Jennie Hodgers-After She Came Marching Home

After returning home to Illinois upon the conclusion of three years' service with the 95th Illinois Infantry, Jennie Hodgers relocated to four different towns before finally settling in Saunemin in 1869.  With her secret still intact, she maintained her male disguise and continued to take advantage of opportunities denied to women.  She voted in elections when it was still illegal for women to do so and worked at a variety of jobs including farmhand, day laborer, handyman, child sitter, janitor, property caretaker, and town lamplighter.  The ex-soldier was not only popular among her male comrades with whom she fought, but she was also respected and highly regarded by civilians she encountered during her post-war life.  One of the families for whom she worked, the Chesbros, even bought her a house, which still stands today and is open to tourists.   You can read a post about the house by clicking [HERE].

The Ira Lish house and garage where
the accident occurred.  It is a
private residence now.

 In 1890, Hodgers applied for and received a pension with the aid of fifteen former employers and acquaintances in the community who sent a statement to the Pension Bureau declaring her need for assistance.  Nobody knew that the soldier for whom they helped procure a pension was really a woman.  As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until she was involved in an accident in 1911 when her true identity was finally revealed.  Hodgers was working in the yard of Illinois state senator, Ira Lish, when he backed over her with his car, breaking her leg just below the hip.   During the course of the examination and treatment, the town doctor discovered Albert Cashier’s secret, which was revealed to only a few people initially until the story was leaked to the press in 1913.  Once her secret became public, Jennie Hodgers, hounded for more information, began to reveal bits and pieces of her past while maintaining privacy regarding many of the details surrounding her origins. 

Following the accident, Hodgers was admitted to the Quincy Veterans’ Home.  She remained there until 1914 when she was

Admission document from
the Quincy Soldiers' Home
(click to enlarge)

committed to the Watertown State Hospital after mental health personnel judged her insane.  Once the newspapers began to spread the story of Albert Cashier, some of her comrades with whom she had served traveled to visit her and show their support when the government tried to take away her pension under the accusations of fraud.   Many of them related stories of her hardworking spirit, endurance, and bravery.  It did not matter to them that Albert Cashier had been discovered to be a woman.  The trials of combat forged a bond among these soldiers that transcended gender.   The old soldiers were very protective of her while she was confined to the asylum and were outraged when attendants forced her to wear a dress, despite her protests.  She had worn pants her entire life, and some historians believe that an unfamiliarity of moving about in a long dress or skirt caused her to fall and break her hip.  The elderly woman never recovered. 

On October 10^th, 1915, Jennie Hodgers, alias Albert Cashier, died of an infection at the Watertown State Hospital in Moline, Illinois at the age of 71.  She was buried in a plot reserved for her by the Chesbro family in the Sunnyslope Cemetery located in Saunemin, Illinois.  The local G.A.R. post to which Hodgers belonged arranged a funeral for her with full military honors.  She was dressed in her uniform and buried in a flag-draped casket. Only Hodgers’ male alias appeared on her original headstone.  However, a newer stone was erected in 1985 that included both her feminine and masculine names.

Both of Jennie Hodgers' stones at Sunnyslope Cemetery

Mark and I recently visited the Quincy Soldiers' Home and went through their files on her.  Among 

the items included was her discharge papers from the Adjutant General (click to enlarge):

And there was a clothing ledger documenting what she was issued, which is in the left-hand column.  The right side records what she returned when she was judged insane and sent to the Watertown State Hospital.  This information could be considered trivial, but I totally geeked out over it! (click to enlarge)

The photo on the right is of Hodgers at the
Quincy Soldiers Home

There is also a deer park at Quincy!  As it was warm that day, they hung out by the fence row where there was plenty of shade.  I stalked them until I found one close enough to let me pet him/her.

After Hodgers was judged insane, she was transferred from Quincy to the Watertown State Hospital in 1914.  It changed names several times and is now an operational correctional facility called East Moline Correctional Center.  When Mark and I visited the location, we found it hidden by trees, so I took the best picture I could of one of the buildings.

This is what it looked like when she died there:

From asylumprojects.org

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Until next formation...rest.