One aspect of some of the plains tribes most people do not realize: they willingly offered the use of their wives to visiting men as a sign of friendship. Lewis and Clark’s men on the journey often took part in these ‘gestures’ of friendship. As a result two things happened: they often stayed with one tribal group longer than planned and most of them later died of various STD’s. This practice likely ended as more and more whites settled in.
Did the settlers bring the STDs, or vice versa?