Sacajawea was a young Shoshone woman who joined Lewis and Clark’s expedition across North America between 1803 and 1806. A controversy about her remains: When did she die and where is she buried?
Historian Grace Raymond Hebard held that Sacajawea lived a long life after she parted from Lewis and Clark.
Hebard claimed that Sacajawea lived among the Comanches before returning to the Shoshone people on the Wind River Reservation, where she died in 1884.
During the 1960s, Lander author Blanche Schroer took up the study of Sacajawea. Schroer’s conclusions were much different.
She believed Sacajawea died at about age 25.
Schroer’s evidence came from William Clark’s account book written in the 1820s. In it, Clark lists Sacajawea as deceased.
The papers of both Hebard and Schroer are at UW’s American Heritage Center so you can reach your own conclusions.