By: Alan Reed
The Dickinson Press
December 30, 2002
NEW TOWN - Growing up as a youngster in Twin Buttes, Amy Mossett's Bureau of Indian Affairs school teachers didn't know that Lewis & Clark guide Sacagawea had lived less than an hour away when the Corps of Discovery wintered in 1804-05 in what is now known as North Dakota.
Mossett was amazed when she discovered her close proximity to the area where Sacagawea resided in North Dakota. Mossett has since spent a good part of her life researching the life of Sacagawea, and she has portrayed this great female adventurer for the past 15 years.
"I think it was just growing up in Twin Buttes and knowing all my life that somehow she was connected to our people, but not knowing how," Mossett said of why she first became interested in Sacagawea.
Mossett knew that Sacagawea was part of her Hidatsa tribe, but Sacagawea's story as told by many American authors was incorrect. No matter what Mossett read about Sacagawea, it always said Sacagawea was kidnapped or sold as a slave.
"If the authors had checked Hidatsa culture, they would never have called her a slave or said she was kidnapped," Mossett said of how she came to join the Hidatsas.
For the past 15 years, Mossett has filled a need to represent her tribe and present Sacagawea's story in a respectful manner.
"In my mind, she is not a myth. She is not a figment of someone's imagination," she said. "She was a young woman who lived in the same village as my ancestors."
Sacagawea was adopted into the Hidatsa clan, which then gave her a new name, Mossett said. To this day, Sacagawea's name continues to be a point of controversy in regard to its spelling and meaning.
Mossett said a member of a tribe could have up to four different names. A newborn didn't get its first name until about 10 days after its birth; a length of time that many agreed had to pass to be sure the baby would live.
Sacagawea was born Shoshone, but Mossett doesn't know what the Shoshones called Sacagawea in her younger years.
"The Shoshones didn't provide a spelling, nor did the Hidatsa, because neither had an alphabet," Mossett said. "The Shoshone translation was 'boat launcher or boat puller. There also is a Shoshone claim of 'one who carries a heavy burden.'"
The Shoshone claim they gave her the name "boat puller" when she arrived back to them with William Clark, Mossett said. By the time the expedition returned home, Clark actually called Sacagawea "Janey Charboneau" as she was the wife of trader Touissant Charbonneau, one of two interpreters hired for the expedition.
Mossett said the word "sacaga" means bird in the Hidatsa language, and the word "wea" means woman in Hidatsa, Sioux, Mandan and many other tribal languages. The "Sakakawea" spelling that is still officially used by the Three Affiliated Tribes is a linguistic spelling, Mossett said. Meanwhile, the "Sacajawea" spelling she attributes to author Nicholas Biddle, who used the letter "j" when he was translating the expedition journals. "My grandmother's name is 'birdwoman,'" Mossett said. "Bird woman, otter woman, mink woman were all such common names. It came from the medicine that the person who had named you.
"I know (Sacagawea) is the most powerful name she ever carried in her life. She grew into womanhood as a Hidatsa. There is no doubt the Hidatsa culture was one of the most significant influences in her life as she grew into womanhood."
Sacagawea's name is a most sacred thing, she said.
"There is honor, there is ceremony, there is prayer that goes into giving that name," Mossett said. "To me that is really significant. To me that is spiritually powerful."
Meanwhile, Mossett has traveled the entire length of the Missouri River, just like Sacagawea.
"I have visited with lots of people, talked with Crow, Comanche, Lakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, who all have oral histories about her," she said. "They are all different stories, really conflicting stories."
From these conversations, Mossett has Sacagawea being buried in three different places, born in two different locations and dying at three different ages. Mossett believes Sacagawea was 17 years old when she joined the Corps of Discovery.
Mossett also believes Sacagawea died on the evening of Dec. 20, 1812, and that she is buried at the former Fort Manuel, a fur trading post in what is now known as South Dakota.
"The story is she was buried on the hill," Mossett said. "I think she is buried at Fort Manuel. I really believe her grave is under the water right now. I can't say with absolute certainty that she was buried near the fort."
The controversy surrounding Sacagawea's life is good, Mossett said, because it keeps people interested in her.
"A good mystery keeps people enticed or keeps people seeking the truth I guess," she said.
"We'll never forget her. The one thing I really strive for is when we remember her, that we do it in a good way. I don't like to see people getting angry at someone else because their story is different. We need to celebrate together this woman who has brought us together 200 years later."
A major focus of the upcoming Lewis & Clark Bicentennial is reconciliation, not only with whites and government agencies, but among the tribes themselves, she added.
Meanwhile, Mossett likes the logo the Three Affiliated Tribes has developed to promote Sacagawea, even though her name on the logo is spelled with the "k." Mossett has worked to get her own tribe to adopt the "Sacagawea" spelling.
"This is the image that will go to Washington, D.C., and will be in Statuatory Hall," she said of artwork that was created from a pose by a Hidatsa woman and which will be unveiled in 2003. "I think that is one of the most beautiful images of her."
Mossett also feels very blessed that almost everywhere she goes, people walk up to her to share the information they have about Sacagawea.
"I just feel like we all end up doing something because we were meant to. I went to school for a long, long time. But I never went to school to do Sacagawea," she said.
"There is something deeper that motivates you to do something. It's a calling. It's not just a passion that I have, it's also a gift that somebody gives to you. It just all sort of happened. And I'm just really thankful for it."