Token Of Peace
When Lewis and Clark set out in 1804 to explore the far reaches of the recently purchased Louisiana Territory, they had an urgent need of a reliable guide who could help interpret communications with the various Indian tribes they would meet along the way.
Overwintering near present day Washburn, North Dakota, they met and hired a French fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau. The employment of Charbonneau seems to have hinged on the fact that he had a wife who knew the language of the Shoshones, Indians with tribal grounds located near the Missouri River headwaters. Sacagawea — for that was her name, which meant Bird Woman — came from a tribe of the Shoshone, having been captured at age 12 by a Hidatsa Indian raiding party and carried off to the Dakota lands.
Both Lewis and Clark understood immediately the double advantage Sacagawea would bring to the expedition. First, she would prove an invaluable aid in communicating with and gaining help from her tribal families in their efforts to cross the Rocky Mountains. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, as a young Indian woman, she could give visual evidence to all that they encountered that they came with peaceful intent.
Captain Clark went so far as to write, "A woman with a party of men is a token of peace." He felt sure that the Indians, who never included females in their raiding or war parties, would view Sacagawea's presence as an indication that the Lewis and Clark expedition came not as enemies.
Sacagawea indeed proved to be an immeasurable asset to the party. Where she could not speak or understand the local language, she communicated with great effectiveness through the universal sign language understood by First American tribes. She helped in foraging for edible fruit, plants and roots. Quicker and more nimble than most, she managed to rescue the journals painstakingly compiled by Lewis and Clark when one of the boats capsized. Finally, she was instrumental in helping the two captains and their crew establish friendly, peaceful relations with a diverse number of Indian tribes.
