Tuesday 14 May 2024

Inside Out Star

 

Toussaint Charbonneau was a French-Canadian fur trapper born near Montreal about 1767. He was known to have at least five wives, all Native American women who he’d “married” when they were under sixteen. Charbonneau married his last wife when he was seventy and she was fourteen. He was notoriously short-tempered and violent with his wives, including Sacagawea, who he’d bought from the Hidatsa, who’d stolen her from the Shoshone. Lewis and Clark recruited Charbonneau as translator, but later called him “a man of no peculiar merit.” Sacagawea, on the other hand, helped their expedition by finding edible plants to supplement their rations, teaching the men to make moccasins and other leather clothing, helping to chose the safest routes and negotiating with other Native Americans. She did all this in her teens, while carrying her infant son. Lewis and Clark paid Charbonneau $500 for his part in the expedition. Sacagawea received no payment. She died at age 25. 

No comments:

Post a Comment