'Little Al Cashier' was a hero to his fellow Civil War soldiers in
G-Company in the 95th Illinois Voluntary Infantry. None of his comrades
knew that he was transgender.
By Turtle Bunberry
Mississippi, 1863. The men of G-Company in the 95th Illinois
Voluntary Infantry must have cheered loudly as ‘Little Al’ Cashier
clambered up the tree, pulled off the tattered, gun-shot Union flag and
hoisted a new one.
Or maybe they held back their applause until he
was down again, safely out of sight of the Confederate snipers. Either
way, all were agreed that Little Al was as courageous a soldier as any
of them.
A third of G-Company were dead by the end of the U.S.
Civil War, killed in action or prey to the virulent diseases that swept
the lines. Far fewer were still alive in 1913, nearly 50 years later,
when word reached them that Little Al had been incarcerated in a state
psychiatric institution.
That might have been shocking enough but
an infinitely greater surprise was in store; it transpired that Private
Albert Cashier was assigned female at birth.
In the wake of
Donald Trump’s order that the U.S. military no longer accept transgender
individuals as recruits, it seems a fitting time to acknowledge the
extraordinary life and times of Civil War veteran Albert Cashier, born
Jennie Hodgers, who was the subject of a ‘We’ve Been Around’ documentary last year.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Daily Beast
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