"He was a short, well-built man and a brave little soldier."

- Robert D. Hannah of Co. G, Illinois 95th Infantry

 

On August 6th, 1862, Albert D.J. Cashier, a short, red-headed fellow only nineteen years old arrived in the small town of Belvidere, Illinois and enlisted as a Private in the Union Army. He went on to serve a full three-year term of service  as a member of Company G, Illinois 95th Infantry. After the war he moved to Saunemin, Illinois, where he lived and worked for the next several decades.

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It was not until 1910, when Cashier was injured in an unfortunate automobile accident, that his neighbors began to realize the man they'd known for fifty years had a remarkable secret. Though he lived more than half his life as a man, Albert Cashier, as it turned out, was a woman once known as Jennie Hodgers.

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I am an undergraduate student studying American History and Gender Studies, with plans to pursue a PhD in history. In March 2018, I encountered Albert's story while listening to a podcast about women in the Civil War, and I immediately fell in love. My long term goal is to write Cashier's biography. Today I am laying the foundation for that project with extensive research on Cashier and his family, friends, and comrades. In this blog I hope present the findings of my research thus far, and update those interested in my project on its progress.