A WESTWARD GLANCE
Sacajawea at Fort Mandan 1804
by Kyle Carroll

A mere fourteen years of age and pregnant with her first child, Sacajawea was experiencing major changes in her life by late 1804. In mid November, the Corps of Discovery was moving into their unfinished cabins in the three sided fort they had named Fort Mandan, and had hired Toussaint Charbonneau, Sacajawea's husband as an interpreter for their planned trip west in the spring. Ice was forming at the river's edge and the brutal northern plains winter was at hand. Walking to the river for water, she steps up on the roots of an old cottonwood tree and contemplates, child birth, the cold, and the coming journey with these white strangers. In the spring she would go west , become an integral part of the Missouri river's exploration and secure an honored place in history.

On this snowy November evening , before heading back to her chores in the fort, she pauses for one last westward glance.

Kyle Carroll - May 2002

A WESTWARD GLANCE - Sacajawea at Fort Mandan 1804
- Original acrylic on board - 12"x 16" -
$900.00