Sacagawea: The Legend and the Hebard in her biography Sacajawea, A Truth,” (in Wyoming, Dec./Jan.,1977- Sacagawea — Page 2 Drawing of Sacagawea with Lewis and Clark. 1978); and “Boat Pusher or Bird there is no ‘ j’ included in the Hidatsa Woman? Sacagawea or Sacajawea?” (in alphabet, and that ‘g’ is pronounced as Annals of Wyoming, Spring 1980). a hard ‘g’.” Anderson and Schoer con- Anderson and Schroer, citing an 1877 cluded “that the Shoshoni Indian dictionary titled Ethnology and woman’s name has been decisively Philology of the Hidatsa Indians, com- treated by the disciplines of orthogra- piled by U. S. Army Surgeon, Dr. phy, etymology and philology, with the Washington Matthews, “explained that effect of formally establishing the Sacagawea — Page 3 Sacagawea spelling and pronunciation tion of the expedition’s Shoshoni inter- [sah KAH gah WEE ah].” preter’s name is difficult to say. But Anderson and Schroer were hope- Anderson’s letter returning the file ful that this would end or at least quiet suggests it likely was of some assis- the debate. And to a large extent it has. tance. As early as 1910, the Bureau of Moving on to the question of American Ethnology had already stan- where Sacagawea’s son Jean Baptiste dardized use of the Sacagawea spelling was buried and what had transpired in in its publications. More recently, his post-Corps-of-Discovery life, it is other agencies or organizations such as well documented that William Clark the U.S. Geographic Names Board, U. took young Baptiste (whom he had S. National Park Service, and the nicknamed Pomp) under his protec- National Geographic Society have tion. Clark saw to it that the boy adopted use of the Sacagawea form. received a formal education at St. However, the Sacajawea spelling and Louis. And as a youth he was befriend- pronunciation is so widespread in the ed by a German nobleman, Prince Paul popular mind-especially in the west- Wilhelm of Württemberg, who was vis- ern United States-that the wholesale iting the Louisiana Territory in 1824 as retroactive name change of numerous a naturalist or scientific observer. lakes, rivers, peaks, and other such Clark consented to let Baptiste travel to geographic features is no trivial matter. Germany with the prince to further the There are also two other variant youth’s education in European culture spellings that have some claim to legit- and languages, including French, imacy: Sakakawea and Sakagawea German, and Spanish, to supplement (pronounced sah KAH KAH wee ah). the English and several Native The substitution of “k” for both “c” and American languages of which he “g”, or of “k” for the “c” only, have been already had command or acquain- proposed as more closely approximat- tance. Upon returning to America, ing the spoken sound of the Hidatsa Baptiste decided to enter the frontier language. As for the meaning of the as a guide and interpreter-arguably the name, supporters of the last two alter- best educated and most widely trav- native spellings agree that it is derived eled of his peers. He made the acquain- from Hidatsa and means Bird Woman. tance of many figures among the One of the more curious aspect of this mountain men and other personalities controversy is the North Dakota legis- of the fur trade era in the Rocky lature’s approval of a law requiring the Mountains, including: Jim Bridger, Sakakawea spelling be used in all State Nathanial Wyeth, John C. Frémont, Jim publications and names of geographic Beckworth, and Joe Meek, to name a features in that state. few. To what extent the Strongs’ There is an incident, recorded in Sacagawea-Baptiste file figured in Nathaniel Wyeth’s “Journal of his First Irving Anderson’s research and think- Expedition to the Oregon Country,” in ing about the spelling and pronuncia- which Baptiste seems to have been Sacagawea — Page 4 involved. the hands of an Indian[.] [I]t was It began at the end of July, 1833, immediately discharged and so near somewhere in the vicinity of the Wind his head that the front piece of his cap River Range of western Wyoming. alone saved his eyes from being put Wyeth wrote in his July 31 journal out by the powder[.] [T]he Ball entered entry that he and his men “found a the head outside of the eye and break- party of 4 whites who have lost their ing the cheek bone passing downward horses and one of them wounded in and lodged behind the ear in the neck the head with a Ball and in the body . [T]his stunned him and while with an arrow very badly.” The vic- insensible an arrow was shot into him tims believed their attackers were a on the top of the shoulder . the Inds. small band of Snake (Shoshoni) got 7 horses . Charboneau pursued Indians-an identity at first doubted by them on foot but wet his gun in cross- Wyeth. But by morning the next day, ing a little stream.” Thompson appar- August 1, he had a different opinion: ently recovered from his wounds; the “On farther inquiry I changed my opin- seven horses, however, were never ion expressed above in regard to the reclaimed.