Places: Pompey's Pillar, Montana

One of the perks of being a member of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery was having a landmark named in one's honor.  Mountains, valleys, rivers and geologic formations were named for the men of the Corps, their commanders, dignitaries, and even a few girlfriends back home.  Sacajawea was honored with Bird Woman's River, now Sacajawea River, in Ferguson County, Montana.  Her small son, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, was also honored with a sandstone pillar near what is now Billings Montana, Pompey's Pillar.

During their journey to the Pacific Coast, the Corps of Discovery split, trying to find the source of the Missouri River and a navigable waterway that would take them closer to the Rocky Mountains and the home range of the Shoshone people.  Lewis traveled along what is now the Marias River, named for his fiancée at the time.  William Clark took along Sacajawea and her baby.  The group traveled up the Yellowstone River, finding a large round formation of sandstone about 150 feet high.  Clark was found of Sacajawea, whom he'd nicknamed Janey, and he had a soft spot for her son, Jean-Baptiste, whom he'd nicknamed Pomp or Pompey.  Clark called the rock formation Pompey's Tower, hiked to the top of the rock, and inscribed his name and the date, July 25, 1806, into its surface.

The name was later changed to Pompey's Pillar.  In addition to Clark's autograph, one of the few tangible evidences of the expedition, there are Native petroglyphs and doodles from other travelers who happened nearby.  The rock was designated a National Monument in 2001.  Fittingly for a tribute to a months-old baby, it is one of the smallest National Monuments in land area, only 51 acres.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did It Happen: Custer's Cheyenne Family

Image
Despite popular legends to the contrary, when Col. George Armstrong Custer's body was found after the Battle of the Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass in June 1876, he wasn't scalped or mutilated.  However, the corpses of many of the men nearby, including George's brother Thomas, were mutilated.  Although some White commentators at the time believed the lack of mutilation might have been the Natives way of showing respect to a brave enemy anyone who had rode and fought with Custer knew this idea held no water whatsoever.  No Native respected George Custer.  He had the blood of the Washita Massacre of 1868 on his hands.  There would have been plenty of Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors on the battlefield who would have taken the chance to show their disdain for him.  Other specular insists that it was because Custer wasn't in military dress, or that he'd cut his famous long, curly yellow hair prior to battle.  Still, someone could've recognized him and pointed him out. Co
Read more

Trapper and Guide: Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866

Image
The only son of Sacajawea of the Shoshone and Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trapper who may have been mixed-race himself, became a man of many talents.  Throughout his life, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, 1805-1866 was a trapper, trader, scout, guide and interpreter as well as a mayor, prospector and hotel operator.  He was also educated, well-traveled in Europe and America, and spoke English, French, Spanish, German and several Native languages including his mother's Shoshone. The life of this remarkable man began in 1805 at Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, North Dakota.  Toussaint Charbonneau had signed on with the Lewis and Clark expedition as a hunter, interpreter and guide, but the real draw was his pregnant teenaged wife, Sacajawea, a Shoshone by birth.  Lewis and Clark knew they would need to trade horses from the Shoshone to make it over the Rocky Mountains and they would need an in with the tribe when the time came.  Sacajawea went into labor and had a
Read more

Cameahwait and Sacajawea

Image
The story of Sacajawea's reunion with her family and tribe during the Lewis and Clark Expedition is a familiar one, told from her vantage point.  However, her brother, Cameahwait, by this time chief of the Salmon Eater band of the Lemhi Shoshone would have also had feelings in the matter. Little is known of Cameahwait's life or how he rose to a position of authority among his people.  Apparently, he was several years older than Sacajawea.  In their society, siblings and cousins are often considered the same relationship and spoken of in the same words.  Some sources suggest that they may have been cousins, or even half-siblings.  No matter what the exact familial rank, their actions when they met up again suggested a close family bond.  When Sacajawea was 12 and her brother much older and already an established warrior, the Hidatsa raided their hunting camp.  Four men, four boys and some elderly and children were killed.  Sacajawea and some other girls her own age were take p
Read more