An Illinois town dedicates the home of a woman who went to war as a male soldier

[mopinko]

Of the 900 men who mustered into the 95th Illinois Infantry in 1862, only 153 were still in the regiment by the end of the Civil War. Albert DJ Cashier was one of them.

That’s historic because Albert was a woman.

http://www.wbez.org/story/jennies-house-preserving-part-civil-war-secret-91446

[happyslug]

1. What about the 45-50 washer women in the Regiment?

By tradition (And that tradition had existed since at least the Crusades, and thus was viewed as THE LAW at that time) every 20 men in a military unit was entitled to one washer woman. Never mentioned on the rolls, but were counted when it came to pay, but always there (Unless detached to perform some other duty). The Washer Women were NOT camp followers, for they lived IN THE CAMP and were subject to Military Law and Discipline.

Washer women were outlawed by the US Congress only in the 1880s, and then only do to the fact that the Army wanted to upgrade the support for the troops, and such upgrade always meant women were replaced by men (The Army felt comfortable sending men away from their units to get training, but disliked the idea to send women for such training).

Now, Washer Women were NEVER officer's wives, officer's wives had "duties" but those were assumed by be her compensation for being an officer's wife. While Washer Women did not have to be married (Many were single), most ended up married to the Platoon's (Prior to WWI, that was a group of 20 men, WWI saw a huge increase in the number of men in Platoons, Companies and larger units) Sergeants (and in regular Army units it was not unusual in the 1800s to have the "Chief" Washer Woman married to the Company's First Sergeant, and their daughters married to the Platoon Sergeants below them (Unless that Platoon Sergeant was their son, then that was thief daughter in law).

Now, this woman was in a Civil War Raised unit i.e. NOT a unit that existed before the Civil War, not a unit that was intended to exist after the Civil War (Through many such units did survive, For example in Pennsylvania an effort was made to keep every Regiment raised in Pennsylvania, even if that meant each regiment had less then 100 soldiers in it, i.e. the strength of one company NOT the 1000 men in a normal Regiment of that time period).

Thus in a Regiment you had one woman for every 20 soldiers, or about 5% of the total people in the Regiment (i.e. 50 women as washer women). I use 45 for it seems only 900 men served in that Regiment, 5% of 900 is 45.

Just pointing out that she was NOT the only woman in the Regiment, but the only one who enlisted as a SOLDIER not a Washer Woman.

[mopinko]

2. same goes for nurses to this day.

i agree with you. just thought that the individual was noteworthy, but also that honors and recognition were noteworthy.

[Aerows]

3. This is far from the first time a woman served as a man

Nor that a man served as a woman. I personally think it's good that this is being recognized. A lot of women and men have showed tremendous bravery by daring to be what *they* thought they should be, rather than what their gender dictated.

It's beautiful that there is a monument to her.

[mopinko]

4. i don't think anyone said first.

maybe the real history is how many there really were. but we will never really know that.

[demigoddess]

5. Julius Caesar said

If you are in the woods and meet a Celt, you are in trouble, if you meet his wife, you are dead! paraphrasing, but you get the gist.

[One_Life_To_Give]

6. What is remarkable was the Old Age Home

When after having lived his life principally as a man. Albert ended up in an old age home. His anatomy was discovered and he was forced to live the remainder of his life in a dress. I don't see Albert as a woman who went to War. But as a TransMan who lived his life till late on when society forced him to die in a dress.