and how are they going to support themselves and their children? some out of pure necessity. >> but one city in particular stood out. union-occupied nashville, tennessee. >> about 1,500 sex workers descend on nashville as these 30,000 soldiers are moving in there as well. >> for the thousands of young union soldiers far from home nashville's bustling red light district was an irresistible temptation. but for the army it was a public health disaster. [ coughing ] how big a problem was it? >> if you had five men who had been treated for a disease during the civil war, two of the five it was a venereal disease. >> syphilis and gonorrhea were the most common. and while a course of antibiotics would easily cure them today, back then the prognosis was life-threatening.