At least 400 women disguised themselves as men to fight in the American Civil War, with some fighting for a cause and some for a paycheck. Ill-fitting clothes and smooth faces helped them blend in, and some, like Albert Cashier, were buried with full military honors despite being biologically female.
Researchers at the National Archives in Washington, DC, have found evidence that at least 400 women — and possibly many more — disguised themselves as men to fight in the American Civil War. Confederate and Union armies both included women who bobbed their hair, wore pants, and wielded weapons, some fighting for a cause and some for a paycheck. “If you had teeth to open a cartridge and a working thumb and forefinger, that was enough,” said historian Elizabeth Leonard.
Women in the standings:
Among male recruits just past puberty, a woman’s smooth face could easily have passed without comment. Ill-fitting clothes hid the shape of her body, while the inability to grow a beard was attributed to her youth.
Most of the people who fought in the Civil War were “citizen soldiers” with no previous military training. Prevailing 19th-century social customs forced most soldiers to sleep in clothes, bathe separately, and avoid public latrines.
Albert Cashier served in the Union Army as a man and was buried at age 71 with full military honors in 1915. But Cashier, born Jennie Irene Hodgers, was biologically a woman, one of many transvestites and gender challengers who served in the US Army.
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