Spies and scouts, mothers and homestead keepers, women quietly made their mark on America's changing western frontier. History and lore of the American frontier have long been dominated by an iconic figure:  the grizzled, gunslinging man, going it alone, leaving behind his home and family to brave the rugged, undiscovered wilderness.  But as scolars of the American West continue to explore the complex realities of the frontier, two facts become increasingly clear: It was anything but empty when white men from the east went to "discover" it; and few frontiersmen succeeded alone. Women were in the picture much more than traditional histories have told.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The frontier was occupied not only by indigenous people, but also by African Americans, Spanish colonialists and others of European descent, offering skeletal social networks for white explorers and settlers from the east. By tapping into these networks, they learned survival skills (like how to find food) and made alliances, often through marriage. While frontiersmen often wed Native American women who could act as intermediaries, helping navigate the political, cultural and linguistic gulf between tribal ways and those of the white men.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               In fact, says Virginia Scharff, distinguished professor of history at the University of New Mexico, men could not have likely succeeded in these unknown lands without connections to indiginous communities--or without women, who provided networks, labor and children. Placing frontiersmen in context of these networks doesn't diminish their individuality, she says, but adds much needed dimension to their stories.    So how does the traditional understanding of the American frontiet shift when women's experiences are accounted for?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Molly Brant:  Native American Diplomat and Spy:  The daughter of a Mohawk chief in upstate New York and consort of a British dignitary, Molly Deganwadonti went on to become an influential Native American leader in her own right and a lifetime loyalist to the British crown before, during and after the American Revolution. Molly met Sir William Johnson, a British officer during the French and Indian War who had been appointed superintendent for Indian affairs for the Northern colonies. After his wife died, she became his mistress. And although her race and class prevented them from being officially wed, they were common-law married and had nine children together. When they ended up on the loosing side, Molly and her family fled to Canada, where she and other loyalists established the town of Kingston. After the war, the British paid her a pension for her service.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       'Mad' Anne Bailey:  Frontier Scout and Messenger;   Anne Hennis Trotter Baily, known as "Mad Anne," worked as a frontier scout and messenger during the Revolutionary War. Originally from Liverpool, England, Anne sailed to America at 19, after both of her parents died. She eventually married a veteran frontiersman and soldier named Richard Trotter and settled in Staunton, Virginia. Her most famous ride took place in 1791. After soldiers at Fort Lee got word that the Native Americans were planning an attack, and discovering that their gunpowder supply was desperately low, Anne galloped to the rescue. She rode 100 miles to Lewisburg, where she switched horses, loaded up with gunpowder and rode back to Fort Lee. Her journey was memorialized in an epic poem by militiaman Charles Robb, "Anne Bailey's Ride."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Jemima Boone: A young woman of the woods;    Rebecca Boone wasn't the only formidable female in Danial Boone's family. His daughter Jemima earned her own spot in the history books on July 14, 1776. That's when a Cherokee-Shawnee raiding group abducted Jemima, aged 14, along with two other girls while they floated in a canoe near their Kentucky settlement. Demonstrating their own knowledge of frontier ways, the quick witted teens left trail markers as their captors took them away--bending branches. breaking off twigs and leaving behind leaves and berries. Their rescue team, led by Danial Boone himself, took just two days to follow the trail and retrieve the girls. This event became such an integral part of frontier lore, author James Fenimore Cooper included it in his classic novel The Last of the Mohicans.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Sacagawea:  Translator and Guide;  One of the best known women of the American West, the native-born Sacagawea gained renown for her crucial role in helping the Lewis and Clark expedition successfully reach the Pacific coast. Born in 1788 or 1789 in what is now Idaho, Sacagawea was a member of the Lemhi band of the Native American Shoshone tribe. At the age of 12, she was kidnapped by a war party of Hidasta Indians (enemies of the Shoshone) and taken to their home in Hidatsa-Mandan villages, near modern-day Bismark, North Dakota. Around 1803, Sacagawea, along with other Shoshone women, was sold as a slave to the French-Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau. She soon became pregnant, giving birth to son Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau in Febuary 1805. After a year of planning and travel. the Lewis and Clark expedition reached the Hidatsa-Mandan settlement. There they met Sacagawea and Charbonneau, whose combined language skills proved invaluable-especially Sacagawea's ability to speak to the Shoshone. Sacagawea, along with her newborn baby, was the only woman to accompany the 31 permanent members of the Lewis & Clark expedition to the Western edge of the nation and back. When a squall nearly capsized a vessel they were traveling in, Sacagawea was the one who saved crucial papers, books, navigational instruments, medicines and other provisions, while also managing to keep herself and her baby safe. In appreciation, Lewis and Clark named a branch of the Mossouri River for Sacagawea. She died at the age of 25, not long after giving birth to a daughter. Clark became legal guardian to both her children.