William Cathay

[Gregory Matthews]

Born to a slave mother in 1845, and therefore legally a slave, no one would likely have predicted that William Cathay would enter the history books and set a standard for service to the United States. 

As the Union soldiers rolled through the South during the Civil War, it was often their policy to force "Freed" slaves to serve the Union Army in positions, such as a cook, that were considered not to be military positons.  At the age of 17, William Cathay was forced into such a position.  But, William performed well and as the war ended became jobless.

With good knowledge of the now U.S. Army, in 1866, William enlisted for a three (3) year term as was assigned to the 38th Infantry.  It should be noted that in order to enlist, William was given a medical examination and declared the military physician to be fully fit to serve in the U.S. Army.  Again William served with honor until infected with an active case of smallpox.   This resulted in a series of hospitalizations and clinical care until following a comprehensive medical examination  a decision was made that William was not fit to continue to serve and William was discharged in 1868. 

But, William Cathay had set a standard and is noted in the history books of today to be the first known African-American woman to have enlisted in the U.S. Army.

The following is just one of the websites that tell William's story.

https://www.army.mil/africanamericans/profiles/williams.html