Sakakawea

In 1800, at about the age of 12, a Shoshone girl was captured by the Hidatsa tribe in an area that is now North Dakota. Her original name is not known, but she was given a new name by her captors. The State of North Dakota has adopted Sakakawea as the most accurate English representation of this name, which means "Bird Woman."

• By 1804 Sakakawea had become the wife of a FrenchCanadian, Pierre Charbonneau, who was hired in that year as an interpreter for the northwest expedition headed by Meriweather Lewis and William Clark.
• She traveled with the party and assisted with translation and made contacts with Shoshone and Hidatsa people, who considered the presence of a woman a sign that the expedition was peaceful. She served as a guide and gathered edible plants along the route.
• Her son Jean Baptiste was born in winter quarters at Fort Mandan in North Dakota, and she carried him with her when travel resumed.
• She is believed to have died of a fever in 1812 at Fort Manuel near Kenel, South Dakota.
• In selecting Sakakawea as the subject of this statue, the state legislature chose to recognize that "her indomitable spirit was a decided factor in the success of Lewis and Clark's…expedition."