Good Morning POU!!
Now where is HER story?
Cathay Williams (1844-1894) was the only woman known to serve as a Buffalo Soldier, and the first African-American woman to enlist in the United States Army.
Williams was born in Independence, Missouri, to a free man and a woman in slavery, making her legal status also that of a slave. During her adolescence, Williams worked as a house slave on the Johnson plantation on the outskirts of Jefferson City, Missouri. In 1861 Union forces occupied Jefferson City in the early stages of the Civil War. At that time, captured slaves were officially designated by the Union as “contraband”, and many were forced to serve in military support roles such as cooks, laundresses, or nurses. She traveled with the infantry and was present at the Red River Campaign and the Battle of Pea Ridge.
Although there is no official evidence that she fought in these battles, a soldier named “Finis Cathay” did enlist in the 32nd Missouri Infantry as early as 1862 and participated in most of the major campaigns in the west, including the Siege of Vicksburg and Sherman’s March to the Sea, before helping to force Joseph E. Johnston’s last Confederate army into surrender in North Carolina. This unit’s history parallels many of the wartime stories told of Cathay Williams, including its presence in Washington, D.C., at the final Grand Review on May 24, 1865
In 1866, Cathay Williams enlisted in the U.S Regular Army as a man under the false name of “William Cathay” because women were prohibited from serving in the military. She was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment after passing the cursory medical examination. However, shortly after enlisting, she was infected with smallpox and was hospitalized. While she managed to somehow maintain her secret identity through her hospitalization and rejoin her unit in New Mexico, it was not long before health issues caught up with her and she was discovered. William’s was honorably discharged.
This was not the end of her adventures, she sighed up with an all-black regiment and became part of the Buffalo Soldiers.
Cathay Williams went to work as a cook at Fort Union, New Mexico, and later moved to Pueblo, Colorado. Williams married, but it ended disastrously when her husband stole her money and a team of horses. Williams had him arrested. She next moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she made her living as a seamstress. She may also have owned a boarding house. It was at this time that Williams’ story first became public. A reporter from St. Louis heard rumors of an African-American woman 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 January 2, 1876.
In late 1889 or early 1890, Cathay Williams entered a local hospital where she remained for some time, and in June 1891, 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. Deborah Sampson in 1816, Anna Maria Lane, and Mary Hayes McCauley (better known as Molly Pitcher) had been granted pensions for their service in the American Revolutionary War.
Cathay Williams Pension Records
Disability Discharge Certificate
In September 1892, a doctor employed by the U.S. Pension Bureau examined Cathay Williams. Despite the fact that she suffered from neuralgia and diabetes, she 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 1893. Her simple grave marker would have been made of wood and deteriorated long ago. Thus her final resting place is now unknown.
In 2016, a bronze bust of Cathay Williams, featuring information about her and with a small rose garden around it, was unveiled outside the Richard Allen Cultural Center in Leavenworth, Kansas.
In 2018, the Private Cathay Williams monument bench was unveiled on the Walk of Honor at the National Infantry Museum.
A clip of the Kindly Check Your Weapons scene, from Netflix’s new western film The Harder They Fall, that shows Cathay versus two unruly men who make the costly error of misidentifying and underestimating her. Cathay Williams aka Cuffee, played by Danielle Deadwyler, represents a real life historical figure in the old west. Cathay Williams, who disguised herself as a man, was the only woman to have served in the army, and the only know female Buffalo Soldier.