158 years ago, Cathay Williams passed herself off as a man and became the first and only female Buffalo Soldier to serve in the U.S. Army. There are no photographs or other contemporary visual images of Cathay Williams. However, that has not deterred artists from offering their renditions of what this determined woman may have looked like.
This soldier once explained her early life, “While I was a small girl my master and family moved to Jefferson City [Missouri]. My master died there and when the war broke out and the United States soldiers came to Jefferson City they took me and other colored folks with them to Little Rock. Colonel Benton of the 13th army corps was the officer that carried us off. I did not want to go.”
Williams was 17 years old when the Union Army pressed her into service as a laundress and cook. They had taken Jefferson City and had, as they did in all cases with former slaves, classified the enslaved people there as contraband. Contraband slaves were used as soldiers and support workers in the Union Army. Eventually, the Army paid them wages and taught many of them to read and write.
While in this forced service, Williams was sent to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she was assigned duties under Colonel Thomas Hart Benton and later under General Philip Sheridan with whom she would travel extensively. They went to Washington, D.C., were present at the Shenandoah Valley Raids, and then traveled to Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, and Georgia.
She said, “I saw the soldiers burn lots of cotton and I was at Shreveport when the rebel gunboats were captured and burned on Red River. We afterward went to New Orleans, then by way of the Gulf to Savannah, Georgia, then to Macon and other places in the South.”
Following the war, in 1865, Williams found work at the Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. It was meager work and her wages were not sustainable. She also became sick. The Jefferson Barracks were an ideal breeding ground for infectious disease. Units were coming and going and it was located near the Mississippi river so that mosquitos and heavy humidity could carry sickness.
Williams unfortunately contracted smallpox right after her enlistment. She was seriously ill, her body covered in small red blisters. She was taken across the river to East St. Louis for hospitalization where she recovered. She soon rejoined her unit now in New Mexico where they were fighting the Apaches.
Smallpox, the New Mexico heat, the skirmishes with outlaws and Indians all took their toll on a woman who had worked terribly hard her entire life. Employment opportunities for African-Americans were scarce. In an effort to earn a livable wage, as well as gain health benefits, opportunities for education, and eventually a pension, Williams took a bold risk. Knowing that women could not enlist in the U.S. Army, she enlisted as a man.
She later said of her decision to enlist: “I wanted to make my own living and not be dependent on relations or friends.”
In 1866, Congress established six all-black regiments of the military to help rebuild the country after the Civil War and to fight on the Western frontier during the Plains Indian Wars. It was during this time that they became known as “Buffalo Soldiers.” Cathay Williams dressed as a man and enlisted at the St. Louis recruitment office. She told the officer she had been a cook for the Union army during the war and that her name was William Cathay.
According to biographers, Cathay went through the recruitment process which also included a physical examination – which she somehow passed. She was described as a “ black-eyed cook with black hair and black complexion.” She was also described as a “22-year-old, 5’9 black male.” Cathay was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry, Company A, on November 15, 1866. Her cousin and a friend, both male, served with her and kept her secret.
“The regiment I joined wore the Zouave uniform and only two persons, a cousin and a particular friend, members of the regiment, knew that I was a woman. They never ‘blowed’ on me. They were partly the cause of my joining the army,” she said.
Shortly after her enlistment, Cathay became ill once again. Possibly due to the effects of smallpox, the heat, or the years of marching, her body began to show signs of strain. Due to her frequent trips to the infirmary, the post surgeon finally discovered she was a woman and informed the post commander. She was honorably discharged by her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke on October 14, 1868.
Williams later said: “I carried my musket and did guard and other duties while in the army, but finally I got tired and wanted to get off. I played sick, complained of pains in my side, and rheumatism in my knees. The post surgeon found out I was a woman and I got my discharge.”
The men on post were not very accepting. “The men all wanted to get rid of me after they found out I was a woman. Some of them acted real bad to me,” she said.
Following her discharge, Williams went to work as a cook at Fort Union, New Mexico, and later moved to Pueblo, Colorado. She eventually married, but it ended badly. Her husband stole her money and a team of horses. Williams had him arrested and then moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she found work as a seamstress.
It was during this time that her story first became public. A reporter from St. Louis heard rumors of a female African-American who had served in the army and came to interview her. Her storied life and military service was published in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876. Of her marriage, Williams said: “He turned out to be a 'no account.' He stole my watch and chain, a hundred dollars in money and my team of horses and wagon. I had him arrested and put in jail, and then I came here,” to Trinidad, Colorado.
Of Trinidad, Williams said: “I like this town. I know all the good people here, and I expect to get rich yet. I have not got my land warrant. I thought I would wait till the railroad came and then take my land near the depot. Grant owns all this land around here, and it won’t cost me anything.”
Once settled in Trinidad, Cathay changed her name to Kate Williams. She worked hard and was very determined to own her own piece of land. It was not to be. In late1889 or early 1890, Williams entered a local hospital and applied for a disability pension based on her military service.
There was precedent for granting pension to female soldiers in the case of Deborah Sampson, Anna Maria Lane, and Molly Williams, who all disguised themselves as men in the Revolutionary War. However, Williams’ request was denied. The post surgeon in New Mexico had previously written that her illnesses predated her enlistment.
In September 1893, following a doctor’s exam, Williams was diagnosed with diabetes and suffered from neuralgia. All of her toes were amputated facilitating the need to walk with a crutch for the rest of her life. She again applied for a military pension and was again denied. Shortly after the doctor's denial, Cathay Williams died in Trinidad. Medical reports listed her as being 49 years old, 160 pounds, 5’7 in height, and missing all of her toes. Because Williams was nearly destitute it is believed she was buried in the pauper's section of the Trinidad cemetery. There is no marker or record.
What is known is that Cathay Williams was the only African American woman to serve in the Civil War and later as a Buffalo soldier in the United States Army. It was an extraordinary accomplishment.
Many decades later a memorial was erected on the grounds of the History Colorado museum property in Trinidad. It sits in the lovely garden behind the Bloom mansion in Historic Trinidad. A fine tribute to a fine pioneer.
Linda Wommack can be reached at lwomm3258@aol.com
