The Indians Lewis and Clark encountered had never seen a black man. Clark's black slave, York, was even more magical to them. One young member of the Corps of Discovery was offered four Mandan women in a single night. Nobody seemed to have more power than a white man, with his guns, his ability to work metal, his technological prowess. By sharing their wives, they could appropriate the power of the other person. Plains Indians believed that spiritual power passed between people during the sex act. The tribes of the High Plains had very different attitudes from white men about these matters. In fact there was a lot of sex, and the offers had nothing to do with fellowship among men. There's nothing like a little sex to cement relationships among different cultures. Did you know that men of the native tribes that Lewis and Clark encountered frequently offered their wives and daughters to the whites? Did you know that men of the native tribes that Lewis and Clark encountered frequently offered their wives and daughters to the explorers? Or that the Corps of Discovery frequently ate dogs? That Lewis and Clark got lost? These are only a few of the little known oddities about the famous expedition of 200 years ago.īook editor Anthony Brandt highlights some of the oddities about one of the greatest adventures in history.