The True Story Behind The First Black Woman To Serve In The US Army

In the years after the Civil War ended in 1865, formerly enslaved people had to find a way to survive. The Low Country Digital History Initiative confirms that around 4 million Black people were suddenly free, but their choices remained limited. Women, who were largely limited to domestic work, especially suffered. Their choices mainly included continuing to work for white farmers or trying to make it on a small piece of their own land, all while battling to maintain the family unit and their religious freedoms. Among their numbers was Cathay Williams, whom Black Past verifies was born with slave status and was enslaved for the duration of the Civil War.

Williams likely saw more military life than others in her class. Her last wartime position was in 1864 when she worked as a cook and laundress for Union General Phil Sheridan. When the war ended, however, Williams was "without a job," according to biographer and poet Linda Kilpatrick. In an 1876 interview, Williams remembered being shuffled around to Iowa and, finally, Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. Desperately in need of money and independence, she did the unthinkable: In 1866, Williams enlisted in the United States Army — as a man. Read on for the fascinating story of the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Army.

Cathay Williams' life began in a slave cabin outside of Independence, Missouri. Historian Phillip Thomas Tucker's biography about her states she was born in 1844 to a free Black man and an enslaved Black woman, identified as Martha in an article in Colorado's Pueblo Chieftain newspaper. Because of Martha's slave status, Williams also was considered a slave. Her enslaver, whom she identified as William Johnson, moved the family to Jefferson City while she was still quite young. But Johnson died just before the Civil War broke out, and Williams would soon be considered "contraband."

The National Park Service defines "contraband" as enslaved people who crossed Union Army lines. By doing so they were considered to have escaped, and if they had worked for anyone in the Confederacy, they "were declared free." But they were not really free. Wounded Warrior Project explains that Williams was technically "a captured slave" and was made to do whatever the Union wanted her to do. Most sources call the type of work Williams was assigned to as being "pressed" into service. The National Trust of Historic Preservation further explains that contraband slaves were forced to follow Union troops and do their bidding while living in "hastily erected" camps.

In his book "Sick from Freedom: African-American Illness and Suffering During the Civil War and Reconstruction," author Jim Downs explains that freed slaves after the war ended in 1865 were largely left to fend for themselves. Many formerly enslaved people immediately became destitute and died of disease or even starved to death. As Cathay Williams pondered her fate, a seeming miracle happened: In 1866, reports the official Air Force website, Congress organized four special Black cavalry and infantry units. They were called the "Buffalo Soldiers." Nobody is sure where the name came from, but it soon became a standard reference for these special forces.

For Williams, joining a regiment of Buffalo Soldiers seemed a viable way to survive. But according to the National Park Service, the trouble was that women were not allowed to enlist. The desperate Williams did the next best thing. She would later state that "two persons, a cousin and a particular friend," were also serving as Buffalo Soldiers (per Wounded Warrior Project), which gave her the courage to enlist as a man. As of November 15, 1866, according to biographer and poet Linda Kirkpatrick, Cathay Williams became William Cathay, Buffalo Soldier. Since the Army didn't require full medical examinations at the time, it wasn't hard for her to masquerade as a man.

Cathay Williams' various ailments seem to have been largely ignored by the Army. Smithsonian Magazine writes that Buffalo Soldiers, who were nearly always commanded by white officers, often suffered from racial prejudice and were mistreated. Black Past says Williams had marched to Fort Bayard in New Mexico Territory when she decided to leave the military. In her 1876 interview (per National Endowment for the Humanities), Williams explained that she had tired of the military "and wanted to get off." Although she was already suffering, Williams also admitted, "I played sick." Soon enough, the post surgeon gave her a thorough exam and finally discovered her true sex.

That Williams had fooled the authorities for so long is truly amazing. Legends of America counts five different times when Williams was hospitalized during her service, in four separate hospitals. Yet somehow her true gender went undetected. Certainly many of her fellow soldiers were shocked and dismayed, and some of them were not happy to discover they had been working alongside a woman. Wounded Warrior Project quotes Williams as saying, "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."

According to Cathay Williams' 1868 disability discharge, her address was documented as Alton, Illinois. But an 1891 affidavit verifies she was at Fort Union, New Mexico (shown here in ruins), between 1869 and 1870. Fort Union had been established in 1851 to protect travelers along the Santa Fe Trail, according to a National Park Service brochure. While at the fort, Williams worked as the cook for a colonel's family, she said (via African American News & Issues). She likely witnessed extensive renovations being completed on what would be the third and final phase of Fort Union. The fort later closed for good during the 1890s.

In 1870, Williams next decided to move to Pueblo, Colorado, where she took a job doing laundry, reports the Pueblo Chieftain. According to Wounded Warrior Project, Williams may have worked as a seamstress, possibly under the name of Kate Williams. She later stated that she married a man while in Pueblo, but that he "was no account," meaning no good (via African American News & Issues). The man managed to steal Williams' watch, $100 of her money, and even her horses and wagon. Luckily, she was able to get him arrested and thrown in jail before leaving town. To date, nobody has found a record of her marriage.

Upon being released from the hospital in 1891, Cathay Williams was now destitute, according to Legends of America. Desperate for help, she decided to apply for a disability pension from the military. Her Civil War Pension file confirms that she was certified an invalid as of June 19, 1891. What happened next was both disappointing and sad. In his book "Voices of the Buffalo Soldier," Frank N. Schubert reports that when she applied for her pension in 1891, three physicians examined Williams. They described her as "a large stout woman in good general health," and noted that aside from walking with a crutch, she had suffered no hearing loss and had no other disabilities. 

Original documents confirm that it was not until February of 1892 that Williams' claim for loss of hearing, "Itch," rheumatism, and neuralgia was submitted to the Board of Review. Two months later, the Board rejected her claim based on the examinations she received. Williams and her attorneys appealed, but in 1893 the claim was denied again because she "does not appear to have alleged disability to feet as pension cause." This was despite Williams being described as having "constant illness" and "feeble habit" during her time as a soldier, and it was hard to miss the crutch that helped her walk. Researcher Diane Williams believes that military officials denied the claim because Cathay Williams had embarrassed them by successfully masquerading as a man.

Where and when Cathay Williams, or William Cathay, died has remained a mystery for many years. A Findagrave memorial for her claims she died in 1892. The New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative is among those who believe Williams was running a boarding house in Raton, New Mexico, when she died in 1924. Other sources, including the National Park Service, have stated that where and when Williams died remains a mystery.

The puzzle about the end of Williams' life finally came full circle in early 2022, thanks to Pueblo librarian Rebecca Atkinson. In 2010, the Pueblo Chieftain reported that Atkinson had found new information about Williams, including the ledgers from Woodcroft Hospital. Using a Colorado Humanities grant, Atkinson was able to access what is now the Colorado Mental Health Institute records to find out more. Finally, Atkinson found what nobody else had ever uncovered: news of Williams' death in Pueblo in September of 1911. Atkinson believes Williams is buried in an unmarked grave in the "historic 1891 section" of Pueblo's Rosemont Cemetery.