Visiting The Wyoming Gravesite Of Sacajawea

There is a little bit of controversy as to if Sacajawea is actually buried in Wyoming. There is also some debate about how to pronounce her name.

You will remember Sacajawea as the Shoshone woman who played a crucial role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which took place from 1804 to 1806.

The expedition explored the western territories of the United States, and Sacajawea was both their guide through the land and through the mountains, but also their guide in communicating with tribes along the way.

She was born in what is now Idaho, but she was captured and made a slave by the Hidatsa tribe and taken to their village in present-day North Dakota. There, she met Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper. She was sold to him and later became his wife.

When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark arrived at the Hidatsa village, they hired Charbonneau as a guide, and Sacajawea joined the expedition as an interpreter and guide. Her knowledge of the Shoshone language and culture proved invaluable.

Her connection with Wyoming is rooted in the Shoshone tribe in what is now western Wyoming.

In August 1805, the expedition arrived at the Lemhi River in present-day Idaho, where Sacajawea was reunited with her brother, Cameahwait, who was the leader of the Shoshone tribe.

The video below shows her grave site in Wyoming. Some dispute that it is she who is buried there, but most folks do not.

She facilitated a peaceful trade and friendship between the expedition and the Shoshone, which was crucial for the success of the expedition.

Sacajawea died on December 20, 1812, at Fort Manuel in present-day South Dakota. It is said that her remains were later moved to Fort Washakie, Wyoming, where she was reburied in 1933.

Today, her grave is located in the Sacajawea Cemetery at Fort Washakie, on the Wind River Indian Reservation.