WEBVTT - Who Was Sacagawea?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Bobebam here. Her image was immortalized on

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<v Speaker 1>the Golden Dollar in the year two thousand and She's

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<v Speaker 1>recognizable by her forward looking gaze and the baby she

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<v Speaker 1>carries on her back. She's been described as an interpreter

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<v Speaker 1>for the Lewis and Clark expedition, but relatively little is

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<v Speaker 1>known about Chicago Weea, despite the fact that she's one

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<v Speaker 1>of the few women ever depicted on US currency. And yes,

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<v Speaker 1>that's closer to a correct pronunciation than saka Joweyah. Although

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<v Speaker 1>Chicago Weea was from the Shoshone people, her name is

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<v Speaker 1>given in the Hidatsa language and has been interpreted to

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<v Speaker 1>mean bird woman or crow woman. We spoke with Caroline Gilman,

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<v Speaker 1>author of Lewis and Clark Across the Divide. She said

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<v Speaker 1>she was a native woman who was thrust into history

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<v Speaker 1>when she accompanied Lewis and Clark. There are a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of things that have been claimed for her that you

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<v Speaker 1>really can't say. We do know that Chicago Wia crossed

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<v Speaker 1>the continental divide at the age of seventeen while toting

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<v Speaker 1>her infant son. She also crossed cultures and played a

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<v Speaker 1>role in the success of the expedition and perhaps unknowingly,

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<v Speaker 1>in manifest destiny. Blemisha Shone Icago Weoh was born around

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen eighty eight in modern day Idaho. Twelve years later,

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<v Speaker 1>she was captured by the gun possessing Hidatsa tribe took

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<v Speaker 1>her to the Hidatsa man Dance settlement near what's now

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<v Speaker 1>North Dakota. The settlement was an international trading center, and

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<v Speaker 1>she lived with the Hidatsa, the reason her name is

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<v Speaker 1>thought to be from that language, for a few years

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<v Speaker 1>until a French Canadian fur trader by the name of

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<v Speaker 1>Toussaint Charboneau took her as a wife. In this case,

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<v Speaker 1>wife is a relative term, and she was one of two.

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<v Speaker 1>According to James Ring Adams, senior historian at the History

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<v Speaker 1>and Culture Unit at the National Museum of the American

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<v Speaker 1>Indian Smithsonian, her role in the relationship was likely more

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<v Speaker 1>as a consort a. Some accounts state that the marriage

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<v Speaker 1>was an economic deal on behalf of her adoptive family,

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<v Speaker 1>or even that she was one in a card game.

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<v Speaker 1>Whatever the case, Charbonneau was about thirty seven years old

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<v Speaker 1>to her sixteen, and Chicagoea was pregnant by the time

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<v Speaker 1>Merywether Lewis and William Clark arrived in the area. The

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<v Speaker 1>Lewis and Clark Expedition had begun in eighteen o three,

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<v Speaker 1>when President Thomas Jefferson sent out the Cores of Discovery

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<v Speaker 1>to explore the land that the US government gained from

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<v Speaker 1>the Louisiana purchase. It's important to remember that the land

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<v Speaker 1>deal with France included a lot more than today's eponymous state.

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<v Speaker 1>The territory stretched from roughly the Canadian border to the

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<v Speaker 1>Gulf of Mexico and from the Mississippi River to Colorado,

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<v Speaker 1>nearly doubling the size of the United States at the time.

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<v Speaker 1>Charbonneau offered his services as interpreter to Lewis and Clark.

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<v Speaker 1>For offering that he had two wives from near the

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<v Speaker 1>Continental vide he got the job, and Chicago Weea was

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<v Speaker 1>chosen to accompany him on the expedition. Gilman suggests that

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<v Speaker 1>Lewis and Clark might have wanted to bring Chicago Wea

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<v Speaker 1>more than her husband, because they were looking for a

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<v Speaker 1>Shoshony translator. Sharboneau only spoke Hidatsa and French, but you

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<v Speaker 1>couldn't hire a woman you had to hire her husband.

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<v Speaker 1>Lewis and Clark had a generally low opinion of Charbonneau.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, Lewis later described him as a quote man

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<v Speaker 1>of no peculiar merit. By contrast, Chicago Wea proved to

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<v Speaker 1>be an advantageous member of the expedition. In the beginning,

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<v Speaker 1>Lewis and Clark were interested in her tribal connections because

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<v Speaker 1>her Shshony people straddled the continental divide and it was

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<v Speaker 1>crucial for them to cross it. Adams said it turned

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<v Speaker 1>out even better than they expected. When the expedition first

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<v Speaker 1>encountered the Shohony, Lewis was leading, and after an initial

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<v Speaker 1>contact with an older woman, was approached by a band

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<v Speaker 1>of about sixty shoshone on horseback, who became friendly enough.

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<v Speaker 1>But when Clark's group met up with him a day

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<v Speaker 1>or so later, Chicago Weea was with him, and one

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<v Speaker 1>of the Shoshonee women recognized her as the girl who

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<v Speaker 1>had been kidnapped many years before. The leader of the

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<v Speaker 1>band turned out to be her brother. An alliance was

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<v Speaker 1>formed between the expedition and the band, which then provided

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<v Speaker 1>horses and guides. Because of instance like this, Lewis and

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<v Speaker 1>Clark developed more and more respect for Chicago Weea. Simply

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<v Speaker 1>having a woman with an infant signaled to those who

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<v Speaker 1>they encountered along the way that they were not a

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<v Speaker 1>war party. Tellingly, by the time they reached the Pacific coast,

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<v Speaker 1>she got a vote in deciding whether or not the

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<v Speaker 1>expedition would stay there for the winter of eighteen o

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<v Speaker 1>five into eighteen o six, and when the group returned

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<v Speaker 1>to Fort Mandan and North Dakota, Lewis and Clark recorded

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<v Speaker 1>paying both the interpreter Charbonneau and the interpretress Chicago Wea.

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<v Speaker 1>Adams said her work to the expedition became more and

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<v Speaker 1>more evident as it went on. Her role the success

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<v Speaker 1>of the expedition deserves all the legendary status that it has.

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<v Speaker 1>After the expedition, Chicago Wea remained with Charbonneau, but we

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<v Speaker 1>don't know much else, and she may have traveled to St.

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<v Speaker 1>Louis with Charbonneau to deliver her son, John Baptiste, to Clark,

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<v Speaker 1>who had offered to raise him and provide him with

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<v Speaker 1>an education. She had a second child, a daughter, who

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<v Speaker 1>she named Lizette, just months later, though Chicago Wea died

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<v Speaker 1>after suffering from what was recorded as a putrid fever.

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<v Speaker 1>A popular myth of the Wind River Indian Reservation in

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<v Speaker 1>Wyoming says that chicago Weea lived there into her nineties

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<v Speaker 1>and was buried at Fort Washaki, but that's been debunked.

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<v Speaker 1>According to adams A, most reports show that she died

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<v Speaker 1>in eighteen twelve. There are few documentary mentions of Chicagoea,

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<v Speaker 1>says Gilman. A traveler who met her, commented that she

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<v Speaker 1>was a sweet person, but offers just one sentence. A

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<v Speaker 1>fur trader recorded her death in eighteen twelve and said

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<v Speaker 1>she was the best woman at the fort. Everyone who

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<v Speaker 1>discussed her had something good to say about her. Adams

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<v Speaker 1>describes the Lewis and Clark expedition as overly successful. It

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<v Speaker 1>was billed as a scientific exploration to learn about the

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<v Speaker 1>newly acquired territory, which was largely unknown to colonists from

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<v Speaker 1>England at the time. Jefferson hypothesized that the expedition might

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<v Speaker 1>encounter mammoths or mastodons. It served a political purpose to

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<v Speaker 1>to solidify the U. S government's claim to the area. Clearly,

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<v Speaker 1>the expedition had far reaching ramifications, and Kagoa played a

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<v Speaker 1>part in its success. However, Lewis and Clark attached little

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<v Speaker 1>importance to her role. It was Nicholas Biddle who edited

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<v Speaker 1>their journals for publication and interviewed Clark. Much of what

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<v Speaker 1>is known about Chicago Weah comes from the Biddle interview

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<v Speaker 1>rather than the journals, and Skagoa has an enhanced role

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<v Speaker 1>in the eighteen fourteen published version because Biddle immediately saw

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<v Speaker 1>that the public would be interested in her. Gilman said

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<v Speaker 1>She's been used to symbolize various things over the years.

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<v Speaker 1>She explains that, for one, Chicago Wea has been adopted

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<v Speaker 1>as Native American women like Pocahontas, have been as a

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<v Speaker 1>symbol of the amity with which indigenous people's collaborated with

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<v Speaker 1>European colonists, as a sort of justification for the colonizer's actions.

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<v Speaker 1>Because Native people, and particularly women, collaborated with them, these

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<v Speaker 1>figures symbolize the union of two different cultures and become

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<v Speaker 1>symbolic founders. Gilman said, they all become mythic, and that's

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<v Speaker 1>what's actually going on for Icagoa. She is for the

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<v Speaker 1>West what Pocahontas is for the East, and Gilman points

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<v Speaker 1>out she's not just a figurative mother, but a literal

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<v Speaker 1>mother figure She may be seen by some as a

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<v Speaker 1>Lama lynch A style collaborationist, someone who was a facilitator

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<v Speaker 1>of an invasion. Lam lynch A was the Mexican woman

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<v Speaker 1>who played a key role in the Spanish conquest of

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<v Speaker 1>the Aztec Empire by her Non Cortez. But Gilman points

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<v Speaker 1>out that Lewis and Clark were not on a military

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<v Speaker 1>expedition in the way that Cortes was, so those accusations

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<v Speaker 1>shouldn't be leveled against her. Gilman said, I would like

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<v Speaker 1>people to empathize with her. She was a person who

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<v Speaker 1>found herself in a situation where she could contribute to history,

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<v Speaker 1>and she lived up to the expectations that were placed

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<v Speaker 1>on her. She showed remarkable fortitude and perseverance throughout the

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<v Speaker 1>whole experience. Today's episode was written by Carrie Whitney and

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots

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<v Speaker 1>of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts in my

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