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RallyPigeon t1_j4ckfrv wrote

There is a bit of a misconception about General Joseph Hooker's involvement in that neighborhood based on his name, his reputation, and to a much lesser extent the thread title. Hooker, who was not the origin of that word being used to describe prostitutes, was frustrated that the Army of the Potomac was causing trouble all over town while camped in the area. So he used his authority to force all the brothels to be consolidated into one district.

Hooker was a fascinating guy. He loved to party and stories of "camp followers" (ie prostitutes aka "Hookers" - which furthers the misconception about the name) in his presence were over-exaggerated but not completely false. He was very brash and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way as he rose up the ranks of the US Army during the Civil War due to battlefield success at lower levels of command.

My favorite tidbit is that after being given command of the Army of the Potomac (the biggest US army that fought in Virginia/Maryland/Pennsylvania) in early 1863, he told anyone who would listen at a dinner party that the United States needed a dictator to lead it through the crisis. News of his remarks travelled back to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln then wrote his general a letter with a pretty good putdown: " I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship."

Hooker would go on to lose the Battle of Chancellorsville a few months later and be relieved of command. He then got demoted, served a bit longer, then resigned before the war ended. We'll never know what his dictatorship would've been like!

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valente347 t1_j4dqb27 wrote

Ah yes, and they'd throw the bodies in the canal.

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