The Fighting Infantryman: The Story of Albert D. J. Cashier, Transgender Civil War Soldier by Rob Sanders (review)

Born Jennie Hodgers in nineteenth century Ireland, our subject favored boys’ clothes even in early youth. After immigrating to America and moving to Illinois he became Albert D. J. Cashier, and that’s how he enlisted in the Union Army in 1862. Passing the cursory physical exam proved easy, so he served and fought for the duration of the war; after the end of the war, he worked hard at various jobs and collected his military pension. When an injury landed him in the hospital, his female traits were discovered, which endangered the pension and veteran’s status he had earned; his comrades from his battalion, however, fought successfully for his right to continue to collect and for his service to be honored, and when he died a few years later he received a full military funeral. This picture-book biography focuses on somebody usually treated as a historical oddity and puts him in significant contemporary context, and the emphasis on the respect and support of his comrades in arms makes the simply told account genuinely heart-warming. The digital art is less successful, veering between the cartoonish and the blurry, but scenes of Cashier’s final days and funeral are gently moody. Notes explain the uncertainty about Cashier’s life story, feature some of his comrades’ comments on him, and provide information about his motivation and transgender people; a glossary is included as is a list of extensive sources and a couple of mutely resonant photographs.