CDV – CIVIL WAR – SIGNED LT COL GEORGE SPALDING-18th MICH

Item Details

 CDV, 2 3/8 x 4. George Spalding, signed “Geo SpaldingLt col 18th Mich” No photographer's imprint. Just a bit light, exhibits some us and wear, overall VG-Fine.

George Spalding : Residence Monroe, MI; 24 years old.
Enlisted on 6/20/1861 at Adrian, Lenawee Co., MI as a 1st Sergt.
On 6/20/1861, he mustered into "A" Co. Michigan 4th Infantry.
He resigned on 7/18/1862.
On 9/2/1862, he mustered into Field & Staff Michigan 18th Infantry.
He resigned & Disch for Promotion on 2/21/1864.
On 2/24/1864, he was commissioned into Field & Staff Tennessee 12th Cavalry.
He was Mustered Out on 10/7/1865 at Fort Leavenworth, KS.
He was listed as:
Wounded 7/1/1862 Malvern Hill, VA
Wounded 12/16/1864 Nashville, TN
Promotions:
1st Lieut 8/5/1861 (As of Co. B)
Capt 1/13/1862
Provost Marshal 6/14/1863 (June 14, 1863 to Jan 1864)
Colonel 2/24/1864 (As of 12th TN Cavalry)
Brig-General 3/21/1865 by Brevet
Lt Colonel 7/18/1862 (As of 18th MI Infantry)
Intra-regimental company transfers
8/5/1861 From company A to company B
Born 11/12/1836 in Blairgowrie, Scotland
Died 9/13/1915 in Monroe, MI

Major Spalding had been wounded in the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862 and had accepted a leave of absence; he was about to depart when the Michigan Governor Austin Blair sent him a request promoting him to Major of the 4th Regiment. Spalding made the decision to accept the position as Captain and soon to be Lieutenant Colonel of the 18th Michigan Infantry reporting to General Lew Wallace. From this position within a year the 18th Michigan was assigned to Rosecrans and ended up in Nashville with Spalding appointed the Provost Marshall.
Nashville was the “hub” for the Union Army with thousands of soldiers passing through the city on the way to battles. Union soldiers  arriving in Nashville were lured to visit “Smokey Row”. It was a two block-long row of homes that were serving as brothels and was the place to go to be entertained by the ladies of the night. The Army hospitals were being filled not from battle wounds but from venereal disease. 
Aware that no man could be spared in the fighting, in the first days of July 1863 an order came to Lt. Colonel Spalding directly from General Rosecrans  “without loss of time seize and transport to Louisville all prostitutes found in the city or known to be here.”  By July 9, 1863 the Nashville Daily Press is reporting the roundup of “sinful fair” has begun, however it was a disaster from the beginning. The Nashville Daily Press also reported  “A variety of ruses were adopted to avoid being exiled”.
 Lt. Colonel Spalding came up with another plan - legalize prostitution. His plan was to register all the working women and a system to keep them healthy. It was a first foray into Public Health for sex workers. His plan: Requiring that each public woman register and be issued a $5 license complete with her name and address, and a record be kept of the license. Appointing a skillful surgeon as a Board of Examination to give each licensed public woman a weekly examination and certificate to verify her health and ordering the diseased public women to receive hospital treatment. The hospital, nicknamed the “Pest House” collected a weekly tax of 50 cents from every licensed  woman to defray the hospital expense. Women plying their trade without a license and certificate was a criminal offense, sending them to the workhouse for at least thirty days.  The lead physician Dr. William Chambers reported that after the first six months of regulations ninety-two women had been diagnosed with a venereal disease.
Many ladies were grateful for the regulations. There was a certain safety in visiting a physician for treatments, along with the benefit of the program - ladies did not fear arrest once they were registered. It was also considered a “plus” when a lady of the evening produced her “license” to a prospective client proving she was legal and disease-free. By August of 1864, the government had issued 500 licenses to Nashville prostitutes.  Infections rates among Union soldiers dropped and the program spread successfully to Memphis.
George Spalding was transferred before he was able to see how his Plan B was implemented. He was assigned as a Colonel in the Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry and fought guerrillas that infested the Nashville and North Western Railroad. Lieutenant Colonel Spalding served  Michigan in the United States House of Representatives.