She was born into an Agaidika (Salmon Eater) tribe of Lemhi ShoShone between Kenney Creek and Agency Creek about twenty minutes away from present-day Salmon in Lemhi County, Idaho. When she was about twelve, she and several other girls were kidnapped by a group of Hidatsa in a battle that resulted in death among the Shoshone of four men, four women and several boys.

Sacagawea was pregnant with her first child when the Corps of Discovery arrived near the Hidatsa villages to spend the winter of 1804– 05. Charbonneau and Sacagawea moved into the expedition's fort a week later. Clark nicknamed her Janey. On May 14, 1805, Sacagawea rescued items that had fallen out of a capsized boat, including the journals and records of Lewis and Clark.

Sacagawea Assisted the Lewis and Clark Expedition She became invaluable as a guide in the region of her birth, near the Three Forks of the Missouri, and as a interpreter between the expedition and her tribe when the expedition reached that area. Other Indians were helpful also, for instance when the expedition first overwintered in Dakota Territory, they nearly starved because the Americans didn't understand what they would need to do to store enough food for the winter. Sacajawea and her recruitment for translating were no exception. They were (other than Sacajawea) going into the unknown, and so were entirely unprepared for many things they tried to do.

Sacajawea was a Shoshone Indian princess. The Shoshone lived from the Rocky Mountains to the Plains. They lived primarily on buffalo meat. The Shoshone traveled for many days searching for buffalo. They hunted on horseback using the buffalo for food, clothing, homes, and tools. Sacajawea had to decide if she would go on with Lewis and Clark, or stay with the Shoshone. She decided to go. Sacajawea had her baby when Lewis and Clark found her. Lewis and Clark found her in 1805 and she had a 2 month old baby named Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau.

When Lewis and Clark wintered at the present site of Bismarck, North Dakota, there they met Sacagawea and her husband in they hired Sacagawea on November 4,1804 and he and Sacagawea moved into Fort Mandan a week later. Sacagawea was 16 or 17 at this time.

Sacagawea really didn't assertively join the expedition. It was her husband Toussaint Charbonneau who was invited and hired by Lewis and Clark as an interpreter, and Sacagawea would at first only serve as a companion.

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