SYNDICATED COLUMN
HOLY COW! HISTORY: A Union general, a boatload of prostitutes and a public health breakthrough
Poor William Rosecrans was having a tough time in 1863.
He was a Union general during the Civil War with two pressing problems. First, Abraham Lincoln was riding him hard because he hadn鈥檛 driven the Confederate army out of Tennessee. That was child鈥檚 play compared to his other dilemma: What to do with all those prostitutes?
Nashville was a major Union base. Millions of dollars worth of guns, ammunition, food and uniforms were stored there. Thousands of soldiers guarded those stockpiles, too.
The law of supply and demand ruled. All those soldiers (most in their 20s), far from home and with dollars in their pockets, created the demand. And swarms of practitioners of the world鈥檚 oldest profession descended on Nashville to supply their services. The 1860 Census identified 200 鈥渨orking girls鈥� in the city; by 1863, they were pushing 2,000.
The prostitution epidemic was more than a moral issue. In that age before penicillin and other antibiotic treatments, STDs were running rampant through the army. Nashville鈥檚 hospitals were overflowing with men infected with various 鈥渟ocial diseases.鈥�
By July, Gen. Rosecrans, nicknamed 鈥淥ld Rosy,鈥� had enough. He ordered Nashville鈥檚 provost marshal to 鈥渟eize and transport to Louisville all prostitutes found in the city or known to be here.鈥�
On July 9, the Provost Guard, the Civil War version of today鈥檚 Military Police, rounded up the first 111 hookers they found and herded them onto the steamboat Idahoe. (Yes, that is the correct 鈥� and ironically apt 鈥� spelling.) They included teenagers, one woman in her 70s, and every age in between.
The women were understandably furious. So was the Idahoe鈥檚 captain. His boat was brand new, and the army had commandeered it over his irate protests.
The Idahoe was stocked with three days鈥� provisions. Louisville was a good destination, the provost marshal said, but he didn鈥檛 particularly care where the women wound up. So, with a sullen captain at the wheel, dozens of angry women screaming curses, and countless onlookers taking in the carnival scene from the riverbank, history鈥檚 first Love Boat set sail.
And that鈥檚 when the fun really started.
Soldiers on board had to keep a constant eye peeled in both directions: Making sure women didn鈥檛 jump overboard while also making sure men didn鈥檛 swim out and climb aboard. (Some women solicited business to guys onshore.)
Bad news travels fast, the saying goes. When the Love Boat reached Louisville, city leaders rowed out to meet it and said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not dumping them here!鈥� Sheriff鈥檚 deputies waited with shotguns at the landing to back them up. The Idahoe couldn鈥檛 even dock for supplies.
It headed upriver to Cincinnati, where the same thing happened. 鈥淭here is not much desire on the part of our authorities to welcome such a large addition to the already overflowing numbers engaged in their peculiar profession,鈥� The Cincinnati Gazette huffed.
The Love Boat鈥檚 odd odyssey was national news. Papers along the Ohio River followed its movements, eagerly reporting every lurid detail in Victorian rapture. A Cleveland newspaper wrote, 鈥淭he majority are a homely, forlorn set of degraded creatures 鈥� they managed to smuggle a little liquor on board, which gave out on the second day. Several became intoxicated and indulged in a free fight, with knives being used.鈥�
The woebegone captain set course for St. Louis. This time, the mayor sent a delegation that met the boat long before it even came close to that city with the simple message, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to make Nashville鈥檚 problem our problem.鈥�
Eventually, the Idahoe had nowhere left to go but home. In August, the boat deposited 98 women (there鈥檚 no word on how 13 vanished along the way) back in Nashville, where it all began.
An army inspector found the Idahoe鈥檚 stateroom 鈥渂adly damaged, and all the mattresses severely soiled.鈥� The captain was paid the equivalent of $86,000 in today鈥檚 dollars to cover the destruction, and 鈥� according to the official report 鈥� for food and 鈥渕edicine peculiar to the women of this diseased class.鈥�
Rosecrans solved his army鈥檚 STD outbreak with innovation. Figuring 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 beat 鈥檈m, join 鈥檈m,鈥� he required all prostitutes to get a license as a 鈥淧ublic Woman鈥� to work in Nashville, plus undergo a weekly physical examination by an army doctor for 50 cents per visit. Diseased hookers were sent to a special military hospital for medical treatment. If a soldier patronized an unlicensed prostitute, or if one was found working without a license, it was 30 days in jail. The program cost $6,000 to operate and took in $5,900 in fees, almost paying for itself.
In less than a year, STDs dropped dramatically among prostitutes and their patrons. Rosecrans didn鈥檛 realize it, but he had inadvertently stumbled upon an innovative idea.
He was one of America鈥檚 first practitioners of public healthcare.
J. Mark Powell is a novelist, former TV journalist and diehard history buff. Have a historical mystery that needs solving? A forgotten moment worth remembering? Please send it to HolyCow@insidesources.com.
