Statue of Sacagawea, Bismarck, ND - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

In 1954, the United States issued a stamp marking the 150th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. This expedition was the brainchild of Thomas Jefferson who wanted to acquire scientific information on the geology, geography, culture, plant and animal life of the largely unexplored area of the northern Louisiana Territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The proposed route was to follow the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, cross the mountains and proceed down the Columbia River to the Pacific.

The expedition left St. Louis in the spring of 1804 and proceeded up the Missouri River to the area that is now Bismarck ND where they spent the winter near a village of the Hidatsa Tribe. It was here where the Corps of Discovery (as the expedition was officially known) acquired the services of a French fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife, a Shoshone Indian girl in her late teens named Sacagawea who had been captured by the Hidatsa. Moreover, Sacagawea was about six months pregnant at the time and gave birth to a son in February of 1805. The three of them accompanied the Corps on their arduous journey to the Pacific Ocean and back primarily as translators although having a woman and child present was also considered advantageous because it served as an indication of peaceful intentions.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition went largely unheralded at the time and was hardly noticed by historians until its centennial in the early twentieth century. And when it was noticed, the presence of a young Sacagawea and her infant son quickly took front and center stage in most historical renditions in spite of the fact that she was hardy mentioned in the voluminous notes and journals kept by expedition members.

There is little doubt that Sacagawea was extremely valuable as a translator, speaking both the Shoshone language and that of the Hidatsa, two tribes that were prevalent in the areas being explored. In fact, she may have been considered more valuable to the expedition in general than her husband, Toussaint, whose ability as a keel boat operator was called into question when his boat nearly capsized during a storm. The journals indicate that it was Sacagawea who prevented some valuable supplies from floating away during the incident.

The translation process was a tedious one at best. As an example, when the Corps encountered the Walla Walla tribe, they were able to communicate with them because the Walla Walla also had a captured Shoshone woman in their presence. She was able to translate the Walla Walla language to Shoshone which Sacagawea understood and translated to Hidatsa. Her husband Toussaint could then translate that into French which another Corps member, François Labiche, translated into English. It took hours but all parties involved seemed to get a kick out of it.

Images of Sacagawea abound (in paintings and illustrations, statues, coins, postage stamps etc.) despite the fact that no one knows what she looked like. Sculptor Leonard Crunelle used a local Hidatsa woman as a model for this particular statue. And the spelling of Sacagawea is uncertain although the fact that neither the Hidatsa nor the Shoshone language had a written form renders the whole concept of correct spelling moot. The State of North Dakota has officially adopted Sakakawea as their preferred spelling.

The images of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the stamp were taken from a statue that stands in Charlottesville, VA. Although Sacagawea is also part of that statue, she is kneeling and out of sight in the angle used for the stamp. In addition to Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea, the stamp shows a keel boat against a backdrop of the Missouri River.

The statue of Sacagawea stands on the grounds of the state capitol in Bismarck near the entrance to the North Dakota Heritage Center. In 2003, the State of North Dakota presented a copy of this statue to the National Statuary Hall located in the National Capitol in Washington, DC.

Stamp Issuing Country: United States Date of Issue: 28-Jul-1954 Denomination: 3c Color: violet brown Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: Not listed

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