Why do we call prostitutes “hookers”?

It’s a myth that the camp followers of Union General Joseph Hooker
gave us the popular euphemism for a prostitute. It’s true they were
called “Hooker’s division,” or “Hooker’s reserves,” but the word pre-
dates the American Civil War as, of course, does the profession. It first
appeared in 1845 as a reference to an area of New York known as “the
Hook,” where ladies of the night could be found in abundance.