Jennie Hodgers Known as Albert Cashier, Part I

Jennie Hodgers was born in Ireland in 1843. She died in 1915 but long before her death, she had changed her name to Albert D. J. Cashier. No one knows exactly when Jennie Hodgers arrived in the United States or exactly when she decided to dress like a boy. Her early life was a mystery. But being a young man in the Illinois of the 1850s and 1860s would have been much easier than being a young unaccompanied woman. 

What is known is that nineteen-year-old Jennie Hodgers was mustered in at Belvidere, Illinois, a community just east of Rockford, as Albert D. J. Cashier, Private First Class, Co. G, 95th Illinois Infantry on August 6, 1862. Dressed in men’s clothing, Hodgers began her life as a soldier. The medical examination prior to entering service at that time consisted of showing your hands and feet. Cashier was the smallest soldier in the company. He had no beard which caused the other soldiers to tease. During the Civil War, there were no age requirements to be a soldier, and many were young boys. The Company Descriptive Book of the 95th shows the entry for Cashier, a 5’3” soldier with blue eyes and auburn hair, weighing 110 pounds. Official records indicate his uncommon valor.  

 In retrospect, fellow soldiers recalled a modest person who kept to himself and preferred not to share a tent. Hodgers, now Albert Cashier was friendly even to the point of having a brief post-war business with another soldier from the company. Cashier did not shirk any duty and was remembered as brave.

Women during the course of the Civil War often provided war-related labor in support of enlisted soldiers. As members of soldiers’ aid societies women sewed, knitted, raised funds and gathered food and medical supplies. They could also accompany a regiment as cooks or laundresses, staying close to their husbands or sons. 

Several hundred women did just the opposite and enlisted with the troops to serve as soldiers. In later life, the only woman to serve as a soldier in the Civil War without having her gender discovered has a direct connection to Quincy.   

After training at Camp Fuller in Rockford, the regiment of 983 soldiers left for Cairo, Illinois, on November 4, 1862. From there, they moved to Camp Jackson in St. Louis. The regiment’s function was primarily to capture the approaches to the Mississippi River. 

Cashier’s major engagement with confederate soldiers began at the siege of Vicksburg in 1863. The Battle of Vicksburg began in March and lasted until July of that year. This was one of the most crucial engagements during Cashier’s enlistment. General Ulysses S. Grant commanded the armies at Vicksburg. The 95th was soon in the midst of the assault on Vicksburg’s perimeter. The first frontal attack on May 19th and the second frontal attack on May 22nd were devastating to the regiment.  

Cashier was considered a hero in connection with the first attack, as related by Sergeant Charles Ives of the 95th. As the Confederate soldiers began to retreat toward the fort, Cashier ran to the front, mounted the trunk of a tree, and waved his hat and yelled, “Come on, all you d_____ rebels, so we can see you and get a shot at you.” Cashier demonstrated another gutsy occurrence when the rebels tried to take him prisoner. According to a 1913 newspaper account, Cashier was captured while on a skirmishing expedition but “seized a gun from the guard,” knocked him down, and fled back to camp. After 47 days of unforgiving circumstances, the Union occupied Vicksburg. The Illinois monument at Vicksburg lists the name of Albert Cashier.  

After Vicksburg, the regiment fought in the Red River Expedition in the spring of 1864 under General Nathaniel P. Banks. In late 1864 Cashier served in the particularly difficult Nashville campaign where his regiment joined with the Army of the Cumberland fighting the confederate General John Bell Hood. At war’s end, he was in Alabama during the siege of Mobile. The city’s surrender did not occur until three days after Robert E. Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant.

 After three years of service, Albert Cashier had become a seasoned soldier of 40 battles and skirmishes and 9,960 miles of travel, 1,800 of those miles on foot. The 95th Illinois was mustered out on August 17, 1865, in Springfield and arrived in Belvidere on August 22. The depositions filed with the United States Bureau of Pensions show that the true sexual identity of Albert Cashier was never suspected by comrades.  

It is historically significant that Hodgers was the only woman to complete a tour of duty, to be mustered out with her regiment, and receive a Civil War pension. Historians estimate some 400 women enlisted. Most were discovered and discharged. Proof of identity was not needed; a woman simply picked a male name and finessed a pre-induction medical exam. Most did so to accompany their men, wanting an adventure or for financial reasons. Economic factors may have been the reason for Hodgers. A day before she enlisted, the Belvidere newspaper reported that the Boone County board of supervisors voted a sixty-dollar bounty for each recruit. 

Sources

Clausius, Gerhard P. “The Little Soldier of the 95th: Albert D. J. Cashier.” Journal of the 

Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 51, Spring-Winter, 1958.

Freedman, Jean R. “Albert Cashier’s Secret.” The New York Times, January 28, 2014.

United States Bureau of Pensions, Civil War Pension File for Albert D. J. Cashier.