CATHAY WILLIAMS 1844-93
Williams is renowned as the first black woman to serve in the US Army
In 1866 Cathay Williams enlisted in the US Army under the name of ‘William Cathay’. At the time it was illegal for a woman to serve in the military, and had her gender been discovered, she would have been arrested.
Williams had been born into slavery and was freed shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War by Union soldiers. To earn a living, she worked for the Federal Army as a paid servant. Experiencing military life firsthand, she served General Philip Sheridan, witnessing the Shenandoah Valley raids in Virginia and travelling through Iowa, St Louis, New Orleans and Georgia with Sheridan.
When the Civil War ended Williams wanted to maintain her independence, leading to her 1866 enlistment in the 28th US Infantry Regiment, Company A – one of four all-black units formed that year. The US Army was an attractive destination for newly freed slaves, offering them a paycheck, regular meals and medical care. However, the army gave Black soldiers inadequate supplies and the soldiers suffered racism from civilians and white soldiers alike.
Williams served with her company across the western frontier, but the harsh conditions took their toll. She suffered from smallpox shortly after her enlistment and was frequently in hospital during nearly three years of brutal military service. In
1868 she was she honourably discharged from the military after her gender was finally discovered by an army surgeon.
In an interview published in the St Louis Daily Times on 2 January, 1876, Williams described how she performed her duties just like any other solider: “I carried my musket and did guard and other duties while in the Army.” She also boasted of having never been put in the guardhouse (military prison). There is no record that she ever saw direct combat while she was enlisted, but Williams’ left a lasting legacy in being the first African American woman to serve in the US Army.