He Was a She

From the Spring 2010 Bugle Call of the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Foundation "He Was a She" by Len Eagleburger.

While looking around for more information on Springfield, Missouri's Civil War cannons, I came across this article about a woman who served as an enlisted soldier in a Union regiment during the war. I am somewhat familiar with Albert Cashier who served in an Illinois regiment and is buried in Sauneman, Illinois.

Her "service name" was Alfred J. Luther and she joined the 1st Kansas Infantry regiment May 30, 1861 and later became a corporal. Her home was listed as Elwood, Kansas. She was wounded at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri August 10, 1861, and evidently was able to keep her gender secret. The 1st Kansas casualties that day were 300 of its 800 men (and woman) engaged.

She was promoted to sergeant May 1, 1862. She died at Lake Providence, Louisiana, on March 22, 1863 of Varioloid (smallpox), at the beginning of Grant's Vicksburg Campaign. That is when her secret was discovered.

She was 24 and is buried at the Vicksburg National Cemetery, Section K, grave #5971.

I came across someone looking for her real name so that it can be placed on her gravestone, but no one seems to know it. I would imagine Elwood, which was listed as her residence, was not her real home to keep her past secret.

Will the Real Alfred Luther Please Stand Up. --Old B-Runner