Cathay Williams
By
John C Abercrombie
Many of us have heard of the Buffalo Soldiers, not so many know of Cathay Williams, the only documented female Buffalo Soldier!
This post explores this amazing story.
The Army Reorganization Act of 1866 also known as the Military Peace Establishment of the United States, approved by the 39th congress July28, 1866 is credited with the formation of the Buffalo Soldiers.
They were the 24th and 25th infantry which resulted from the consolidation of 4 regiments. There was also a 9th and 10th Calvary. All were commonly referred to as Buffalo soldiers.
There is no consensus on the origin of the name. Some say it comes from the dark skin and hair of the soldiers, others refer to the reverence of the buffalo by Native Americans.
Cathay Williams was born in Independence, Missouri in September 1844. Her father was a free man and her mother a slave. This made her legal status that of the mother, a slave. This emphasizes the cruelty of the system because she now belonged to the owner of her mother.
As property, husbands could be separated from wives and families broken apart for any reason. Slaves had no control in the matter.
From a statistical and historical perspective, we at times see Black people owning slaves not recognizing that many times it was a family member being rescued from the cruelty of the system. As a slave owner, you controlled and prevented the severe cruelty of the system on those you loved.
As a child, Cathay worked as a house slave on the William Johnson plantation near Jefferson City, Missouri. Union forces occupied Jefferson City during the Civil War.
Captured slaves were designated as contraband of war and some supported the Union forces as cooks, laundresses and nurses. She was included in the migration of the Union Army and was taken to Little Rock, Arkansas and performed as a cook and laundry worker.
She traveled with the Army through the South, meaning many miles of walking. After serving in Louisiana she was put in the service of General Phillip Sheridan where she experienced life on the front lines as the troops descended on the Shenandoah Valley.
She watched soldiers set fires to cotton fields and saw a Confederate gunboat burned in the Red River at Shreveport, Louisiana.
Williams became familiar with the military and operations. With this knowledge, determination and boldness, she undertook the task of joining the All Black Buffalo Soldiers as a soldier.
Cathay Williams was quite tall for a woman of the day at 5’9”. First, she reversed her name from Cathay Williams to William Cathay. Documentation was not what it is today, so paperwork did not reveal any “secrets”.
She was familiar with the routines and knew that doctors would not do a complete exam. Only 2 people knew her real identity and they kept the secret.
She traveled to St. Louis in 1866 which was an undertaking on its own and joined the Army as a man named William Cathay. She enlisted in the 38th infantry regiment. The misspelling of Cathey rather than Cathy was due to her illiteracy as there were laws that made it illegal to teach a Black to read or write.
The only people to know of the deception were a cousin and a close friend and both kept it secret. She learned to use a musket, perform guard duty, scouting missions and maintain a high degree or military discipline. In 1867 she along with her 75 fellow troops marched to Fort Riley, Kansas.
When there, she was admitted to the hospital along with 15 other privates for what was at the time called the itch, which included such conditions as lice, scabies and other skin disorders. For this and other conditions she was hospitalized several times. During these stays, her gender was never discovered.
She had suffered from smallpox during her military career. That and the New Mexico heat, the effects of years of marching her body began to show signs of strain.
From Fort Riley, Kansas, the company marched 536 miles to Fort Union, New Mexico, later being dispatched to Fort Cummings, New Mexico. She was stationed there for 8 months. Many immigrants traveling to California came through New Mexico and Cooke’s Canyon within the Fort’s territory.
There are records of mutiny within the ranks of her unit, but she was never involved in any cases of insubordination.
There is some evidence that she may have been at the Battle of Pea Ridge also known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern Near Leetown Northeast of Fayetteville, Arkansas. And the Red River Campaign fought along the Red River in Louisiana during the American Civil War, however there is little official documentation of this and there is some confusion with another soldier Finis Cathay.
Williams suffered from rheumatism and on October 14, 1868 she was honorably discharged by a surgeon for her disability.
After her military career, she went to work as a cook at Fort Union, New Mexico before moving to Pueblo, Colorado. She married but it was over when her husband stole money and a team of horses from her.
She then moved to Trinidad, Colorado and pursued a career as a seamstress. With her earnings, she bought a boarding house and while running it her story became public. A St. Louis reporter was tracking a story about a Black woman who had served in the army.
The story was published in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876.
In June of 1891, she applied for disability based on her military service. Cathay Williams was not the first woman to serve as a soldier. Deborah Sampson Gannett, better known as Deborah Sampson, was a Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man and served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Sampson was part of a small number of women with documented history and records of military experience in the Revolutionary War.
Another relevant case was that of Anna Maria Lane, the first documented female soldier from Virginia to fight with the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. Dressed as a man and accompanied by her husband, she was awarded a pension for her courage in the Battle of Germantown.
There is also Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley better known as Molly Pitcher. Molly Pitcher is the nickname of a woman who fought in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Monmouth. There is some evidence that Molly Pitcher may have been Margaret Corbin.
Cathay Williams entered a hospital sometimes around 1889 or 1890 remaining there for some time. I n 1891 she applied for disability. There was precedent for granting pension to female soldiers. Williams suffered from neuralgia and diabetes. As a result, all her toes were amputated, and she could only walk with a crutch.
Despite this, her application unlike the examples we have seen, she was rejected. The exact date of her death is not known but is believed to have been shortly after being denied her pension. Her exact burial site is not known due to the fact that the headstone was most likely made of wood.
While there may have been other women who served as in the examples given, Cathay Williams aka William Cathay is the only documented case.
A bronze bust of Cathay Williams was unveiled outside the Richard Allen Cultural Center in Leavenworth, Kansas.
The Richard Allen Cultural Center highlights Black history in Leavenworth, Kansas, the home of United States Army Captain William Bly, a Buffalo Soldier during World War I.
There is also a monument bench on the Walk of Honor at the National Infantry Museum. In 2018, the Private Cathay Williams monument bench was unveiled on the Walk of Honor at the National Infantry Museum.
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Cathay Williams – 1st African American woman U.S. Army
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America’s Female Buffalo Soldier
“Tucker has masterfully inked a compelling tribute to a woman” named Cathy Williams. Prince George’s Sentinel, Maryland The unforgettable true story of Cathy Williams, the first and only female Buffalo Soldier in history, is timeless and important on many levels. Cathy’s personal odyssey has provided us with a host of valid life lessons about what it takes to succeed in life then and today – perseverance, ingenuity, willpower, and determination. Most importantly, the Cathy Williams story has filled key gaps in the annals of Women’s, Buffalo Soldier, Frontier, Military, African American, and “Old West” history, while presenting an inspiring example for people, especially young women, in the twenty-first century. What Cathy Williams accomplished in succeeding against the odds has provided us with a notable testament to the triumph of the human spirit. This timely book presents an insightful personal narrative about a remarkable woman who was a true pioneer of the “Old West”
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Cathay Williams/William Cathay-the Buffalo Soldier
The life of Cathay Williams, the first and only female Buffalo Solider in the 38th Regiment. She disguised herself as man in order to serve in the U.S. Army.
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She Was a Buffalo Soldier: The Story of Cathay Williams
The Civil War ended and left a new population of Americans on the cusp of finding their dreams of wealth and riches in the land of the free. The choices were few for an under educated former female slave. She Was a Buffalo Soldier, tells the story of Cathay Williams from the point of view of a former slave and soldier. Cathay was born a slave in Independence, Missouri 1844. She spent her childhood as a field hand and house servant on a plantation until her first master died. Just before the beginning of the Civil War, she was moved to a smaller farm near Jefferson-City, Missouri. With the onset of one of the most ferocious conflicts in American history, Cathay was placed into service under the Union Army. After the battles ended, Cathay found herself an uneducated black woman who only knew two things, being a slave and war. Rather than attempting to earn a living on her back, she chose to disguise herself as a man named William Cathay and become the first and only documented female Buffalo Soldier.
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Cathy Williams: America’s Female Buffalo Soldier
Cathy Williams, a former Missouri slave, became the first black female to serve in the United States Army when she enlisted in the 38th United States Infantry at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, on November 15, 1866. In the clever disguise of a man, Private William Cathay-her official enlistment name-served in the ranks of Company A, 38th United States Infantry, for nearly two years as a Buffalo Soldier. This is the unforgettable story of Cathy Williams in her own words.
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Cathay Williams/William Cathay-the Buffalo Soldier
The life of Cathay Williams, the first and only female Buffalo Solider in the 38th Regiment. She disguised herself as man in order to serve in the U.S. Army.
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Cathy Williams: From Slave to Buffalo Soldier
Women in the United States military have received more recognition than ever in recent years, but women also played vital roles in battles and campaigns of previous generations. Cathy Williams served as Pvt. William Cathay from 1866 to 1868 with the famed Buffalo Soldiers who patrolled the 900-mile Santa Fe Trail. Tucker traces her life from her birth as a slave near Independence, Missouri, to her service in Company A, 38th U.S. Infantry, one of the six black units formed following the Civil War. Cathy Williams remains the only known African American woman to have served as a Buffalo Soldier in the Indian Wars. Her remarkable story continues to represent a triumph of the human spirit.
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We hope you have enjoyed learning about Cathay Williams who served in the famed Buffalo Soldiers as the only documented female member. If you enjoyed the post, please share
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