Prostitutes are called by a wide variety of names, including whores, hookers, call girls, streetwalkers, harlots, and more recently the ambiguous sex workers. Prostitution is discussed in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. The Arab slave trade of antiquity included sexual slaves sold as concubines. The Mayan and Aztec cultures of Mesoamerica practiced homosexual prostitution and pedophilia, drawing the wrath of the Catholic conquistadores, who punished them with the tried and true method of burning its practitioners at the stake.
It is legal in some places, illegal in others, and for the most part in western culture looked down upon by the high minded. Throughout history, various governments have regulated prostitution, profiting from the practice, while others have fought a futile battle to eliminate it. There were indeed several traveling bordellos which accompanied the Army of the Potomac to its many camps.
As a matter of fact prostitution across the Union exploded during the Civil War, and not just from following the contending armies. There were over known brothels in Washington DC. Nashville Tennessee boasted over prostitutes, so angering the Union military governor that he rounded them up and shipped them to Louisville, and later Cincinnati.
They were quickly replaced. Hooker was ambivalent regarding them, which stood out in comparison to other Union commanders. Most of the Union generals were concerned that the unregulated presence of prostitutes was creating widespread venereal disease among their men.
During the American Revolutionary War the area, which was separated from the main city of New York by geographical barriers, developed into a settlement populated largely by undesirable elements from the city. It continued to grow following the war, supported by ferry services and a developing ship and boat building industry. It held a reputation for being a lawless and somewhat dangerous area, isolated at the time from New York City and its constables.
