Sex in the American Civil War During the American Civil War , sexual behavior and attitudes , like many other aspects of life , were affected by the conflict . The advent of photography and easier media distribution , for example , allowed for greater access to sexual material for the common soldier . In camp . At camp , " barracks favorites " were available . These were inexpensive novels of a sexual nature . Photographs of nudity were available as well , and were purchased by both enlisted men and officers . These twelve by fifteen inch pictures cost $ 1 . 20 for a dozen , or ten cents for a single picture . These were usually pictures of nude women doing innocent things ; nude women that were engaging in actual sexual activity were usually not white , but either black or Indian . With the soldiers being far away from their wives and sweethearts , it is far more likely these were used for masturbation , and not just for entertainment . Only three of the novels are still known to exist ; they are located at the Kinsey Institute of Indiana University in Bloomington , Indiana . However , this is not to say females were not available for sex . Prostitutes were among the camp follower s following behind marching troops . Popular legend has it that they were so common around the Army of the Potomac when Union general Joseph Hooker was in command that the term " hooker " was coined to describe them ; however , the term had been in use since 1845 . The number of prostitutes around Hooker ' s division only " cemented " the term . This led to many cases of venereal disease . Among white Union soldiers there was a total of 73 , 382 syphilis cases and 109 , 397 gonorrhea cases . The total rate of VD among the white Union troops were 82 cases per 1000 men , where before and after the war the rate was 87 of 1000 . Union black troops , however , had rates of 34 per 1000 for syphilis and 44 per 1000 for gonorrhea . Cases were most prominent around larger cities like Nashville , Tennessee , New Orleans , Richmond , Virginia , and Washington , D . C . . Numbers for Confederates are unknown , but are assumed less due to Confederate soldiers being less likely to be in cities . Prostitution . Prostitution experienced its largest growth during 1861 - 1865 . Some historians have speculated that this growth can be attributed to a depression , and the need for women to support themselves and their families while their husbands were away at war . Other historians considered the growth of prostitution to be related to the women wanting to spread venereal disease to the opposing troops . The term ‘ public women ’ was coined for the women that became prostitutes . There was moral outrage at this rising employment , and law officials classified the people they arrested as such . The word “ hooker ” predates the Civil War , but became popularized by Union General Joseph Hooker . After the outbreak of war , the number of brothels skyrocketed . “ In 1864 there were 450 brothels in Washington , and over 75 brothels in nearby Alexandria , Virginia . A newspaper estimated there were 5000 public women in the District and another 2500 in Alexandria and Georgetown , bringing the total to 7500 by the war ’ s third year ” . However , it was the towns located just outside the camps where prostitution was most prominent . These small towns were overrun by the sex trade when army troops set up nearby camps . One soldier wrote home to his wife , “ It is said that one house in every ten is a bawdy house — it is a perfect Sodom . ” The most notorious area for prostitution was in Tennessee . Before the outbreak of the war , Nashville recorded 207 prostitutes ; however , in 1863 reports claimed to have at least 1500 prostitutes . The area where these prostitutes could be found was known as Smokey Row . In an infamous campaign to rid the city of the ‘ public women ’ Lt . Col . George Spalding loaded the women on to the steamboat Idahoe . The women were sent to Louisville , where they were not allowed off the ship and sent further along to Cincinnati . Many of the women became sick due to lack of food and they were again forced to turn around and return to Nashville . Once they arrived back in Nashville , Lt . Col . Spaulding created a system of registration similar to European ones . He inadvertently created the first legal system of prostitution . This is the set of regulations he set up : 1 . That a license be issued to each prostitute , a record of which shall be kept at this office , together with the number and street of her residence . 2 . That one skillful surgeon be appointed as a Board of Examination whose duty it shall be to examine personally every week , each licensed prostitute , giving certificate soundness to those who are healthy and ordering those into hospital those who are in the slightest degree diseased . 3 . That a building suitable for a hospital for the invalids be taken for that purpose , and that a weekly tax of fifty cents be levied on each prostitute for the purpose of defraying the expense of said hospital . 4 . That all public women found plying their vocation without a license and certificate be at once arrested and incarcerated in the workhouse for a period of not less than thirty days . Prostitution experienced a large growth and spread across the North and South , and was one of the only industries to cross enemy lines throughout the duration of the war . Women . Some women were soldiers , but dressed as men . A Union officer was once quoted regarding how a Union sergeant was " in violation of all military law " by giving birth to child , and this was not the only case where the true sex of a soldier was discovered due to childbirth . A captured Confederate officer whose true gender was previously unknown by the guards gave birth in a Union prison camp . Some soldiers engaged in acts of rape . The Confederate records were destroyed , but a perusal of only five percent of Federal records reveal that over thirty court martial trials were held due to instances of rape ; hanging or firing squad being the usual punishment if convicted . Sometimes , offering a white woman of good standing money for sex was considered almost tantamount to rape ; in the case of an Illinois private at Camp Dennison , for example , the perpetrator spent a month at the guardhouse for offering a mother a dollar and her daughter three dollars for sex . Federal troops who committed rape while invading the southern states mostly took advantage of black rather than white women , and black soldiers were usually punished more severely for the crime than their white counterparts . Homosexuality . The term " homosexuality " would not be coined until thirty years after the war ended . However , no army soldiers were disciplined for such activity , although three pairs of Union Navy sailors were punished , all in 1865 . There was only one case of male prostitution reported during the war . " The Richmond Dispatch " reported on May 13 , 1862 , of " prostitutes of both sexes " openly displaying themselves in carriages and on sidewalks . Scholars have tried to ascertain if certain Civil War figures were homosexual . The most notable of these was Confederate major general Patrick Cleburne , although it is still disputed . Legacy . After the war , many Southern men felt their manhood diminished in a manner some historians dubbed a " crisis of gender " ; a crisis exacerbated after Confederate president Jefferson Davis was apprehended by Union soldiers wearing his wife ' s shawl for warmth . The false rumor quickly spread in the North that Davis was caught during his escape while dressed as a woman . Period drawings depicting Davis in full women ' s dress ( bonnet included ) were used to ridicule the Confederacy ' s former President . One thing that came from the spread of pornography during the war was the rise of anti - pornography forces ; in particular , the Comstock laws .