In the early 1800's, it was still common for trappers and fur traders, even the prominent ones, to have Indian wives in different tribes. Sacagawea's husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, was no different. He had two Shoshone wives, including Sacagawea, when he joined the Corps of Discovery together with their newborn son, Jean Baptiste, in 1805. His other wife stayed behind. And then, years after the expedition, he was known to have had as many as six wives.
Post-expedition history.
About three years after the expedition, Toussaint and Sacagawea moved from their ND native village to St Louis so William Clark could keep his promise of educating their now-weaned young son. Toussaint would also try his hand at farming the 320 Missouri acres there awarded to him as a crew member by congress. Sacagawea would track her son, and fit into the village life the best she could.
It did not work out. Toussaint decided he was not a farmer, and sold his land to Clark. Also, Sacagawea was known for imitating the life there by wearing hand-me-down clothing. She probably was having language difficulties as well. At the time, she was not well-known nor appreciated by the white world.
Two years later (1811), Henry Brackenridge, a lawyer, writer, and traveling fur dealer, saw her and Toussaint together. He wrote in his journal that she was a good creature, mild and gentle, but had become sickly, and wanted to revisit her native country. Later that year, he wrote that both Sacagawea and Toussaint were living at Fort Manuel, SD. They had indeed returned.
Toward the end of the next year, this Sacagawea was dead. On December 20, 1812, a clerk at the Fort Manuel, John Luttig, recorded that the wife of Charbonneau, a Snake (Shoshone) squaw, died of a putrid fever. He wrote, she was a good and the best woman in the fort, aged about 25 years, and she left a fine infant girl. Sacagawea was buried on the fort grounds outside of the stockade. Not long after that, her legend began to grow. No one wanted to believe she was gone.
Five facts confirming her death.
Her good character described above parallels why she received praise and protection from the captains during the expedition, and why they felt obligated to her. Her death age is correct. She was about 19 when the journey ended in 1806. Earlier, during the outgoing journey itself, she had become deathly ill with a high fever and low pulse. Standard medications did not help her any. Luckily, she was given water from a sulfur spring. That cured her for the remainder of the expedition. However, this ailment could be what hurt her health later, especially during the birthing of her second child, Lizette. In August of 1813, official records in St Louis show Clark adopted both of her children, a boy of about 10 and a girl of about one. For this adoption to have taken place legally, the children's parents had to have been known dead. Sacagawea was, and Toussaint was thought to have been killed during an Indian raid. Later, it was learned he survived. Clark was in a position to know of her whereabouts. Near 1826, he noted on a list of the expedition members: "Se-car-ja-we-au Dead."Who was the second legend?
According to certain oral histories, this one spoke of helping white men on a lengthy journey west. She also had a peace medal, which was like the ones given to the tribal chiefs during the expedition. She eventually left the Comanche tribe she had joined, and made her way back to her Shoshone people where she died in 1884.
Yet, if her supposed ages of 78 or 100 are subtracted from 1884, she was either born the same year the expedition ended, or she was 21 when she joined the expedition in 1805. The real Sacagawea was about 16-17 when she joined the Corps with her husband and newborn son.
Also, a ND Native-American scholar on Sacagawea, Dr. Amy Mossett, thinks the second one could have been one of Charbonneau's later wives, possibly the Ute one. Mossett has researched numerous tribal histories thoroughly, and found them to be conflicting and confusing. Still, this theory makes sense.
For one thing, white men's legends and rumors are also devoid of documentation, and are embellished and confusing for varied reasons. Additionally, this later wife could have easily acquired knowledge of the journey and a peace medal from her husband who had made that journey.
Conclusion. In agreement with most of today's historians, the real Sacagawea died at Fort Manuel, SD, in 1812, after serving successfully on the expedition. For more information on Sacagawea or the expedition, see these websites.
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