Jennie Hodgers is unique Civil War story in Illinois

By Tom Emery

Of the 2.2 million men who fought for the North in the Civil War, most were indeed male. Some only pretended to be.

A few women made their way into Civil War ranks, and the best known example in Illinois is Jennie Hodgers, who enlisted in Company G of the 95th Illinois under the name “Albert D.J. Cashier.”

Why Hodgers enlisted as a man is unclear. Born in 1843 in Clogerhead, County Louth, Ireland, Hodgers stood five-foot-three, weighed 110 pounds, and had auburn hair with blue eyes.

Unable to read or write, she was living in Belvidere in northern Illinois when she enlisted in the 95th on Aug. 6, 1862. It is not known if she began to dress as a man around the muster-in, or if she had always done so.

But she apparently had no trouble passing the “induction physical,” which, in many cases, was little more than an eyeball check. Her slight build helped protect the secret, which was further masked by the traditional thick, woolen Army jacket and pants.

Photos of Cashier in uniform show a small individual with short, dark hair with, at first glance, no sign of feminine characteristics. He stuck mainly to himself, never participating in games or sports and sat alone around campfires, sometimes smoking a pipe.

Clever thinking was also needed. In one instance, Cashier walked into a barracks and saw that all of the bunks were double, except for one in a corner. He requested the single.

Although he required help with heavy lifting and other bulky work, he repaid favors by sewing and doing laundry. Because of his small size, no one was the wiser. He was never wounded and was treated for illness only once.

However, Cashier was hardly on a lark. He proved an able soldier, and his marksmanship made him a fine skirmisher. None of Cashier’s comrades ever accused him of poor soldiering, and he never complained over daily work.

He took part in 40 engagements with the 95th, most notably Vicksburg, Brices Cross Roads, the Red River Campaign, and Mobile. In all, the regiment marched 9,960 miles in its three years of service. Cashier was once briefly captured, but managed to wrestle his captor’s gun away before escaping to Union lines.

Cashier was discharged in August 1865 and returned to Belvidere, continuing life as a man. Possibly, it was for some of the same reasons that she enlisted in the first place.

Women of the era faced economic and social constraints, and life as a man may have been more appealing. The private’s pay of $13 a month was greater than most opportunities afforded women in the day.

Others wished to be near husbands or boyfriends. Gender-identity or sexuality were not always the issues for women posing as men in Civil War service.

By 1869, Cashier was living in Saunemin in Livingston County, working as a farmhand and a variety of odd jobs. He also was a regular in Decoration Day parades, but became known as an eccentric. Children would often call him “a little old man” and a “drummer boy,” which angered Cashier enough to yell back, “I was no drummer! I was a fighting infantryman!”

The secret was finally revealed twice in medical examinations in 1910, but compliant friends and doctors did not publicly tell. But his physical and mental health deteriorated, and Cashier was admitted to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Quincy in 1911.

There, too, the secret remained thanks to sympathetic administrators, but two years later, two male nurses attempting to bathe Cashier discovered his gender.

A wave of publicity followed, and she subsequently told conflicting tales of her background, further clouding her life story. The government attempted to charge her with pension fraud since she was not eligible to enlist and collect, but comrades rushed to her defense, noting her good service to her country.

Jennie Hodgers was ultimately sent to an insane asylum in East Moline, where she was forced to wear a dress. She died on Oct. 10, 1915, and was buried in Saunemin, in her Civil War uniform.