Fun Fact #381 Sacagawea and Pompy

 Fun Fact #381

Sacagawea and Pompy

In 1804, Lewis and Clark’s expedition met a Shoshone woman named Sacagewea and hired both herself and her Husband as guides and interpreters for their journey. This would prove to be a pivotal move as not only could she guide them, but also became

 a great leader guiding them through many dangerous parts of the journey.

Another highly important detail is Sacagewea gave birth 3 months into the journey which the expedition nicknamed the child “Pompey” after the great Roman General. The child would be doted upon by the expedition's 45 members, who took great joy in helping to raise the little one and notably boosting the group's morale.

It would be discovered almost a decade later that the Infant had protected them! Then Governor Lewis would learn the only reason multiple tribes didn’t attack was because of the infant and how it signified that they were not a war party. Had the infant not been with them, they likely would have met the same fate as the other expeditions, falling to starvation or murder. The success of Lewis and Clark helped create the idea of Manifest Destiny and so without the infant the US as we know it today wouldn’t exist. 

I suppose it is fitting then that the only surviving markings left by the group was an engraving made in the rock face of Montana by Clark celebrating Pompy’s birth. Today “Pompy’s Pillar” is a national Monument.