I was inspired by this recent NPR/History article, sent to me by a friend who thought I might find it inspiring. I did, but only partly for reasons he probably expected.

I'm not absolutely sure, and I can't prove it, but I don't believe the link and reference in the short paragraph about 'Jennie Hodgers' was in the original version of the piece I read as it was sent to me. I had written to the author asking about this specifically in between. I did not hear back, but he may have added that reference in response to me and others. His linked source consistently refers to Cashier as a woman throughout. But I don't know anything about the reputation of that source.

From his original, I was curious why a woman pretending to be a man in order to fight during the Civil War would have perpetuated the ruse right up to their death a half century later. The motive of pension is obvious, but the more I read about Cashier, the more I found myself persuaded that he was not a woman in his own mind, but instead lived his entire adult life as Albert Cashier.

One source I read said that his death was precipitated by a fall which resulted from him stumbling in a dress he had pinned up to wear more like pants. While the veterans home he had lived in was aware of his secret, they respected it and allowed him to live as a man. Two to three years before his death, however, his mind started to deteriorate, and he was moved to the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane (in 1913). There, his secret was discovered during an assisted bath, and he was made to wear a dress until he died two years later.

Some clues emerge for me from what's not explicitly stated. In order for his secret to have been discovered that way, it would have been necessary for the veterans home to have delivered him as a man and never let on. What would have been their motive? I suspect it's that they considered him to be a man, even though we know that they knew of his secret.

The Albert D.J. Cashier website maintained by the Saunemin Historical Society (which maintains his postwar home as a museum) uses his male name consistently (except when relating his origins), but also uses female pronouns throughout, as if they can't seem to make up their minds about how he saw himself. Their only direct remark about his gender is that, "it is purely speculation as to why she decided to change her identity." That seems like a cop-out to me, but I'm not an historian so I'm only expressing my feelings about it.

The site also notes that although he was buried with full honours, in his uniform, with a headstone bearing his male name, local citizens added a second tombstone in the 1970s bearing the female name he was born with.

I'd like to know what actual historians, people far more qualified than me, make of this. My gut tells me that Albert Cashier saw himself as a man his entire adult life, and never wavered. I know it's impossible for us to know for certain, but what does the available evidence argue?

Thank you.