Albert D. J. Cashier - Nominee

When Albert D. J. Cashier emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland as a teenager he cast off the name and gender he was assigned at birth. In 1862 the 5’-3” 19 year old Belvidere man enlisted in the 95^th Illinois Infantry, Company G. Cashier fought in approximately 40 battles during the Civil War including Nashville, Vicksburg, and the Red River Campaign before being mustered out with his regiment at war’s end in 1865. During this time no one ever considered him anything but a good soldier and “one of the boys.” After the war he worked as a farmhand, a janitor, a cemetery worker, and a lamplighter – eventually settling in 1869 in Saunemin, IL. There Cashier’s gender assigned at birth was discovered by his employers, but seeing only harm in disclosure, the family kept his secret. In 1910, Cashier was employed as a handyman for State Senator Ira Lish who accidentally ran over Cashier, breaking his leg. Upon medical examination, Cashier’s gender assigned at birth was revealed again. Disabled from the accident, the Senator arranged for Cashier to enter the Illinois Soldier and Sailors Home in Quincy, IL., swearing the staff to secrecy. Cashier lived there three years and loved discussing his Civil War career with other veterans. In 1914, with his mental health in decline, Cashier was sent to the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane where he was forced to identify as a woman and wear a dress. He died in 1915 and was buried in Saunemin wearing his Union uniform. His first tombstone read only Albert D. J. Cashier – later a second monument was erected that reads: “Albert D. J. Cashier.  Co. G, 95, Inf.  Civil War.  Born Jennie Hodgers in Clogher Head, Ireland.  1843-1915.”