Hype shouldn't distort history
Re: U.S. drops millions to hype coin, Jan. 19.
Before the revisionists, assisted by careless journalists, sink their teeth into the tale of Sacagawea, it would be worthwhile to first peruse the Lewis and Clark journals.
The expedition had been under way for six months when a French Canadian trader named Charbonneau was signed on. Sacagawea was one of two teenage Shoshone girls captured by a raiding party of Hidatsas Indians four years earlier. Charbonneau had won the girls while gambling with the Hidatsas. Sacagawea was nearly 15 and six-months pregnant at the time they joined Lewis and Clark. The reader will find that Sacagawea was not a guide, nor did she lead the expedition to Oregon. Her significant contribution was as an interpreter for Indian languages of the West. The image that appears on the coin is imaginative since neither sketches nor descriptions of Sacagawea were included in the journals.
Hopefully, this remarkable story of the greatest expedition in our history will not be
victimized by the "hype" over a coin. By the way, on Feb. 11, 1805, Sacagawea
gave birth to a healthy, active son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Both remained with the
expedition until August 1806.
-- Donald F. O'Neill, Clearwater
Modified Thursday, November 12, 2009
Copyright @ 2007 by Fathers' Manifesto & Christian Party