Memorial Day Remembered
(June 2009)
Across the street from The Fort there has been lots of activity as the Lexington Legion works on improvements to the memorial. They are installing memorial bricks to commemorate local soldiers who served. Stop by and check out their progress.
This made us recall another soldier who served Illinois well in days gone by…….
Albert Cashier—Illinois Soldier Boy
The exact number of women who fought and sometimes died in the battles of the Civil War is unknown, but the fact that it happened is well-documented. One of the most dramatic cases was that of an Illinois woman named Jennie Hodgers, who holds the record for documented service of over 3 years in one unit by a woman pretending to be a man.
Jennie was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1844 and, dressed in boy’s clothing, came to America as a stowaway the first year of the civil war. She joined the Union Army at Belvidere, Illinois on August 6, 1862. No one knows why or how she selected her alias, Albert Cashier, but the $302 bonus she received for joining the service could be a clue—she was “cashiered into the army,” according to a common term of the era.
On September 4, 1862 Jennie (now Albert) reported to Camp Fuller at Rockford, Illinois where she was assigned as a private of the newly formed 95th Infantry, a group that would travel almost 10,000 miles during the Civil War and take part in at least 40 battles and skirmishes. Albert was small—only five feet three inches tall and weighed only about 110 pounds. But the Union needed troops and the usual requirements were not enforced. It is doubtful that a physical consisted of more than a determination that a soldier could walk and wasn’t blind.
Despite small size, the tough training was done without complaint and the men considered “Little Albert” to be a scrappy soldier. In camp, husky troops were reported to be quite willing to lend a hand in helping with heavy assignments, and the young private in return didn’t mind washing and mending and seemed especially adept at such tasks. Around camp Albert usually sat away from the group and contentedly smoked a pipe.
The 95th Infantry joined seasoned veterans at Columbus, Kentucky in time to be included in Grant’s thrust toward Vicksburg. Once Albert was captured by a Confederate, but the small private seized the man’s gun, knocked him down, and fled back to the Union lines. When the Rebel army surrendered on July 4, 1863, the 95th was among the first troops to enter the city of Vicksburg. Albert’s name is among the 36,000 Illinois men to have their names inscribed on bronze plaques in the Illinois Memorial Temple in the National Military Park at Vicksburg, Mississippi. After 3 years of hard service, survivors of the 95th Illinois returned home with a hero’s welcome.
Albert was discharged and worked as a handyman and farmhand in small towns in Illinois and finally drifted to the Livingston County village of Saunemin, Illinois. He lived quietly and secured employment as a cow hand, gardener, lamp lighter, and church janitor for nearly 45 years. Albert was well liked, kept himself neat and clean, always marched in veterans’ parades and loved to talk about the war. Folks noticed, though, that Albert never went swimming, always wore a neckerchief, and didn’t appear to shave. “He was peculiar,” a neighbor summed it up. But he was considered an asset to the community.
After he was accidentally struck by an automobile in 1910 and the doctor discovered the true identity, the fact was kept a secret by the few who knew. Later Albert was admitted to the Old Soldiers and Sailors Home at Quincy under his army name and rank.
Albert’s secret wasn’t generally known until about 1914 when two attendants tried to administer a bath. Albert was soon judged insane and sent to Watertown Hospital in East Moline where she was forced to wear dresses for the first time in her life. She almost started a small war when they put the first one on her.
Jennie died on October 10, 1915 in the asylum, but she was buried with full military honors at Sunny Slope Cemetery at Saunemin where her tombstone memorializes her as Pvt. Albert D.J. Cashier of the 95th Illinois. To the army, Jennie was just another soldier boy.
Sources for Albert Cashier Story:
Patriots in Disguise by Richard Hall
Saybrook Gazette 9/28/97 Illinois Jennie Served Union Army
Cullom Chronicle Headlight 8/20/81 Article page 9
Obituary Page Sunny Slope Cemetery Saunemin Livingston Co. Illinois
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Update on Albert Cashier memorials:
Civil War Folk Figure. Jennie Hodgers aka Albert D.J. Cashier, enlisted in the Civil War at Belvidere, Illinois. She served her full term of three years. Even after the civil war she kept the identity and name of Albert Cashier. She lived on the farm of Cheeseboro in a white clapboard house. She also worked for Senator Lish in Saunemin, Illinois. While working in the driveway picking up sticks Mr. Lish accidently ran her over breaking her leg. The doctor diagnosed her as having a broken leg but also as being a woman. Since her age was growing the sent her to the Sailor and Soldier home in Quincy. While being diagnosed however, she made them keep the secret of her true identity. It was while in Quincy that news broke out. She is now buried in Saunemin, just outside of Pontiac in a little cemetery near the school. The plot is close to the road by the school a little ways from where you enter. Jennie Hodgers is remembered in a memorial at the battle of Vicksburg, she also has the distinguished honor of being the first woman to vote, disguised as a man. (bio by: Doug and Linda Bell)
Monday, November 13, 2006
Female Civil War Soldier's House to be Restored
Today's Quad-Cities Times outlines work ready to progress at restoring the home of Jennie Hodgers who served in the Civil War and lived most of her adult life
under the name of Pvt. Albert D.J. Cashier.
The one-room house is small and unprepossessing. With its shuttered windows and the multiple padlocks that used to be inside its door, it's secretive, too--much
like the person who
lived in it for some 40 years.
Now, to honor one of Illinois' most unusual Civil War veterans, plans are being
made to move the 130-year-old Albert Cashier/Jennie Hodgers house back to its
original site in the
Livingston County village of Saunemin from a storage site in nearby Pontiac.
The house's secret was that Cashier and Hodgers were the same person.
Saunemin Mayor Mike Stoecklin told the reporter the house will be back in his
city by the end of the year, but restoration will likely take longer. He said a
lecture by former Pontiac tourism director Betty Estes convinced him the house
should be restored to its original site. Estes personally stepped in to save the
house 10 years ago when Saunemin
volunteer firefighters wanted to burn the house as a training exercise; she had it dismantled and trucked to Pontiac for safekeeping.
Way to go Betty, and thank you Mayor Mike for your work to preserve history and
help figure out a way today's society can find value in it.
posted by Jon Musgrave at http://www.illinoishistory.com
In a drive through Saunemin in May 2009 we found the home site and a neatly done marker, but no house yet. It appears that a foundation about the size of a single car garage sits ready for the structure to be assembled.
