Sakakaweird

The sad truth is that neither Lewis nor and Clark cared a whit about Sakakawia. She's mentioned by name in their diaries less than a dozen times. Far more often she's simply 'the squar' or referenced in relation to Charbonneau as his wife or 'squar'. That's how little they thought of her.

To them, she was merely a means to get horses from the Shoshone. In the end she proved to be far, far more than that, but they never took an interest in her. One of them did have an interest in taking her son from her and from the life he would have had with his people, but neither of them gave much thought at all to Sakakawia herself.

They never talked to her about her life. Or if they ever did express curiosity, they never considered what they learned worthy of record. They never asked her about her childhood with the Shoshone, or about her life since. They were uninterested in how she felt about anything, or what her thoughts were, such as how she viewed the expedition they were on or what motivated her to embark upon it as opposed to her sister wife.

Because of these idiot, self-important white men, we know next to nothing about one of the most influential American Indians ever to have lived. All that's left to us is guesswork and speculation. Maybe her early life was like this. Maybe. You decide.