Cathay Williams was the first Black female to enlist in the US Army. She was born enslaved in 1844 in Independence, Missouri, to an enslaved woman and a freed man, which made her status that of a slave. During her adolescence, Williams worked as a house slave on the Johnson plantation. In 1866, she signed up for a three-year period of enlistment with the US Army as a Buffalo Soldier. The US was mired in the American Frontier Wars at the time, and Buffalo Soldiers were African American soldiers stationed in the Western US. Only a cousin and a friend knew of her enlistment. Both of them were stationed with the regiment she signed up to join. At the time of her enlistment, women were not allowed to serve, so she signed up under the assumed name “William Cathay.” She served for two years until complications from smallpox led a military physician to discover that she was female. She was discharged from the army in 1868. After she was discharged from the army, Williams went on to work as a cook in New Mexico and later Colorado. She married, but it ended disastrously when her husband stole a team of horses and money from her.
She had him arrested. It is believed she may have owned a boardinghouse. She worked as a seamstress for a time in Pueblo, Colorado. In 1875, a reporter from St. Louis heard rumors about a Black woman who had served in the army during the American Frontier Wars. He went to Colorado and interviewed Williams, and her story was published in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876. In her old age, Williams suffered from complications of diabetes and neuralgia, and could only walk with a cane because her toes had been amputated. She applied for a disability pension, claiming her service in the army qualified her, but her disability claim was denied.
This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Black Women by Becca Anderson and MJ Fievre, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.
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