Women of ILL Fame-Sex and Prostitution During the Civil War

I would be one BIG liar if I said I didn't find the topic of sex interesting, particularly its history. As I got comfortable for a cozy evening at home last night, I found something remarkable as I was channel surfing. The History Channel has a myriad of viewers, I included. Perhaps some of you tuned in to the piece called "Sex & the Civil War." Needless to say, once I saw just a peek of what the show alluded to, I put down the remote control and gave my full undivided attention.

I wish I'd have seen the entire program, but I was fortunate enough to have seen part of it. It was quite detailed about prostitution, naming key locations in the South, and mentioned some of the treatments of venereal disease, and of course, some of the famous ladies whose claim to fame was that of a genuine red-light Vixen. Here is just a little of what I heard about, and if you were one of the lucky viewers to catch the whole show, let me know what I missed:

One of the most notorious of the "wayward sisters" was a young girl named Annie Jones. She was known as the original "good-time girl for Union Officers." Just seventeen, she found out early how to profit from using her feminine wiles. Apparently, she had a "thing" for generals. It was no secret that she had numerous "illicit peccadilloes" with generals. I believe the program mentioned she dated at least six, including Union Generals Franz Segal and Julius Stahl. She carried on with Stahl and Segal at the same time, which ended up getting her into plenty of trouble.

I found it incredibly interesting that the Civil War had no shortage of women soldiers in it. Many women who were concerned about, or missed their husbands terribly took to cutting their hair short, binding their breasts, and dressing in Mens' Uniforms to pass themselves off as soldiers. It is believed that at least six of these women carried on their charade and went undiscovered until they actually delivered babies! Of course, there were some women who posed as soldiers simply for the opportunity to prostitute themselves. Many of them had lost their husbands to the war, others had been abandoned and found they had no alternative but to sell their bodies in order to support their families. These women were known as "soiled doves," among other things. Still there were other women known as "Camp Followers" who had no part of prostituting, but merely cooking and doing laundry for the soldiers.

One very lucrative spot for prostitution was a place called "Smokey Row" in Nashville, TN. Venereal disease ran rampant in this Red Light District, close to the river. Smokey Row was two blocks wide, and four blocks long, providing plenty of trouble for the soldiers to find themselves. It was said that the Civil War was part Hell, part boredom, which is not a good combination. The men would seek out ways to block the hell from their minds and appease the boredom. The ones in the Nashville area would seek out Smokey Row often. It was mentioned in the program that at one time two out of five soldiers were suffering from some form of venereal disease.

Treatments for venereal disease during this time were primitive and crude, as you might expect. Salts of Mercury were used in the treatment of Syphilis, and the Mercury was almost as toxic as the disease. In many cases, in order to cure the Syphilis, the dosage of Mercury led to uncontrollable salivating and loss of teeth. For gonorrhea, Chloride of lead was injected with a huge syringe, and it was so painful that most men were unable to suppress screaming. This was a horrible price to pay for simply trying to pass the time in a terrible and violent war.

As I said, I wish I could have seen the entire program. It was most interesting. Much of the information used in the program is from letters, diaries, and other personal possessions of soldiers, it gives a look into something so private as sex and its role in something so un-private and harrowing as war. It is uncertain of what is 100% true of some of the documentation, but the subject matter presented in the program was entertaining. Honestly, after all the time that has passed, and the fact that many of the artifacts to support the claims of some of the stories have been destroyed, it would be hard to separate fact from fiction. But, the beliefs and stories are riveting and telling nevertheless.