Recently I did a post about women who have secretly lived as men. I am not surprised that women can be convincing as men, it just surprises me that it is often a long-term success, especially in war.
Clearly they never had to get their kit off in front of the rest of the soldiers, this means no bathing and limited toileting. When a campaign can last for months and everyone lives in extremely close quarters these women would have to watch their every move!
The Horsham Times 18 Sep 1914 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72907618
A perfect example of these military Mizters* is shown in this article from 1914.
Albert Cashier was born in Ireland and came to America as a young stowaway, later serving as a soldier for sixty years and fighting with great gallantry in bloody battles.
After the war Albert went back to life as a workman.
Eventually due to age and infirmity he was admitted to the Soldiers Home in Quincy, Illinois, where, at the age of 72, a surgeon found that Albert was a woman.
Albert refused to give her name or any details of her history. After that amount of time living as Albert the soldier I expect there is no other person she would have wanted to be.
*Mizter- A woman living secretly and successfully as a man. I am hoping to see this term used somewhere else one day. I might have left my run a bit late though, women can bloke it up as much as they like these days without any need for secrecy… Oh well, back to the drawing board… 🙂
Buried words and Bushwa. 
I don’t know Metan, in a world where we have to fill in more forms than ever I think Mizter is a huge improvement on ‘other’ in the salutations box 😀
Thank you 🙂 Defining a woman who would rather people thought of her a man as ‘him’ or ‘her’ with an emphasis on the ‘___’ seems a little rude. As an unmarried woman (but one half of a veeery long-term relationship) I hate the Miss, Mrs or Ms thing. I always say ‘none’ when asked which I am and never fill any of them out on forms. The Man of the House has to be Mr, there are no choices for a bloke, but I am just me. I don’t even want a term for me 😉
lmao – good for you Metan. Since my divorce I’ve been calling myself Ms quite aggressively but I may give that all away and just go as ‘none’ too 😀
Often when I am filling form in and I say ‘none’ I am told ‘I have to put something’ I just tell them to put whatever they want. It is funny to see them trying to work out what to put and working out if I will be insulted by their choice.
lol – now that sounds like fun 😉 Never hurts anyone to think outside the box every so often!
I’ve always found her story interesting and wished there was more info to be had on her. She lived in the next State over from me. I may do a post on her in the future. Great post!
It is an interesting story, wonder how many others lived this way and were never found out?
During the Civil War there were quite a few who masqueraded as soldiers for both sides. Unlike Hodgers/Cashier they usually resumed their previous lives at the end of the war. Sarah Rosetta Wakeman’s was also a very interesting, but sad life.
If you ‘miss’ putting something in the box on a form they often come back with Mr, in communications. So as our very own Mizter could we be reading about you one day?
This si a great post and has been a great subject. There seem to have been quite a few who’ve lived like this and it’s funny how many choose to serve in the forces. Perhaps there’s just too much activity going on there for them to be caught and yet you’d think it a prime place since they are literally surrounded by men all day.
Thanks for the entertainment Metan.
Hugs. David
Fortunately I have never had the Mr problem, if I have left it blank mail always comes addressed to plain old me….
It amazes me that Albert was never caught after being surrounded by men all day for years on end. Perhaps it is as you say, there was too much activity for her to be noticed. I am glad you’ve enjoyed these stories, it would certainly have been an unusual life for these Mizters 🙂
Bathing wasn’t real big back then, facilities were non-existent and casualties were often such that troops were shuffled in and out with such regularity that I could see how someone who wanted to pull this kind of a ruse off could make it work. Must have been rather nerve-wracking, though, wondering on a daily basis if you were going to be discovered.
I imagine they wore their clothes until they just fell off, so group showers were not something that would be a problem, but I can only imagine how many other situations there would have been the chance to get caught.
No wonder Albert was such a good fighter, if he spent all of his time on edge waiting to be caught I wouldn’t really want to be the one he took it out on!