Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman born around 1788. As a young teenager, she joined the Lewis and Clark expedition with her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, and her infant son, Jean Baptiste.
During the 1805 and 1806 journey, Sacagawea interpreted between languages, recognized landmarks, gathered useful plants, and helped the expedition obtain horses from Shoshone people. Traveling with a woman and baby could also signal that the group did not intend war.
Popular stories sometimes describe Sacagawea as the expedition’s single guide, but her real contribution was broader and more complex. Her language skills, geographical knowledge, family connections, calm presence, and work as an expedition member all mattered. Several later monuments and place names commemorate her journey in American public memory.
This Sacagawea coloring page shows her carrying her infant in a cradleboard beside a river and mountain path. Print it for Indigenous history, Lewis and Clark lessons, biography projects, or online coloring.
