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Jimm GoodTracks wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid002301c48e3c$17322240$9c650945@JIMM">
<pre wrap="">Interestingly, I learned during the interrim of the final services, that the
reknown L&C "Bird Woman", Sakakawea [Chagaa'ga + Mia via A.W.Jones' lexicon]
is/ was indeed Hidatsa language as is/ was the woman. This is the claim by
a number of Hidatsa informants in the 1920s/ 1930s, and further attested to
by Bull Eye [Gidabi Isda], her grandson and only living decendent in 1930s.
Her confusion as a Lehmi Shoshone, as per the L&C journal came about as a
result of her marriage to T.Charboneau and his trading espeditions to the
mountain areas, where Saka'gaMia (as per the pronunciation of the 3Tribes
Museum staffer and another speaker--a grandson of Walter YoungBear. Wolf
Chief in a statement in the 1920s indicated that the Hidatsa would not have
ventured that far because of respect to their enemies. He suggested that
perhaps the Crow went to Shoshone land and captured someone, but the L&C
accepted history was incorrect. And I bet noone is willing to bet on the
present day liklihood of the US Historians rewritting their version of
history and the events even though the Hidatsa informants and other early
century documentation tends to collaborate the Native version of the
accounts.
</pre>
</blockquote>
There are several references in the L & C journals to Sacagawea's
Shoshone origins (including her recognition of landmarks in the
Shoshones' country and her reunion with her brother) and to her capture
by Hidatsas. L & C had no apparent reason to misrepresent her
ethnic origin, and it seems to me very unlikely that they did.<br>
<br>
Here's the Sacagawea entry from my Lewis and Clark Lexicon that's to be
published this Fall. (I hope the HTML comes through OK.)<br>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><b><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant: small-caps;">Sacagawea</span></b><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style=""> </span></span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">{s</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman Phonetics";">@</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">-<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">cah</span>-gah-<span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">wee</span>-</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman Phonetics";">@</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">} A teenaged <span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">Shoshone</span> Indian (sister of <span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">Cameahwait</span>) who had been
captured by the
<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Hidatsa</span> in a raid and
was living
with her husband Toussaint <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Charbonneau</span>
when the expedition arrived. Carrying her infant son <span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">Pomp</span>, she accompanied Lewis
and Clark to the Pacific and back
and was a valuable <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">interpreter</span>
with the Snakes, a guide (in the vicinity of her home), and a gatherer
of wild
plants.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div
style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 1pt 4pt; margin-left: 0.1in; margin-right: 0.1in;">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="border: medium none ; margin: 0in 0in 6pt; padding: 0in;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">Sacagawea’s fate after the
expedition is uncertain, but Clark notes her as deceased by the late
1820s, and
John Luttig, a fur-trader, says in his journal entry for December 20,
1812, “<span style="">this Evening the Wife of Charbonneau a Snake
Squaw, died of a putrid fever she was a good and the best Women in the
fort,
aged abt 25 years she left a fine infant girl</span>”. The death by
what was
perhaps typhus or typhoid fever of this unnamed wife of Chabonneau
occurred at <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Fort</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Manuel</st1:PlaceName>
on the <st1:State w:st="on">Missouri</st1:State>, near the border
between North
and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Dakota</st1:place></st1:State>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><i><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">Sâh-câh-gâh,
we â, our Indian woman is very sick this evening; Capt. C. blead her.</span></i><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">[10
Jun 05<span style=""> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">ML<span
style="">
</span>4.276]</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><i><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">Sah-cah-gar-we-ah…was
one of the female prisoners taken…tho’ I cannot discover that she shews
any
immotion of sorrow in recollecting this event, or of joy in being again
restored to her native country</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">[2</span><span
style="font-size: 9pt;">8 Jul 05<span style=""> </span>ML<span
style="">
</span>5.009]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><i><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">The
wife of Shabono our interpetr we find reconsiles all the Indians, as to
our
friendly intentions[.] a woman with a party of men is a token of peace</span></i><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">[13
Oct 05</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style=""> </span>WC<span
style="">
</span>5.268]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">In
the expedition journals, Sacagawea is often called simply <i>the
Indian woman</i>,
<i>the squaw</i>, or <i>Charbonneau’s wife</i>, and the captains
apparently
nicknamed her <i style="">Janey</i>. <i style="">See</i> <span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">potato</span>.</span><span
style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><i><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">The
indian woman…has been of great Service to me as a pilot through this
Country</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span
style="font-size: 9pt;">[13
Jul 06</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style=""> </span>WC<span
style="">
</span>8.180]</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div
style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 1pt 4pt; margin-left: 0.1in; margin-right: 0.1in;">
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="border: medium none ; margin: 0in 0in 6pt; padding: 0in;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">The form of her name in the
following quotation (referring to the present-day <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Sacagawea</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>),
is an example of<span style=""> </span>the use of <i>m</i> for
<i>w</i> in careful speech in the Hidatsa language. (This variation
also occurs
in <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Ahwahaway</span> and in
Hidatsa <i>a-<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">wah</span>-tee</i>
‘river, <st1:place w:st="on">Missouri River</st1:place>’ which Lewis </span><span
style="font-size: 9pt;">[4.246]</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
writes <i>Amahte</i>.) This
characteristic alternation, along with Lewis’s translation and his
division of
the name into two words, as well as the close similarity of the name to
the
Hidatsa words for ‘bird’ (<i>tsah-<span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">kah</span>-kah</i>)
and ‘woman’ (<i><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">wee</span>-ah /
<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">mee</span>-ah</i>), support the
traditional
interpretation of Sacagawea’s name as <i>Bird Woman</i> in Hidatsa,
the
language of her captor-adopters, and its pronunciation with a hard <i>g</i>
rather than the <i>j</i> sound that later became popular.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><i><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">this
stream we called Sâh-câ-gar me-âh or bird woman’s River, after our
interpreter
the Snake woman.</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span
style="font-size: 9pt;">[2</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">0 May 05<span
style=""> </span>ML<span style="">
</span>4.171]</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">Ordway
writes her name as though he knew that <i>wea</i> meant simply ‘woman’
and so
omitted it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sahcahgah
our Indian woman verry Sick & was
bled.</span></i><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span
style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">[10 Jun 05</span><span
style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="">
</span>JO<span style=""> </span>9.165]</span><br>
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