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William Clark

Making Peace

32 Let me continue with my tale of how we came to the Mandans.
Suddenly, after no Indians at all, they were everywhere, on both sides of

the river. Men and women alike, they shouted at us from the riverbanks,
watched us from the high bluffs. They waved for us to come in. But we
were careful. We did not know yet what these Mandans intended.

33 Soon the winter would be upon us and the waters would freeze. We
could travel no farther. This was where we had planned to stay. But we
needed to be safe while we lived there. One of our first thoughts was to
build a strong fort so that we would be secure through the winter.

34 A French trader named Jessaume told us that another of the
Frenchmen there had a wife who came from the Snake nation, far up
the river. Those were the very people from whom we hoped to get
horses. We were eager to make the acquaintance of that man,
Charbonneau, and his wife. Such a woman who knew the land and the

people would be of great use. Perhaps we could persuade her and her
husband to accompany us when we resumed our journey.

35 EDITOR’S NOTE: Lewis and Clark planned to travel westward. The
Snake nation, also known as the Shoshone people, were Sacajawea’s

family. Sacajawea also knew the Minnetaree tribe, which captured her
as a child and kept her as a slave until Charbonneau bought her and
married her. Because of her expertise with those languages and the areas
in which those tribes lived, her skills would be valuable to Lewis and Clark

on their expedition.

expedition An expedition is a journey organized for a particular purpose, such
as exploration.

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