Sacajawea was a Shoshone Indian princess. The Shoshone lived from the Rocky Mountains
to the Plains. They lived primarily on buffalo meat. The Shoshone traveled for many days searching for buffalo. They
hunted on horseback using the buffalo for food, clothing, homes, and tools.
One day while Sacajawea and her brother were hunting, the Minnetaree
Indians attacked their Shoshone village. They killed Sacajawea's father and captured Sacajawea. Sacajawea went from being
a princess to being a slave.
When Sacajawea became too old to be a Minnetaree slave she was sold to
Charbonneau. Charbonneau was a trapper from Canada. He married Sacajawea and took her to the Mandan village. The Mandans lived
much the same as the Minnetaree.
One day some white men guided by Lewis and Clark
arrived in the Mandan village to the loud beating of the tom-toms. Charbonneau said he would travel west with Lewis and Clark when the spring came. They needed a guide. In February Sacajawea and
Charbanneau had a baby and named him Pomp. Captain Clark wanted Sacajawea to travel with the group because she spoke the Shoshone
language and could ask the Shoshone Indians for horses to travel west. Sacajawea was the only one who could speak the Shoshone
language. Sacajawea represented peace as she traveled with Lewis and Clark because war parties did not travel with women and
children.
While traveling a large gust on wind came up. The boat Sacajawea
was traveling in filled with water. Sacajawea gathered up the supplies that were about to be lost in the river. Captain Clark
was so grateful that he gave her a belt of blue beads.
They had many other adventures on the journey. When Lewis and Clark
came to a waterfall they built wagons to carry the boats across the land. While traveling over land up a steep, rocky hill the rain poured and filled up the canyon.
Sacajawea slipped. Captain Clark helped her and Pomp climb out. The travelers also ran into rattlesnakes and grizzly bears.
After coming to a three branch split in the river the group had to guess which brancg to
take. Captain Lewis named the river they were traveling on for his friend Thomas Jefferson.
Sacajawea knew she had reached her home when she found the rocks she
had hidden behind during the Minnetaree raid. The explorers found old campfires and footprints, but no Indians. Sacajawea
was sad when she walked through Indian village because she could not find her family. When Sacajawea reached the chief's teepee
she found her brother. She told her brother how Clark had saved her life and that he was her friend. Then she asked for horses
for their trip west.
Sacajawea had to decide if she would go on with Lewis and Clark, or stay
with the Shoshone. She decided to go. Lewis and Clark traveled by horseback over the Rocky Mountains. The group then traveled
on the rivers for three months.
After reaching the Pacific Ocean the men built a fort to live in during
the winter. Sacajawea felt happy for helping Lewis and Clark find the Pacific Ocean and for also finding her people. In the
spring Sacajawea returned to the Shoshone Indian village. When she returned Sacajawea could not find her brother. No one knows
if she ever saw him again.
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