Jennie Hodgers a.k.a. Albert Cashier - Livingston County Illinois Genealogy & History

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Jennie Hodgers a.k.a. Albert Cashier Biography
Livingston County, Illinois
(photos and data from Allen & Carole Martin - mud@ntslink.net)

Allen and I were in the Lincoln Research Library when they were doing a feature on Illinois women. I knew that many women served during the Civil War as nurses and some even posed as men but Jennie Hodgers, alias Albert Cashier, caught my eye, mainly because she voted, illegal or not!!
Albert Cashier, was actually a woman who posed as man. She became the only female Civil War veteran who drew a pension and continued to pose as a man in Saunemin, Illinois and even voted when it was illegal for women to do so! She served 2 years and traveled almost 10,000 miles with her regiment.
She was captured once, but she managed to knock her captor out and escape back to her regiment.

Photo of Albert Cashier alias Jennie Hodgers
We drove up to Saunemin to see the cemetery (Saunemin is about 10 miles East of Pontiac, Illinois on Route 116).
The old government headstone has been replaced with a new one plus the locals erected another stone which reveals Albert's real name and sex.
According to the news articles, she continued to live as a man until a year or so before her death. While in a state hospital, she was forced to wear a dress but when she died, someone had the good sense to bury her in her Civil War uniform with the name Albert Cashier on the government headstone.
There is also a picture of her amongst all the Civil War photos in the Lincoln Presidential Library.

Headstones for Jennie Hodgers a.k.a. Albert Cashier in Sunnyslope Cemetery

Civil War headstone for Albert D.J.Cashier Headstone for Albert D.J. Cashier aka Jennie Hodgers

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