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Secondary sourceSculpture1914 (recast 2003)

Sakakawea

Leonard Crunelle · 1914 (recast 2003)

A monumental bronze statue of Sacagawea carrying her baby son, created by Leonard Crunelle and standing at the North Dakota State Capitol, with a casting in the U.S. Capitol.

This monumental statue commemorates Sacagawea and represents North Dakota's claim to her story using the Hidatsa spelling of her name.

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Bronze statue of a woman standing on a pedestal in a stone-walled hall. She wears a long draped dress and shawl, holds a child on her back, and gazes upward. A plaque reads North Dakota, Sakakawea, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806.
Leonard Crunelle, Sakakawea, 1914 (cast 2003). National Statuary Hall Collection, U.S. Capitol.

About this source

What it is

This bronze statue by Leonard Crunelle shows Sakakawea (Sacagawea) carrying her baby son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau on her back. It was dedicated in 1914 at the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck; a recasting from 2003 stands in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C. Crunelle used a Hidatsa woman, Mink Woman, as his model.

Why it matters

The statue reflects North Dakota's claim to Sacagawea's story and uses the Hidatsa spelling of her name, differing from other states' versions. It was funded partly by the North Dakota Federation of Women's Clubs, showing how women's organizations helped shape her public memory across different states.

Look closer

  • Why might different states spell and depict Sacagawea differently?
  • What does it mean that the sculptor used a living Hidatsa woman as a model rather than any portrait of Sacagawea herself?
  • Why do you think women's clubs were often behind funding monuments to Sacagawea?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sacajawea on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Diary entry

Primary source

Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark · 1804–1806

Handwritten manuscript page in brown ink on aged paper, numbered 7 in the top right corner, with many words struck through and revised. The text describes travel to the forks of Jefferson's river, meeting Captain Lewis, and dealings with Shoshone natives and a mountain crossing.Letter

Primary source

William Clark's Letter to Toussaint Charbonneau

William Clark · 20 August 1806

Book

Secondary source

The Conquest: The True Story of Lewis and Clark

Eva Emery Dye · 1902

Bronze statue of a woman in a long, draped garment and head covering, pointing her right arm outward, with a small child on her back, standing on a green-patinated base set on a rough rock pedestal. Tall evergreen trees and bare branches are behind it. A plaque is on the rock at lower right.Sculpture

Secondary source

Sacajawea and Jean-Baptiste

Alice Cooper · 1905

Reverse side of a gold-colored US one dollar coin. Around the rim: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and ONE DOLLAR. Center: an eagle in flight facing left, with wings spread, above the words E PLURIBUS UNUM. Ring of stars along the edges.Artifact

Secondary source

Sacagawea Dollar

Glenna Goodacre · 2000

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