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Albert D. J. Cashier | |
|---|---|
 (November, 1864)[1] | |
| Birth name | Jennie Irene Hodgers |
| Born | December 25, 1843[2] Clogherhead, County Louth, Ireland |
| Died | October 10, 1915 (aged 71) Saunemin, Illinois, U.S. |
| Buried | Saunemin, Illinois, U.S. |
| Allegiance |  United States of America
|
| Service/ |  United States Army
|
| Years of service | 1862–1865 |
| Rank | Private |
| Unit | 95th Illinois Infantry, Company G |
| Battles/wars | Vicksburg, Red River, Guntown |
| Other work | Cemetery worker, janitor, lamplighter |
Albert D. J. Cashier (December 25, 1843 – October 10, 1915), birth name Jennie Irene Hodgers, was an Irish-born immigrant who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Cashier adopted the identity of a man before enlisting, and maintained it almost for life. Cashier became famous as one of a number of female soldiers who served as men during the Civil War, although the consistent and long-term (at least 53 years) commitment to a male identity has prompted some contemporary scholars to suggest that Cashier was a trans man.[3][4][5][6]
Early life[edit]
Cashier was very elderly and disoriented when interviewed about immigrating to the United States and enlisting in the army, and had always been evasive about early life; therefore, the available narratives are often contradictory. According to later investigation by the administrator of Cashier's estate, Albert Cashier was born Jennie Hodgers in Clogherhead, County Louth, Ireland on December 25, 1843,[7]:52[2] to Sallie and Patrick Hodgers.[2] Typically, the youth's uncle or stepfather was said to have dressed his charge in male clothing in order to find work in an all-male factory in Illinois. Even before the advent of the war, the teenager adopted the identity of Albert Cashier to live independently.[7]:52 Sallie Hodgers, Cashier's mother, was known to have died prior to 1862, by which time her child had traveled as a stowaway to Belvidere, Illinois, and was working as a farmhand to a man named Avery.[8][9]
Enlistment[edit]
Cashier first enlisted in July 1862 after President Lincoln's call for soldiers.[7]:52 As time passed, the need for soldiers only increased. On August 6, 1862, the eighteen-year-old enlisted in the 95th Illinois Infantry for a three-year term using the name "Albert D.J. Cashier" and was assigned to Company G.[10][11][7]:52 A company catalog lists Cashier as nineteen years old upon enlistment, a farmer from New York City, 5 feet 3 inches tall, blue-eyed, with auburn hair, and of a fair complexion.[7]:54
During the war[edit]
The regiment was part of the Army of the Tennessee under Ulysses S. Grant and fought in approximately forty battles,[11] including the siege at Vicksburg. During this campaign, Cashier was captured while performing reconnaissance,[7]:55 but managed to escape and return to the regiment. After the Battle of Vicksburg, in June 1863, Cashier contracted chronic diarrhea and entered a military hospital, but only stayed for a day.[7]:55–56 The regiment was also present at the Red River Campaign and the combat at Guntown, Mississippi, where they suffered heavy casualties.[7]:56–57 Throughout the war, the regiment traveled a total of about 9,000 miles during its term.[7]:52 Other soldiers thought that Cashier was small and preferred to be alone, which were not uncommon characteristics for soldiers. Cashier fought with the regiment through the war until honorably discharged on August 17, 1865, when all the soldiers were mustered out.[7]:57
Postwar[edit]
After the war, Cashier returned to Belvidere, Illinois for a time, worked for Samuel Pepper and continued to live as a man.[7]:57[12] After settling in Saunemin, Illinois, in 1869, Cashier worked as a farmhand as well as performing odd jobs around the town.[7]:57 Records of employment can still be found on the town payroll documents.[7]:57 Cashier lived with employer Joshua Chesbro and his family, in exchange for work, but had also slept for a time in the Cording Hardware store in exchange for labor. In 1885, Chesbro had a small house built for his employee.[13] For over forty years, Cashier lived in Saunemin and was a church janitor, cemetery worker, and street lamplighter. Living as a man allowed Cashier to vote in elections and to later claim a veteran's pension under the same name.[7]:58 Pension payments started in 1907.[14]
In later years, Cashier ate with the neighboring Lannon family. The Lannons discovered their friend's true sex when Cashier fell ill, but decided not make their discovery public.[7]:59
In 1911, Cashier, who was working for State Senator Ira Lish, was hit by the Senator's car, resulting in a broken leg.[7]:59 A physician found out the patient's secret in the hospital, but did not disclose the information. No longer able to work, Cashier was moved to the Soldiers and Sailors home in Quincy, Illinois on May 5, 1911. Many friends and fellow soldiers from the Ninety-fifth Regiment visited.[7]:59 Cashier lived there until an obvious deterioration of mind began to take place and was moved to the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane in March 1914.[7]:60 Attendants at the Watertown State Hospital discovered Cashier's biological sex, at which point, the patient was made to wear women's clothes again after what we can assume would be more than fifty years.[7]:60 In 1914, Cashier was investigated for fraud by the veterans' pension board; former comrades confirmed that Cashier was in fact the person who had fought in the Civil War and the board decided in February 1915 that payments should continue for life[15][16][17]
Death and legacy[edit]
Albert Cashier died on October 10, 1915 and was buried in the uniform that had been kept intact all those years; the tombstone was inscribed "Albert D. J. Cashier, Co. G, 95 Ill. Inf."[10] The veteran was given an official Grand Army of the Republic funerary service, and was buried with full military honors.[7]:60 It took W.J. Singleton (executor of Cashier's estate) nine years to track Cashier's identity back to the birth name of Jennie Hodgers. None of the would-be heirs proved convincing, and the estate of about $282 (after payment of funeral expenses)[18][16][19] was deposited in the Adams County, Illinois, treasury. In the 1970s, a second tombstone, inscribed with both names, was placed near the first one at Sunny Slope cemetery in Saunemin, Illinois.[10][20]
Cashier is listed on the internal wall of the Illinois memorial at Vicksburg National Military Park.[21]
A musical entitled The Civility of Albert Cashier has been produced based on Cashier's life; the work was described by the Chicago Tribune as "A timely musical about a trans soldier". [22]
Also Known As Albert D. J. Cashier: The Jennie Hodgers Story is a biography written by veteran Lon P. Dawson, who lived at the Illinois Veterans Home where Cashier once lived. The novel My Last Skirt, by Lynda Durrant, is based on the life of Cashier.. Cashier was mentioned in a collection of essays called Nine Irish Lives, in which Cashier's biography was written by Jill McDonough. [23]
Cashier's house has been restored in Saunemin.[24]
Authors including Michael Bronski, James Cromwell, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, and Nicholas Teich have suggested or argued that Cashier was a trans man due to living as a man for at least 53 years. [3][4][5][6]
References[edit]
- ↑ "What part am I to act in this great drama?" (PDF). Salt. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Blanton, DeAnne & Cook, Lauren M. (2002). They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War. Louisiana State University Press. Search this book on
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cromwell, Jason (1999). "Transvestite Opportunists, Passing Women, and Female-Bodied Men". Transmen and FTMs: Identities, Bodies, Genders, and Sexualities. University of Illinois Press. pp. 77–78. ISBN 9780252068256. Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bronski, Michael (2011). "A Democracy of Death and Art". A Queer History of the United States. Beacon Press. pp. 69–70. ISBN 9780807044391. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Teich, Nicholas (2012). "The History of Transgenderism and its Evolution Over Time". Transgender 101: A Simple Guide to a Complex Issue. Columbia University Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 9780231157124. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cronn-Mills, Kirstin (2014). Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group. p. 41. ISBN 9780761390220. Search this book on
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 Tsui, Bonnie (2006). She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War. Globe Pequot. Guilford, Connecticut: TwoDot. ISBN 978-0-7627-4384-1. OCLC 868531116. Search this book on
- ↑ Benck, Amy. "Albert D. J. Cashier: Woman Warrior, Insane Civil War Veteran, or Transman?". OutHistory. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
- ↑ Illinois Issues: Little Soldier, Big Mystery, Illinois Public Radio, July 10, 2018
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Hicks-Bartlett, Alani (February 1994). "When Jennie Comes Marchin' Home". Illinois History. Archived from the original on 2006-09-05. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Blanton, DeAnne (Spring 1993). "Women Soldiers of the Civil War". Prologue. College Park, MD: National Archives. 25 (1). Archived from the original on 5 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ↑ "Deposition of J. H. Himes" (January 24, 1915) from Blanton (Spring 1993)
- ↑ Saunemin Illinois. “Recollections - Albert D. J. Cashier.” Google Sites, https://sites.google.com/site/albertdjcashier/recollections-1.
- ↑ "The Handsome Young Irishman of the 95th IL Infantry". eHistory, Ohio State University. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
- ↑ McAuliffe, Nora-Ide. “When Jennie Came Marching Home – An Irishwoman's Diary on Albert Cashier and the US Civil War.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 10 Apr. 2018, https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/when-jennie-came-marching-home-an-irishwoman-s-diary-on-albert-cashier-and-the-us-civil-war-1.3456012.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Women in the Civil War". Warfare History. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
- ↑ DeAnne Blanton; Lauren Cook Wike. They Fought Like Demons. LSU Press. Search this book on
- ↑ "The Handsome Young Irishman of the 95th IL Infantry". eHistory, Ohio State University. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
- ↑ DeAnne Blanton, Lauren Cook Wike. They Fought Like Demons. LSU Press. p. 174. Retrieved 2018-08-03. Search this book on
- ↑ "Albert D. J. Cashier". Find a Grave.
- ↑ Bonnie Tsui. She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War. Rowman & Littlefield. Retrieved 2018-08-03. Search this book on
- ↑ Jones, Chris (7 September 2017). "'Civility of Albert Cashier': A timely musical about a trans soldier". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ↑ McDonough, Jill (2018). "The Soldier". Nine Irish Lives. Algonquin Books. pp. 68–99. Search this book on
- ↑ "For Love Of Freedom". Saunemin Historical Society. July 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
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