The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1923-05-04
WOMEN FOUGHT
AS SOLDIERS
Pension Records Disclose One in
'76 and One in '6l.
BOTH REAL FIGHTING men"

The unique records Of two women
serving as private soldiers, one
throughout the Revolutionary war and
another in the Civil war, fighting on
the battlehelds and being wounded,
have just been discovered in the pen
sion bureau files.
Both women, one from Illinois, sue
ceeded in hiding their sex from the
other soldiers, and the fact that they
we're women was only disclosed when
they were awarded pensions. Their
names are Deborah Gannett and al
bert" d. j. Cashier, or Rodgers, and
they are the only women i'm American
history who were paid pensions for
actual military service.
Tire first Of these women warriors
was Deborah Gannett of Massachu-
sets. She enlisted April, 1871, in a
Massachusetts regiment commanded by
Col. Henry Jackson under the assumed
name Of Robert Shurtleff, and served
until November, 1888, as private sol
der, when she was hOnorably dis
charged.
Fought at Tarrytown.
She fought at Tarrytown, where she
was wounded, and was in the ranks
when Lord CORVALLIS was captured.
Her real identity was revealed after
the war, and in 1888 congress passed
special bill for the relief of her heirs,
awarding them pension in which she
was described as Deborah Gannett,
soldier Of the revolution"
The second woman was Albert ID.
]. Cashier whose real name was
Hodgers, but whose Christian name
was never revealed She enlisted as "A
private in Company G, Ninety-iifth fill
nols infantry, In August, 1865. At the
time she joined she was nineteen, with
blue eyes and auburn hair. She gave
her occupation as a farmer and her
residence at Belyidere H.
She went through the entire cam
paign with the Ninety-fifth Illinois in
fnntry, was in the engagements leading
to the fall of Vicksburg, including n
charge against the besieged city. She
also participated in the Jackson and
East Meridian raids, the Red River eX-
pedltions, capture of Fort De Russy,
and the battles of Old river, Cloutier-
VILE Mansura and yellow Bayou.
In ThIckest of Fight.
In April, 1864, she was in the thick
est OF the fight Of Guntown, Miss,
where the regiment lost heavily in
killed and wounded. Later she par
ticipated in the battle of Nashville and
the pursuit of General Hoods defeated
army, and was at Franklin, Columbia,
Pulaski, Lawrenceburg and East Port.
After being discharged, she returned
to Illinois and worked on farm herd
ing cattle. Later she was awarded a
pension and became an inmate of the
Soldiers home at Quincy, ILL.,, and re-
manned there except for intervals,
when she engaged in farm labor on
farms in Boone, Kankakee and Liy-
ingston counties In Illinois.
1t was on one of these occasions,
while employed by State Senator Lish
of Saunemin, H. that she was struck
by an automobile, and it was while
receiving surgical attention that her
secret was discovered. She pleaded
with the physicians not to reveal her
sex. She died at Watertown, ILL.,, In
1918.
An investigation of her early life
conducted by the pension bureau re
suited in the discovery that she was
born in Clogher Head Ireland, where
with twin brother she herded sheep
and dressed in male attire because she
could do her work better.