UNERASING LGBTQ HISTORY AND IDENTITIES PODCAST SEASON 8 EPISODE 2

Published February 24, 2026

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TRANSCRIPT

Deb Fowler: Hello, and welcome to UnErasing LGBTQ History and Identities — A Podcast.  I’m Deb Fowler, co-founder of History UnErased. 

 

Buffalo soldiers were African Americans, many formerly enslaved, who were our first Black professional soldiers in a peacetime army. They protected settlers, built roads, ran telegraph lines, escorted wagon trains and stagecoaches, protected mail routes, and hunted down outlaws and cattle rustlers. They also fought in the Indian Wars to dispossess Indigenous peoples of their land and they fought against Mexican revolutionary forces along the border. And much, much more! They did all of this while facing intense racism from the government they served. They were given the worst assignments, the oldest equipment, the harshest posts in the most remote and dangerous locations. 

 

And now you are about to meet a unique Buffalo soldier, whose own complex story mirrors the broader story of America itself. Take it away, Kathleen!

 

Kathleen Barker: Our story begins in Independence, Missouri, in 1844. Cathay Williams was born to an enslaved woman and a free man. When Missouri entered the Union as a slave state in 1821 as part of the Missouri Compromise, it adopted laws establishing that children born to enslaved mothers were themselves enslaved, regardless of the father's status. Cathay’s freedom was stolen before she was even born! 

 

We know that as a teenager, she worked in the kitchen of the William Johnson plantation near Jefferson City, Missouri, and served as a personal assistant to Johnson's wife. But the Civil War was about to change everything. In 1861, Union forces occupied Jefferson City. Under the Confiscation Act of 1861, Cathay and other enslaved men, women, and children who encountered the Union Army were deemed “contraband,” or war materials confiscated from their Confederate owners. These individuals were then pressed into working for the Union Army. Cathay became what was called a "camp follower," working as a cook and washerwoman for the Union Army. For almost three and a half years, she traveled with the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment and later with General Philip Sheridan's staff. She witnessed battles, including the 1864 Red River campaign in Louisiana, endured hardships, and lived the soldier's life. She did everything, except wear a uniform. But that would change after the war. 

 

In July 1866, Congress established the U.S. Colored Troops, six African American regiments. This was the first time black men were allowed to enlist as part of the regular, permanent army (although more than 200,000 Black men served in the Union military in the later years of the Civil War). These troops would become known as Buffalo Soldiers in the years that followed, serving primarily in the western territories and states. Historians aren’t entirely sure where the names "Buffalo Soldiers” came from, but the most widely accepted explanation is that Native Americans, particularly the Cheyenne and Comanche, gave them this name. Some accounts say it was because of the soldiers' dark, curly hair, which reminded them of the buffalo's woolly coat. Others suggest it was because the soldiers fought with the same fierce, determined spirit as the buffalo, an animal that Plains tribes deeply respected for its strength and resilience. The Black soldiers themselves embraced the name, and some regiments even incorporated buffalo imagery into their unit insignia.

 

On November 15, 1866, William Cathay walked into a St. Louis recruiting station and enlisted in the U.S. Army.  William Cathay was, of course, Cathay Williams. They enlisted with a cousin and someone they called a “particular friend.” We’ll refer to our protagonist as “William,” and use he/him pronouns, when he is serving as a soldier, and “Cathay” and she/her pronouns when we’re discussing life before and after the Army. 

 

William signed a three-year enlistment, and was assigned to Company A, 38th U.S. Infantry, as a cook. As a soldier, William was guaranteed food, lodging, and a salary of $13 per month, the same pay offered to white soldiers. For Cathay WIlliams, this military service in the first Black regiments in the professional Army offered the kind of opportunities and mobility that simply didn't exist for freed Black women in Missouri, or frankly, anywhere else in America.

 

William's service would take him from Missouri and Kansas through Oklahoma to the New Mexico and Colorado territories. Unfortunately, his time in the military got off to a rocky start. Just three months into his service, he contracted smallpox, a potentially deadly disease that killed countless soldiers on the frontier. He was separated from his company and sent across the river to a hospital in East St. Louis, where he spent two months recovering. 

 

Once released from the hospital, he didn't waste any time. He hopped on a train heading west and caught up with his regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas. Fort Riley opened in 1853, and was built to protect travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Several other companies were stationed there at the same time, including one led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The very same flamboyant, daring cavalry officer who would become infamous for leading 200 troops to their death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Although we have no evidence that William and Custer ever spoke to one another, it’s fun to imagine what such an encounter might have been like!  

 

Unfortunately, in the spring of 1867, cholera was running rampant across the plains. The bacteria spreads through contaminated food or water and causes horrible symptoms, like severe diarrhea, vomiting, intense thirst, and painful leg cramps. Without proper treatment, it’s deadly.  So in May, Company A got their marching orders: move southwest to Fort Harker, about 90 miles away. Located in Kansas, Fort Harker was still under construction at this point, but it was quickly becoming the main supply depot for all the western forts, making it a hub for soldiers, travelers, and traders. It was also the last stop for the Pacific Railroad at that time. But here's the grim part: That summer, Fort Harker saw more cholera deaths than any other western fort. The outbreak there was catastrophic. But William and Company A got lucky. Before the worst of it hit, they received new orders to relieve troops at Fort Union in New Mexico. 

 

William’s regiment escaped the cholera outbreak. But what they were marching toward was going to test them in entirely different ways. William and Company A were about to embark on an 800-mile journey on foot into southern New Mexico. His uniform didn't include the sturdy boots we might picture today. Instead, he and his fellow soldiers marched in simple leather shoes with no arch support that were not designed for walking hundreds of miles through varied terrain, such as grasslands, swamps, forests, and streams. And remember that these shoes weren't just carrying a soldier’s  body weight. Every soldier carried 40 to 50 pounds of gear on their back. After walking 500 miles over four weeks, Company A finally arrived at Fort Union in late June. But they only stayed a few short weeks before receiving new orders: march south to Fort Cummings in what is now Luna County, New Mexico. 

 

Wedged between the Mimbres Mountains and the Florida Mountains, deep in Chiricahua Apache territory, Fort Cummings was more isolated than any place they'd seen before. William and his company marched another 400 miles on foot. The flat Kansas and Oklahoma grasslands gradually gave way to mountains around Santa Fe, then rocky, boulder-strewn terrain as they pushed south. When the regiment hit the Rio Grande River, they had no choice but to swim across it. Three weeks after leaving Fort Union, they finally arrived. Do the math: William had just marched close to 1,000 miles!

 

Fort Cummings was built to protect a freshwater spring and the dangerous mountain pass located on an overland trail used by western migrants. The location of the spring left travelers completely exposed, making them easy targets for Apache attacks. The fort itself was nothing special:  just a perimeter of 12-foot adobe walls surrounding some low, flat-roofed buildings. Life at the fort was mind-numbingly boring: endless drilling, guard duty, hauling stones, chopping wood, baking bread. Sometimes soldiers had to travel 25 miles just to find timber. Morale tanked fast, and soldiers did what they could to entertain themselves. Fighting, gambling, drinking, stealing—all of it increased, and within weeks of arriving, soldiers were already getting arrested left and right. Then on December 1, 1867, everything exploded. A white lieutenant accused his maid, a Black woman named Mattie Merritt, of stealing money. White officers searched her. Found nothing. And still ordered her cast out of the garrison. Think about what that meant: alone in Apache country with no water, and no protection. It was a death sentence. That afternoon, soldiers gathered around the flag in the parade ground and refused to disperse until Mattie was cleared of the charges. This is what life was like for the Buffalo Soldiers. They were protecting white settlers who harassed them whenever they went into town. The hypocrisy was crushing.

 

By June 1868, William had had enough. Company A received orders to move to Fort Bayard, 50 miles northwest. Within weeks of arriving, William checked into the infirmary with the vague complaint of "neuralgia.” The truth? He was exhausted. The constant Apache threat, the endless marching, the racism, and the physical pain, it all took a toll. 

 

Years later, in a newspaper interview, Cathay admitted she might have exaggerated her illness, but here's something to ponder: she told the doctors in the infirmary that she was a woman. William was honorably discharged from the army for health reasons, although the discharge papers make no mention of her being a woman. Why do you think the doctors did this? We may never know, but on October 14, 1868, after two years of service, nearly 1,000 miles on foot, disease, isolation, and constant danger, Cathay Williams became a civilian again.

 

After leaving the Army, Cathay Williams returned to living as a woman. She traveled north toward the Santa Fe Trail, likely catching a ride with an Army unit heading that direction. Her first stop? Fort Union, where she got hired to cook for a colonel and his family. But in 1870, Cathay was on the move again. She traveled another 200 miles north into Colorado Territory, following the Santa Fe Trail as far as Trinidad, and continued north toward Denver. She finally stopped in Pueblo and found work as a cook and laundress, saving up enough money to buy herself a wagon and a team of horses. She even got married! Sadly, her husband turned out to be a complete scoundrel, absconding with her wagon, her horses, a watch, and $100 in cash. But as we have seen, Cathay was no pushover. She tracked him down and had him arrested and thrown in jail. 

 

Once again, she picked herself up and kept moving, finally settling in Trinidad, Colorado Territory. There, she made her living cooking, sewing, doing laundry, and even performing some nursing work. And that's where a reporter found her!  A journalist from the St. Louis Daily Times heard about this woman who'd served as a Buffalo Soldier. Published on January 2, 1876, the article includes candid details about Cathay’s military service, as well as the reporter’s description of Cathay. He wrote that she was "a tall woman, powerfully built, black as night, masculine looking, and has a very independent air both in conversation and action." Dressed in men's clothing, he noted she was "hard and sinewy." 

 

Life continued on for Cathay, but her body was paying the price for those years of service. Sometime in 1889 or 1890, the pain in her feet became unbearable. She checked into the hospital in Trinidad, where she spent a year and a half undergoing at least two surgeries. The first surgery amputated all the toes on her right foot. The second took all the toes on her left foot along with her metatarsal bones. Walking became difficult, even with crutches, and working was almost impossible. Unsurprisingly, Cathay was determined to fight for what she’d earned. She hired a law firm in Washington, D.C., to file a claim for a U.S. Army pension. She had her certificate of disability for discharge. This document clearly stated that a soldier with such a discharge had the right to a disability pension. 

 

But of course, the U.S. government wanted a complete, updated medical exam. In the fall of 1891, a surgeon examined Cathay following her amputations. He noted that she was "a large, stout woman in good general health." He acknowledged the disability was probably permanent and documented additional ailments: diabetes, deafness, rheumatism, neuralgia, and "frosted feet"—basically severe frostbite damage, likely from marching all of those miles in thin-soled shoes. Six months later, she got word from the Pension Bureau: claim rejected.

 

The Pension Bureau's reasoning? The Army doctor who'd filed her disability discharge certificate at Fort Bayard hadn't specified the exact cause of her disability. Never mind that she had official documentation. Never mind multiple foot surgeries and amputations. Never mind years of documented service. Her attorneys wrote back to the Pension Bureau, but we don't know how, or if, they responded. And this is where Cathay Williams's trail goes cold. We don't know what happened to her after that rejection. The exact date of Williams' death is unknown, but it is assumed she died shortly after being denied a pension. Historians believe she died sometime in 1893. Her final resting place is unknown.

 

Cathay Williams made history as the first known Black woman to serve in the U.S. Army, but her story is about so much more than breaking barriers. It's about survival, determination, and the brutal realities of frontier military life in the years immediately following the Civil War. Her experience humanizes the Buffalo Soldiers and shows that military service, while offering opportunities unavailable to Black women elsewhere, came at an enormous cost. Cathay Williams walked nearly 1,000 miles as a Buffalo Soldier. She survived smallpox, cholera outbreaks, Apache territory, racial violence, and a no-good husband. She literally lost her toes to military service. But none of these challenges stopped her from being a badass Buffalo soldier. 

 

We have a breaking news update! You probably thought that was the end of the story, right? But here’s the fascinating thing about history: it evolves as new sources are discovered and previously known sources are reinterpreted in light of new evidence. And what we know about Cathay Williams continues to evolve. For decades, much of what we knew about Cathay Williams came from military documents and the newspaper article published in 1876. But as historians continue to study Cathay’s life, new questions arise. Most importantly, what if we’ve had the story backwards this entire time? What if Cathay wasn’t a woman posing as a man in the military? What if Cathay was a transgender woman? How might this flip the script on how we understand this badass Buffalo soldier? Be sure to check the primary sources in the transcript to dig deeper into the story of Cathay Williams.

 

DF: Kathleen Barker is History UnErased’s program director and podcast host, and is a library and information specialist and public historian with over 20 years of experience as a museum and library educator. This podcast is funded by the New York City Council. It was developed by History UnErased and produced and edited by Dinah Mack, our youth equity program director and podcaster. Our theme music is “1986” by BrothaD via Tribe of Noise. 

 

We would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] and let us know where in the world you are listening, or what history we can highlight in a future episode from your corner of the world. That’s [email protected] - and please subscribe, rate, and share this podcast! 

I’m Deb Fowler. Thanks for listening. 

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Sources: 

1. Disapproved Pension Application File for Cathay Williams (AKA William Cathay), 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment, Company A (SO-1032593). National Archives. 

2. Cathay Williams Pension Records. National Park Service. (Retrieved from the Internet Archive)

3. Cathay Williams - New Mexico Historic Women Marker Program.

4. Cathay Williams | United States | NABMW.