The Fort Manuel historic site lies on the west bank of the Missouri River seventy miles south of Bismarck, North Dakota, in the present state of South Dakota. Established in 1812 by famous Missouri Fur Company trader Manuel Lisa, Fort Manuel was among the first in the chain of fortified posts that ushered in the fur trading era of the upper Missouri.
Although it existed for only a brief period, Fort Manuel claims historical importance for two reasons. First, on 5 March 1813 it was attacked by Indians and eventually destroyed, apparently upon British instigation arising out of hostilities of the War of 1812. It was reported that fifteen of Manuel Lisa’s engages were massacred at the time of the Indian attack.
Fort Manuel’s second, and perhaps more significant, historical feature lies in its distinction as the place where Sacagawea, the legendary woman member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, died on 20 December 1812.
The Hebard Controversy
Although records of the period of her death are conclusive as to her identity, a turn-of-the-century theory purported that she died in Wyoming in 1884. Promulgated by the late Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard, professor of Political Economy at the University of Wyoming, this theory alleged that Sacagawea died at Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation on 9 April 1884.
Hebard first published her theory in 1907. However, in 1920 the Missouri Historical Society edited an 1812-1813 Missouri Fur Company journal, which documented the 20 December 1812 death of Charbonneau’s Snake Indian wife at Fort Manuel. This primary reference contradicted Hebard’s Wind River hypothesis and immediately raised skepticism among historians.
The Primary Sources
Henry M. Brackenridge, an American journalist, while en route up the Missouri in 1811, reported: “We had on board a Frenchman named Charbonneau, with his wife, an Indian woman of the Snake nation, both of whom had accompanied Lewis and Clark to the Pacific.”
This documentation was reinforced by John C. Luttig, clerk of the Missouri Fur Company at Fort Manuel, who wrote in his journal on 20 December 1812: “this Evening the Wife of Charbonneau a Snake Squaw died of a putrid fever.”
Toussaint Charbonneau was reported by Lewis and Clark to have had three wives. Two were of the Snake nation who had been kidnapped in about 1800 and had been held in virtual slavery by their captors, the Hidatsa tribe at Knife River, from whom Charbonneau had purchased them. One was Sacagawea, then about seventeen years old and pregnant with Charbonneau’s child.
The “Otter Woman” Theory
To fulfill the theory that Sacagawea lived out her life in Wyoming, it was necessary for Hebard to prove that it was not Sacagawea, but another Snake wife—”Otter Woman”—who had been documented by Brackenridge and Luttig.
The most critical testimony adopted by Grace Hebard was assembled by Dr. Charles A. Eastman in a report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated 2 March 1925. Dr. Eastman’s report was seriously impaired by an indiscriminate use of hearsay information given orally by persons more than a century after the recorded death, consisting of “remembrances of stories” told by persons long deceased at the time of the interviews.
It is significant that Grace Hebard’s adoption of the name “Otter Woman” for the second Snake wife may be traced to Mrs. Weidemann’s hearsay testimony. Considering that this wife had remained nameless for over a century, it is an amazing coincidence that the name “Otter Woman” was also the name of a fictional character created by James Willard Schultz in his 1918 novel Bird Woman.
Clark’s Definitive Record
The most compelling evidence is found in William Clark’s own hand. On the cover of his cash book, Clark listed the members of his expedition and noted their fate. Beside the entry for Sacagawea, Clark wrote simply: “Dead.” This notation, combined with the Luttig journal entry and the Brackenridge account, establishes beyond reasonable doubt that Sacagawea died at Fort Manuel on 20 December 1812.
Today, no study of Sacagawea’s life is complete without understanding the Fort Manuel evidence. The primary source documentation—contemporaneous journal entries, official records, and Clark’s own notation—conclusively establishes that Sacagawea died at Fort Manuel in 1812, not at Wind River in 1884.
Historical Significance
When all historical facts are considered, Fort Manuel deserves designation as a Registered National Historic Place, as such identification would properly mark its role in the documented history of the trans-Mississippi West. The site represents both the beginning of the fur trade era on the upper Missouri and the final chapter in the life of one of America’s most celebrated historical figures.
