Cathay Williams was born in September 1844 in Independence, Missouri and died in 1893 in Trinidad, Colorado. She was an American soldier. An African-American woman, she enlisted in the United States Army under the pseudonym William Cathay.
Listed below are 10 things women should know about this fearless woman, Cathay Williams…
1. Cathay Williams became the first female to enlist and the only documented woman to serve in the U.S. Army while posing as a man during the Indian Wars.
2. Williams was born in September 1844 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 officially were designated by the Union as contraband, and many were forced to serve in military support roles such as cooks, laundresses, or nurses.
3. Because of the prohibition against women serving in the military, Cathay Williams enlisted in the United States Regular Army under the false name of William Cathay on November 15, 1866 at St. Louis, Missouri for a three-year engagement, passing herself off as a man. She was assigned to the 38th United States Infantry Regiment after she passed a cursory medical examination.
4. Cathay Williams worked as a cook at Fort Union, New Mexico and later moved to Pueblo, Colorado. She married, but it ended disastrously when her husband stole her money and a team of horses. Williams had him arrested.
5. She moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she worked 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 he came to interview her. Her life and military service narrative was published in The St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876.
6. 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, resulting in the amputation of her toes, and could only walk with a crutch, the doctor decided she did not qualify for disability payments. Her application was rejected.
7. Poor health overwhelmed Williams after serving in the military. Toe amputations from diabetes, neuralgia, deafness, and rheumatism forced her to apply for a military disability pension. A doctor concluded she didn’t qualify – not because William Cathay was undeserving, but because Williams had posed as a man.
8. 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 grave marker is likely to have been made of wood and deteriorated long ago. Thus her final resting place is unknown.
9. 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.
10. In 2018, the Private Cathay Williams monument bench was unveiled on the Walk of Honor at the National Infantry Museum.