History-making woman soldier has Colorado ties

DENVER (KDVR) — A history-making woman in the United States military has strong ties to Colorado.

Cathay Williams was born to her free father and enslaved mother in Missouri in 1844. During her youth and teenage years, Williams worked as a house slave on the Johnson plantation near Jefferson City, Missouri, according to the National Park Service.

Toward the start of the Civil War, Union soldiers occupied Jefferson City. At the time, captured slaves were considered contraband, with some serving as military support as cooks, laundresses and nurses.

Williams served as an Army cook and washerwoman.

She accompanied an infantry unit across the U.S., where she witnessed the Red River Campaign and the Battle of Pea Ridge, serving under Union General Philip Sheridan, before she voluntarily enlisted at the young age of 17.

The U.S. military prohibited women from serving, so Williams enlisted in the U.S. Regular Army on Nov. 15, 1886, under the guise of William Cathay. She successfully enlisted, disguised as a man, for a three-year engagement.

She was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment after passing a medical examination, which did not disclose that she was a woman, because the exams were not carried out in full at the time.

Not long after she enlisted, she was hospitalized with smallpox. She eventually made it back to her unit in New Mexico, but was regularly hospitalized due to suspected effects from smallpox, as well as excessive heat and travel.

Her ability to disguise herself as a man was eventually foiled, as during her treatment, the doctor discovered that she was a woman and reported the information. She was honorably discharged by her commanding officer, Capt. Charles E. Clarke on Oct. 14, 1868, marking what was meant to be the end of her time with the U.S. Army.

It would not, however, be her last time in battle.

Williams became the first and only known woman to serve as part of the legendary Buffalo Soldiers. After the Civil War, U.S. Congress established six all-Black regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Infantry Regiments.

The 38th through 41st were later consolidated into the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments. The units were comprised of former slaves and veterans from the Civil War, which marked the first time that African Americans served as professional soldiers in a peacetime army, according to the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum.

After she officially finished her service, Williams moved to Pueblo and married a man who ended up stealing her money and horses. He was arrested, and she would leave Pueblo for Trinidad, where she worked as a seamstress.

While she lived in Trinidad, a journalist from St. Louis caught wind of her story and came to interview Williams, who was stated as being the first African American woman to serve in the army.

The story was published in the St. Louis Daily Times on Jan. 2, 1876, and her journey became publicly known by U.S. citizens.

At some point around 1889 or 1890, she visited a local hospital and applied for a disability pension based on her military service. Women were not granted pensions for their service in the military, and she was denied.

She would try and fail once more in 1893 when she was diagnosed with neuralgia and diabetes, resulting in her having all of her toes amputated and walking with a crutch. The doctor decided she was not eligible for disability payments.

The date of her death is not known, but it is believed that she died shortly after being denied the second time.

Williams joined a group of women who made historic firsts in the U.S. military, including:

• Deborah Sampson: The first woman soldier in disguise during the Revolutionary War
• Margaret Corbin: The first woman to serve and receive a pension
• Loretta Walsh: The first woman to officially enlist in 1917

Over 400 women disguised as men served in the Civil War, but Williams was the first African American woman to serve, and the only documented woman to serve during the Indian Wars.

She is also the only known woman member of the Buffalo Soldiers.