Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s team in search of an inland waterway to the Pacific Ocean involved an inter-racial, inter-cultural group (American Indian, French Canadian, African-American, and Caucasians) and one lone female, an American Indian teenager, Sacagawea.
Under authorization from President Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis May 14, 1804, with some 45 woodsmen, soldiers, and boatmen, and Clark’s slave named York. Their trip to the west coast and back took nearly two and a half years.
Sacagawea’s name has been pronounced variously: including Sack-uh-juh-WEE-uh and Tuh-saka-ka-wias. Clark entered the pronunciation in his journal on April 7, 1805, as Sah-kah-gar-wea.
She contributed to the success and safety of the party: She interpreted when they encountered Indians [the prevailing term for Native Americans] from her Shoshone tribe and other tribes. She had navigational skills which saved their lives, and she helped obtain horses for overland portions of the journey. She has been memorialized with lakes and mountain peaks and statues in her honor in many western states, as well as on a gold dollar coin from the U. S. Mint.
Sacagawea was married to a French Canadian trader, Toussaint Charbonneau. The two joined the expedition some six months after it began. He was hired as an interpreter. She was only 14 or 15 when she and Charbonneau signed on in November 1804. The next spring, she gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste, whom Clark nicknamed Pomp or Pompey. At the end of the journey, Charbonneau left the boy with Clark, who raised him to adulthood.
Clark lived to be 68, dying in 1838. Lewis died at age 35 in 1809, less than three years after the expedition ended. It is uncertain whether he was murdered or committed suicide.
Various traditions have circulated regarding the length of Sacagawea’s life. By some accounts, she lived to be an old woman, dying in 1884 in her 90s. But the prevailing view is that she died on this date, December 20, in 1812, in her early 20s.
Though the party found no inland waterway, they contributed to understanding of the geography, as well as the plant and animal life, of western portions of the young nation.
Consider a parable of life in the cooperative efforts of the Lewis and Clark team: We journey together, male and female, members of various races and cultures. We do not always achieve our stated goal; sometimes things go badly, but we re-group and recoup and see good come as we follow Jesus, our Guide, the Promised One of Advent.
Verses for Today
“. . . let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Each day through New Year’s Day, January 1, 2013, inspirational thoughts will appear, in keeping with Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. These are from my book, Reflections for the Festive Seasons. © 2002. All rights reserved.
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