Female Buffalo Soldier- With Documents Cathay Williams or
William Cathay (Cathey) Private, Thirty-eighth U.S. Infantry
1866-1868 An Exceptional Woman About this page This page is
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Soldiers~Civil War & Beyond At the outbreak of the Civil War,
the government was fighting the Indians in the west. It withdrew
most of its men and resources from the Indian wars, to
concentrate on ending the rebellion. At the end of the Civil
War, 186,000 black soldiers had participated in the war, with
38,000 killed in action. Southerners and eastern populations did
not want to see armed Negro soldiers near or in their
communities. They were also afraid of the labor market being
flooded with a new source of labor. General employment
opportunities in these communities was not available to blacks,
so many African-Americans took a long hard look at military
service which offered shelter, education, steady pay, medical
attention and a pension. Some, such as Cathay Williams, th