Sacagawea, Sakakawea, Sacajawea

"Sacagawea," by Michael Haynes.
Sacagawea, Sakakawea, Sacajawea
Imagery About Historical Figure
By Dakota Wind
GREAT PLAINS - Some time back I posted an explanation about the name of the young native mother who accompanied the Corps of Discovery from Knife River to the west coast. What is her name? How is it really pronounced? These are a couple of questions that people pose as though knowing her name means knowing who she was.

Of interest to some people is how she looked or dressed, even what kind of cradle board she put Pomp in, or if she just carried her baby in a sling on her back.

Artist Andrew Knudson painted this scene (above) of the Corps of Discovery entering Black Cat's Village (present-day Stanton, ND), a Mandan Indian village.

Vern Erickson created this scene (above) he called "Sacagawea, Lewis, Clark." Sacagawea is almost always portrayed with her baby boy Pomp, an American icon as inseparable as macaroni and cheese.

H. Charles McBarron painted this wonderful painting (above) titled "Lewis and Clark at Mandan Village, 1804." A beautiful picture with a wonderful attention to detail on the Mandan Indians clothes and Sacagawea's clothes. The State Historical Society of North Dakota has a commentary card accompanying this painting, drawing viewers' attention to the portrayal of Sacagawea, a view from behind and without her husband and without her baby. My commentary is this: Why is Sacagawea in a Mandan village?

"Corps of Discovery at a Knife River Village," by Vernon W. Erickson (above). There's very few Hidatsa Indians pictured in this painting, and most of those are painted as an afterthought or as ghosts. The only real detail is in the Corps of Discovery, a couple of Hidatsa, Charboneau, and Sacagawea. Sacagawea might take direct center stage in this painting, but her likeness was rendered closer to that of a twelve year old girl or else a ninety year old grandmother. York, Captain William Clark's slave since they both were children, is portrayed wearing what appears to be a dress uniform.

Mink (Hannah Levings) of the Arikara, Hidatsa, Mandan Nation posed for Orin G. Libby as one of the most famous American Indian women, Sacagawea.

During the centennial celebration of the Corps of Discovery, the State of North Dakota wanted to honor Sacagawea. A few paintings were commissioned and sold to raise money for a Sacagawea statue. A young native woman and her baby were selected to serve as the model for the statue.

The Sakakawea statue (above) as it stood on the Bismarck capital grounds in 1906.

At one point, the state of North Dakota had even considered erecting a massive statue in the likeness of Sacagawea along Interstate 94.

Personally, I think it should have been built looking east towards Washington DC. 

Sacajawea? Sacagawea? Sakakawea? Where She Came From And How Its Spelled

Here's a Sacagawea memorial in Mobridge, SD, across the river from Wakpala, SD. It is almost directly across the Missouri River from the monument of Sitting Bull. It's interesting that this memorial to an American Indian reflects something like the memorials to prominent Free Masons like George Washington, its very Egyptian, not at all native.
Sacajawea? Sacagawea? Sakakawea?
Where She Came, How Its Spelled

By Dakota Wind
GREAT PLAINS - So, I'm from North Dakota. I was born and raised in Fort Yates, North Dakota, on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. When I was in the eighth grade our Social Studies teacher, a hard-as-nails woman who always spoke through her teeth as though she had lockjaw, took the class through our North Dakota history units and drilled it into us that we were Teton Lakota and we should be proud of our heritage. No one in the class liked her, but she commanded every one's respect, and the few who dared to cross her path with asinine behavior were quickly dealt with.

Mrs. Kills Pretty Enemy had a favorite saying, it came off as a little "preachy" but she was a gospel singer, and she'd share it with the class weekly, "You have to want to."  Whenever she'd step out of the room a few daring classmates would offer an impersonation of Mrs. Kills Pretty Enemy and the class would giggle, until she returned. 

Here's the blue book, this unit is is the "American Indians of North Dakota."



As I was reviewing some of the North Dakota history units, I was reminded of my teacher when I came across the story of the young native woman who assisted the Corps of Discovery.  Mrs. Kills Pretty Enemy always enunciated her name carefully and almost zealously (I suspect because she was one of the few women, much less an Indian woman, that US history cared to remember).  She always said, "Sacajawea."  Most Americans pronounce it that way too, SAH-kah-jah-WEE-ah. 

Here's a monument to Sacajawea at the Sacajawea Center in Salmon, Idaho.  

I couldn't explain or articulate it then as a middle school boy, but saying "Sacajawea" somehow always felt "wrong."  It was always explained to me that "Sacajawea" meant "Bird Woman."  In Lakota on Standing Rock, we were taught that to say "Bird Woman" as "Zitkala Winyan."  When I got older, and hopefully wiser, to care, it turns out that Sacajawea was known to the Lakota too, and we did in fact know her as "Zitkala Winyan," as Bird Woman. 

Here's a shot of the reconstructed Fort Manuel Lisa located in Kenel, SD.  It rests on a plateau overlooking Lake Oahe.  When the Pierre Dam was built in the 1950s, the new lake flooded many historic, traditional, and cultural sites, one of them being the original site of Fort Manuel Lisa. 

Bird Woman resided at Fort Manuel Lisa with her husband Charboneau and sister.  Historically, Fort Manuel Lisa was in the heart of Northern Teton Lakota territory.  Today, Fort Manuel Lisa has been reconstructed near present-day Kenel, South Dakota, on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. 

The story of Bird Woman is a complicated one.  The Shoshone Indians insist that her name is "Sacajawea."  They say that her name means "Boat Launcher."  The general story is that she was kidnapped by the Hidatsa and brought to the Five Villages at Knife River (today its called Knife River Indian Villages located at present-day Stanton, ND).  The Hidatsa Indians, however, were sedentary agricultural people, not particularly wont to journey so far west to Shoshone Indian country to steal children.  The Hidatsa were traders, with trade coming to them.  Bird Woman was likely kidnapped by the Crow Indians, a sister tribe to the Hidatsa, and who were west of the Five Villages, and who would have most likely raided the Shoshone Indians for horses. 

Here's another monument to Sakakawea. This one is in front of the North Dakota Heritage Center. She looks west. 
At the Five Villages, Bird Woman came to be known amongst the Hidatsa as Bird Woman.  In Hidatsa, they called her Tsacagawea (run the "t" together with the "s"), tsah-KAH-gah-WEE-ah. 

When the Corps of Discovery met Bird Woman, they struggled with her name.  Captain Lewis spelled it four different ways, Captain Clark spelled it yet four more different ways, and altogether the Corps of Discovery spelled it seventeen different ways.  Not once with a "j". 

Mizuo Peck as Sacajawea in the movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.  She should have had more lines.

Captain Lewis spelled it:
Sahkahgarwea
Sahcahgawea
Sarcaegahwea
Sahcahgahweah

Captain Clark spelled it:
Sahcahgarwea
Sahcahgarweah
Sahcarwea
Sahcahgar Wea

The Shoshone Indians spell it:
Sacajawea, meaning "Boat Launcher."

The Hidatsa Indians spell it:
Tsacagawea, meaning "Bird Woman."

In North Dakota it is spelled:
Sakakawea

The National Park Service spells it:
Sacagawea

Amy Mossett, an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, and a matrilineal Mandan, has done some tremendous research on the subject of Bird Woman.  According to her research, it was the Woman's Sufferage Movement who changed the spelling and pronunciation of Sacagawea to Sacajawea. 

Some questions to consider about Bird Woman are:
When did she die?
Where did she die?

These aren't so easy to answer.   
Likely in December, 1812, at Fort Manuel Lisa after giving birth to a daughter, Lisette.  The Shoshone have the oral tradition that she died on the Wind River Indian Reservation in 1884.  Dr. Charles Eastman, a Dakota Sioux, was sent on a "Sacajawea" pilgrimage by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it was Dr. Eastman's conclusion that Sacajawea died at Wind River. 

A huge gravestone marks where Sacajawea is buried at Fort Washakie, Wyoming.

I've seen my old social studies teacher around once in a while.  I'm respectful of her and I can appreciate the time and efforts she put into our education.  When I do see her, I always remember afterwards about telling her about Sacagawea. 

Click here for imagery and a little more about Sacagawea.

My Trip to Fort Buford and Back, a Photo Essay

"A village of the Hidatsa tribe at Knife River," by George Catlin.My Trip to Fort Buford and Back
A Photo Essay, Part 1
By Dakota Wind
Hi!  So, I was invited to the 130th Anniversary of Sitting Bull's return from Canada at Fort Buford, a North Dakota State Historic Site. On my way up I thought that I'd stop at some sites along the way. I left my home north of Mandan and crossed the interstate bridge (I had to stop by the State Historical Society of North Dakota and drop off some really important stuff) then I headed north on HWY 85 to Washburn. I wanted to check out Fort Mandan, but the fort was dangerously close to sitting smack in the Missouri - due the flood. The Cottonwood Giftshop was surrounded by an earthen ditch and sandbags. I didn't want to show a North Dakota site when its in such a sad state so I took no pictures. Sorry.  If you don't know about the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06 and you're American, shame on you and go look it up - however, if you're a foreigner, I can forgive you. The Lakota stole an iron-shod pony from the Corps of Discovery in February 1805 at Fort Mandan, then burned down an old Mandan Indian village to prevent the Corps from mounting chase. 

My first stop on the way to Fort Buford was at Fort Mandan up in Washburn, ND. All the Indians (as if there's a whole bunch of them up there - there's only one) on staff up there were gone. 

So, being that I didn't want to take any pictures of the reconstructed Fort Mandan as it was nearly surrounded by water, I crossed the bridge there in Washburn and made my way to Fort Clark. 

I took the bridge in Washburn across the Missouri River to Fort Clark. 

At Fort Clark, a prominent American Fur Trade Post in the 1820s and 1830s, I stopped to admire the majesty of the Missouri River. The site itself doesn't offer much other than shade and outhouses. Back in the 1830s, a smallpox epidemic struck the Mandan living at the fort and nearly wiped them all out, by 1838, there were maybe only 500 Mandan Indians left. The saddest story I heard about the fort was about a mother who had just given birth. The mother died of smallpox, they wrapped her and her baby up, thinking the baby died as well, and buried them outside the fort. For a day, the people around the fort nearly went mad because they could all hear a baby crying and none could remember where the baby and mother were buried. I was moved to tears the first time I heard this from Amy Mossett, a Mandan Indian from the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. 

An interpretive sign summing up the activity at the site, and the smallpox epidemic.

If you could see it from above, you'd see depressions of where earthlodges used to be, and outlines of the fort's buildings, including a rectangular ceremonial lodge about 65' x 120', about twice the size the biggest earthlodge at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. 

This lone building provides a modest shelter in inclement weather. There's also a log for visitors to sign in, but the size of the building only adds to the solitude of the site. 

From Fort Clark, I went up to Knife River, only a ten minute drive away. I sometimes like to measure my trips by how many songs I can get there in, and this one was about the length of Def Leppard's "Rocket (Extended Atomic Mix)" which is about ten minutes. 

Knife River Indian Villages is designated a National Historic Site. Behind the building and bushes is the site of three Hidatsa Indian villages and a late woodlands linear mound. I used to work here as an Interpretive Ranger. 

The main entrance of the visitor center at Knife River. The main foyer of the building is designed on the ground flood plan of an earthlodge. A roof window lets in natural light as the smoke whole in an earthlodge would too. 

Here's a Hidatsa Indian earthlodge. The entrance faces east, towards the rising sun. An earthlodge typically only lasts about a dozen years due to the wood decaying, but with a cement ring and treated lumber this earthlodge has been standing over twenty years and looks great.

The Hidatsa Indians were an agricultural society. Here is a garden, but due to the odd weather this year in North Dakota, the planting of corn, squash, and beans was put on hold, and tobacco was planted. You can see that it is flourishing with this year's unseasonably wet weather. The Hidatsa would even put up scarecrows too. 

A replica of Four Bears' robe. Four Bears was the last war chief of the Mandan Indians. Even though this rests in a Hidatsa earthlodge, it looks at home. 

Parfleche boxes hang from the ceiling.  I disk is suspended on the leather ties above the parfleche, so that if rodents tried to get at whatever may be in the parfleche (maybe food) they'd slip and fall to the ground. 

Two examples of horse saddles and robe hang on the posts near the entrance of the lodge. The idea that Mandans or Hidatsas bringing their horses into the earthlodge is debated today.  I think they brought their horses in after the 1781 epidemic of smallpox, because there was so few to protect their horses from theft, certainly by Karl Bodmer's and George Catlin's time they did (the 1830s). The low rise and light weight Plains Indian saddles were the basis for General George McClellan's saddle the US Cavalry used in the the latter half of the 1800s. 

Mandan and Hidatsa women produced pottery. Here's a reproduction. 

A bunch of stuff sits on a cattail mat.  I nearly helped myself to that beaded knife sheath. 

A catlinite pipe and stem among other implements (including a wing fan) sit at rest here in the place of honor. The Hidatsa call this spot the Ituka. I nearly took that pipe too, because I'm sure that the Mandan and Hidatsa would want me to have it. 

A bed made of bison robes and elk skins.  A buckskin pillow stuffed with bison hair completes this bed set.

An anvil stone. If one were to look closely and carefully around this stone, one would find flint chips and flakes. The stone has several grooves in the top of it. Its glacial granite from the Canadian Rockies. It was used for nearly ten thousand years to make flint arrowheads, knifes, hatchets, and other tools. 

This is the Sakakawea Site where the Corps of Discovery first encountered Sakakawea.  Natural grasses and flowers were reintroduced to the site back in 2006.  The earthlodge depressions are mowed regularly so that visitors may clearly see where the village used to be.  Jean-Baptiste Charboneau was born here in 1805. 

From Knife River Indian Villages near Stanton, ND, I drove to Dunn Center, or to privately owned land near Dunn Center to pay a visit to the ancient Knife River flint quarry. 

On top of this bluffline is the ancient Knife River flint quarry. Flint was quarried here for about ten thousand years and traded across the North American continent. It is a form of silicon, hard pressed over the ages of the world, and actually began as a plant. This quarry is on private property near the community of Dunn Center, ND. 

From the flint quarry, I took off to Williston State Collge.  I made it with ten minutes to spare for the social and unveiling of the Sitting Bull statue.  I'll post those pictures and my time at Fort Union and Fort Buford next.