1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:10,959 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Bobebam here. Her image was immortalized on 3 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: the Golden Dollar in the year two thousand and She's 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: recognizable by her forward looking gaze and the baby she 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: carries on her back. She's been described as an interpreter 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: for the Lewis and Clark expedition, but relatively little is 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: known about Chicago Weea, despite the fact that she's one 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: of the few women ever depicted on US currency. And yes, 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: that's closer to a correct pronunciation than saka Joweyah. Although 10 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: Chicago Weea was from the Shoshone people, her name is 11 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: given in the Hidatsa language and has been interpreted to 12 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,919 Speaker 1: mean bird woman or crow woman. We spoke with Caroline Gilman, 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: author of Lewis and Clark Across the Divide. She said 14 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: she was a native woman who was thrust into history 15 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: when she accompanied Lewis and Clark. There are a lot 16 00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: of things that have been claimed for her that you 17 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: really can't say. We do know that Chicago Wia crossed 18 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: the continental divide at the age of seventeen while toting 19 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: her infant son. She also crossed cultures and played a 20 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: role in the success of the expedition and perhaps unknowingly, 21 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: in manifest destiny. Blemisha Shone Icago Weoh was born around 22 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,839 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty eight in modern day Idaho. Twelve years later, 23 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: she was captured by the gun possessing Hidatsa tribe took 24 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: her to the Hidatsa man Dance settlement near what's now 25 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: North Dakota. The settlement was an international trading center, and 26 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: she lived with the Hidatsa, the reason her name is 27 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: thought to be from that language, for a few years 28 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: until a French Canadian fur trader by the name of 29 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: Toussaint Charboneau took her as a wife. In this case, 30 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: wife is a relative term, and she was one of two. 31 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: According to James Ring Adams, senior historian at the History 32 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: and Culture Unit at the National Museum of the American 33 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: Indian Smithsonian, her role in the relationship was likely more 34 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: as a consort a. Some accounts state that the marriage 35 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: was an economic deal on behalf of her adoptive family, 36 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: or even that she was one in a card game. 37 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: Whatever the case, Charbonneau was about thirty seven years old 38 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,519 Speaker 1: to her sixteen, and Chicagoea was pregnant by the time 39 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: Merywether Lewis and William Clark arrived in the area. The 40 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: Lewis and Clark Expedition had begun in eighteen o three, 41 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: when President Thomas Jefferson sent out the Cores of Discovery 42 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: to explore the land that the US government gained from 43 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: the Louisiana purchase. It's important to remember that the land 44 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: deal with France included a lot more than today's eponymous state. 45 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: The territory stretched from roughly the Canadian border to the 46 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: Gulf of Mexico and from the Mississippi River to Colorado, 47 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: nearly doubling the size of the United States at the time. 48 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: Charbonneau offered his services as interpreter to Lewis and Clark. 49 00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: For offering that he had two wives from near the 50 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: Continental vide he got the job, and Chicago Weea was 51 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: chosen to accompany him on the expedition. Gilman suggests that 52 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: Lewis and Clark might have wanted to bring Chicago Wea 53 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: more than her husband, because they were looking for a 54 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: Shoshony translator. Sharboneau only spoke Hidatsa and French, but you 55 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: couldn't hire a woman you had to hire her husband. 56 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,399 Speaker 1: Lewis and Clark had a generally low opinion of Charbonneau. 57 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: In fact, Lewis later described him as a quote man 58 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: of no peculiar merit. By contrast, Chicago Wea proved to 59 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: be an advantageous member of the expedition. In the beginning, 60 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: Lewis and Clark were interested in her tribal connections because 61 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: her Shshony people straddled the continental divide and it was 62 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: crucial for them to cross it. Adams said it turned 63 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: out even better than they expected. When the expedition first 64 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: encountered the Shohony, Lewis was leading, and after an initial 65 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: contact with an older woman, was approached by a band 66 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: of about sixty shoshone on horseback, who became friendly enough. 67 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: But when Clark's group met up with him a day 68 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: or so later, Chicago Weea was with him, and one 69 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: of the Shoshonee women recognized her as the girl who 70 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: had been kidnapped many years before. The leader of the 71 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: band turned out to be her brother. An alliance was 72 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: formed between the expedition and the band, which then provided 73 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 1: horses and guides. Because of instance like this, Lewis and 74 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: Clark developed more and more respect for Chicago Weea. Simply 75 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: having a woman with an infant signaled to those who 76 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: they encountered along the way that they were not a 77 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: war party. Tellingly, by the time they reached the Pacific coast, 78 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: she got a vote in deciding whether or not the 79 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: expedition would stay there for the winter of eighteen o 80 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: five into eighteen o six, and when the group returned 81 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: to Fort Mandan and North Dakota, Lewis and Clark recorded 82 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: paying both the interpreter Charbonneau and the interpretress Chicago Wea. 83 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,479 Speaker 1: Adams said her work to the expedition became more and 84 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: more evident as it went on. Her role the success 85 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: of the expedition deserves all the legendary status that it has. 86 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: After the expedition, Chicago Wea remained with Charbonneau, but we 87 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 1: don't know much else, and she may have traveled to St. 88 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: Louis with Charbonneau to deliver her son, John Baptiste, to Clark, 89 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: who had offered to raise him and provide him with 90 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: an education. She had a second child, a daughter, who 91 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: she named Lizette, just months later, though Chicago Wea died 92 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: after suffering from what was recorded as a putrid fever. 93 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: A popular myth of the Wind River Indian Reservation in 94 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: Wyoming says that chicago Weea lived there into her nineties 95 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: and was buried at Fort Washaki, but that's been debunked. 96 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,119 Speaker 1: According to adams A, most reports show that she died 97 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: in eighteen twelve. There are few documentary mentions of Chicagoea, 98 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: says Gilman. A traveler who met her, commented that she 99 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: was a sweet person, but offers just one sentence. A 100 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: fur trader recorded her death in eighteen twelve and said 101 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: she was the best woman at the fort. Everyone who 102 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: discussed her had something good to say about her. Adams 103 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: describes the Lewis and Clark expedition as overly successful. It 104 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: was billed as a scientific exploration to learn about the 105 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: newly acquired territory, which was largely unknown to colonists from 106 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: England at the time. Jefferson hypothesized that the expedition might 107 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: encounter mammoths or mastodons. It served a political purpose to 108 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: to solidify the U. S government's claim to the area. Clearly, 109 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:37,359 Speaker 1: the expedition had far reaching ramifications, and Kagoa played a 110 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: part in its success. However, Lewis and Clark attached little 111 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,119 Speaker 1: importance to her role. It was Nicholas Biddle who edited 112 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: their journals for publication and interviewed Clark. Much of what 113 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: is known about Chicago Weah comes from the Biddle interview 114 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: rather than the journals, and Skagoa has an enhanced role 115 00:06:56,279 --> 00:07:00,359 Speaker 1: in the eighteen fourteen published version because Biddle immediately saw 116 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: that the public would be interested in her. Gilman said 117 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: She's been used to symbolize various things over the years. 118 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: She explains that, for one, Chicago Wea has been adopted 119 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: as Native American women like Pocahontas, have been as a 120 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: symbol of the amity with which indigenous people's collaborated with 121 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: European colonists, as a sort of justification for the colonizer's actions. 122 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: Because Native people, and particularly women, collaborated with them, these 123 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: figures symbolize the union of two different cultures and become 124 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: symbolic founders. Gilman said, they all become mythic, and that's 125 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: what's actually going on for Icagoa. She is for the 126 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: West what Pocahontas is for the East, and Gilman points 127 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: out she's not just a figurative mother, but a literal 128 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: mother figure She may be seen by some as a 129 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: Lama lynch A style collaborationist, someone who was a facilitator 130 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: of an invasion. Lam lynch A was the Mexican woman 131 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: who played a key role in the Spanish conquest of 132 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: the Aztec Empire by her Non Cortez. But Gilman points 133 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: out that Lewis and Clark were not on a military 134 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: expedition in the way that Cortes was, so those accusations 135 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: shouldn't be leveled against her. Gilman said, I would like 136 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: people to empathize with her. She was a person who 137 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: found herself in a situation where she could contribute to history, 138 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: and she lived up to the expectations that were placed 139 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: on her. She showed remarkable fortitude and perseverance throughout the 140 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 1: whole experience. Today's episode was written by Carrie Whitney and 141 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots 142 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff 143 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 1: is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts in my 144 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 145 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.