Sarah's first filed duty occurred in February 1864, when the 153d marched 700 miles to join the Red River campaign in Louisiana (Sarah pp). As the campaign was nearing the end, Sarah was stricken with dysentery and died in the Marine Hospital of New Orleans on May 22, 1864 (Sarah pp). Her identity remained undiscovered for more than a hundred years, until the letters she had written home during the war surfaced (Sarah pp). She had left behind a ring, on which was engraved her regiment and name (Sarah pp). She is buried in Louisiana in a grave marked Lyons (Sarah pp).

Cathay Williams was born into slavery in 1842 near Independence, Missouri (Women pp). She grew up and worked as a house-girl for William Johnson, a wealthy planter in Jefferson City, Missouri (Women pp). During the Civil War, Union soldiers liberated Cathay and she spent the remainder of the...
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