In 1804 a Shoshone woman named Sacajawea met Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
She would spend the next two years with their expedition, travelling thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, aiding them to communicate with local tribes and find their way through the unknown lands of the unexplored American West.
Through James Willard Schultz’s fascinating discussions with various elderly Native Americans he is able to reconstruct the events of Sacajawea’s life, from her traumatic childhood and adolescence, being captured and taken away from her home by a raiding party of Minnetarees, to her unhappy marriage to the interpreter Toussaint Charboneau, through to her life assisting in the exploration of the Pacific Northwest.
Bird Woman (Sacajawea) the Guide of Lewis and Clark is an extraordinary piece of oral history that provides fascinating insight into the life of this astonishing figure in American history and the role she played in nineteenth century exploration.
“James Willard Schultz was a master of storytelling in the Indian manner.†John C. Ewers, author of The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains
“a dazzling glimpse into a vanished past.†— The New York Times
James Willard Schultz, was a noted author and explorer, who wrote a number of books on Native Americans and their history during his time spent with the Blackfoot Indians. He was given the name Apikuni, meaning Spotted Robe, by the chief, Running Crane. This work was first published in 1918 and Schultz passed away in 1947.
