By internationally renowned sculptor
Glenna Goodacre, this rendition of Sacagawea, with her infant son Jean Baptiste in a papoose on her back, stands just south of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Created in 2001, the larger than life size sculpture is one of a limited edition of fifteen. The sculpture depicts Sacagawea during her epic voyage to the Pacific Ocean as part of the Lewis & Clark expedition. It was just before she joined the expedition that Jean Baptiste was born.
A Shoshone woman born in 1788, Sacagawea (sometimes spelled Sacajawea) gained immortality as the woman who travelled to the west coast with the Lewis & Clark Expedition, becoming indispensable as an interpreter and wilderness survival skills mentor. A bit of her story is below.
Sacagawea and Jean Baptiste
By Glenna Goodacre
2001
Location: South side of the building / South entrance (open in summer)
Glenna Goodacre’s sculpture depicts Sacagawea with the infant Jean Baptiste on her back. Sacagawea’s husband, trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, was enlisted as Lewis and Clark’s interpreter along the journey, chosen in part because his wife spoke Shoshone.
Shown gripping her buffalo robe to her, Sacagawea looks out ahead onto the western front, her gaze tilted upwards as if surveying the landscape left to traverse.
Glenna Goodacre (b. 1939). Sacagawea and Jean Baptiste, 2001. Bronze, H 83.75 x W 42 inches. L.359.2011.2
From the Center of the West
Sacajawea - Explorer(c. 1788–c. 1812)
Sacagawea was a Shoshone interpreter best known for being the only woman on the Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West.
Sacagawea, the daughter of a Shoshone chief, was born circa 1788 in Lemhi County, Idaho. At around age 12, she was captured by an enemy tribe and sold to a French-Canadian trapper [Toussaint Charbonneau] who made her his wife. In November 1804, she was invited to join the Lewis and Clark expedition as a Shoshone interpreter. After leaving the expedition, she died at Fort Manuel in what is now Kenel, South Dakota, circa 1812.
Sacagawea and her husband lived among the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians in the upper Missouri River area (present-day North Dakota). In November 1804, an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered the area. Often called the Corps of Discovery, the expedition planned to explore newly acquired western lands and find a route to the Pacific Ocean. The group built Fort Mandan, and elected to stay there for the winter. Lewis and Clark met Charbonneau and quickly hired him to serve as interpreter on their expedition. Even though she was pregnant with her first child, Sacagawea was chosen to accompany them on their mission. Lewis and Clark believed that her knowledge of the Shoshone language would help them later in their journey.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
In February 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to a son named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Despite traveling with a newborn child during the trek, Sacagawea proved to be helpful in many ways. She was skilled at finding edible plants. When a boat she was riding on capsized, she was able to save some of its cargo, including important documents and supplies. She also served as a symbol of peace - a group traveling with a woman and a child were treated with less suspicion than a group of men alone.
Sacagawea also made a miraculous discovery of her own during the trip west. When the corps encountered a group of Shoshone Indians, she soon realized that its leader was actually her brother Cameahwait. It was through her that the expedition was able to buy horses from the Shoshone to cross the Rocky Mountains. Despite this joyous family reunion, Sacagawea remained with the explorers for the trip west.
Over the years, tributes to Sacagawea and her contribution to the Corps of Discovery have come in many forms, such as statues, place-names, and she was even featured on a dollar coin issued in 2000 by the U.S. Mint.
From Biography Dot Com