Her father was a freeman, and her mother was enslaved. After the Civil War broke out, she was sold by the owner of the farm where she had been enslaved and forced to cook and travel with the Union troops throughout the rest of the war. During that time she learned how to care for the sick and wounded, about the hardships of war, and how to be around other soldiers.
Madison says it was a time when the nation was coming to terms with this new post war reality, a United States without slavery. So Cathay Williams made a historic decision. It was illegal for women to join the service, but she changed her name, disguised her identity, and enlisted. Congress had just passed an Act meant to establish the peacetime military.
It created six units of Black soldiers to be sent out west to protect the western frontier. This was the first time African Americans could serve for the United States military in peacetime, and it was the beginning of the Buffalo Soldiers. Cathay Williams said in an interview given to the St. They never blowed on me. They were partly the cause of my joining the army. Another reason was I wanted to make my own living and not be dependent on relations or friends.
A reporter from St. Louis heard rumors of a female African-American who had served in the army, and came to interview her. Her life and military service narrative was published in The St. Louis Daily Times on 2 January In late or early , Cathay Williams entered a local hospital where she remained for some time, and in June , applied for a disability pension based on her military service.
The nature of her illness and disability are unknown. There was precedent for granting a pension to female soldiers. In September , a doctor employed by the U. Pension Bureau examined Cathay Williams. Despite the fact that she suffered from neuralgia and diabetes , had had all her toes amputated, and could only walk with a crutch, the doctor decided she did not qualify for disability payments.
Her application was rejected. The exact date of Williams' death is unknown, but it is assumed she died shortly after being denied a pension, probably sometime in One of the tallest privates in her company, Cathay concealed her femininity for two years despite numerous Army hospital visits before her true gender was discovered by the Fort Bayard post surgeon.
Cathay was hospitalized circa for over a year in Trinidad. In June Cathay filed a pension application based on medical disability incurred during military service as William Cathey. The Army rejected her pension claim on February 8, , citing no grounds for a pensionable disability, but did not question her gender identity as William Cathay.
Louis Daily Times , St. She was honorably discharged by her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke on October 14, Though her disability discharge meant the end of her tenure with the Army, her advenure continued. She signed up with an emerging all-black regiment that would eventually become part of the legendary Buffalo Soldiers.
Though she married, it ended badly after her husband stole her money and a team of horses. Williams had him arrested and then moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she worked as a seamtress. It was during this time that her story first became public.
A reporter from St. Louis heard rumors of a female African-American who had served in the army and came to interview her. Her life and military service narrative was published in the St.
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