Email to President Obama

2009-01-31T17:25:00.002Z

Letters And Emails
Email and letter have been sent to President Barack Obama.In keeping with the Societies policy of transparency here they are.
email. Mr. President: The Jennie Hodgers Memorial Society congratulates you on takeing office. May God be with your quest.
We'r at: http://www.jenniehodgers.blogspot.com/ Have letter in mail ,re.Women Soldiers who faught in U.S.Civil War.
We hope it gets your attention.
Sincerly, Co/Chr... Mike O' Carroll.
Letter to:Mr. President Barak Obama.

Dear Mr. President,This letter is a follow up to Email sent to your office by our Society on Jan.24,09.
Mr. President, our Society is attempting to erect a monument we call it ''The Rosa Memoria. It is to commemorate aveteran Women Soldier who faught in the Union Armey during the U.S. Civil War. Her name was Jennie Hodgers, and she was a native of Irelande.
History presents us with documented evidence that 200--some say 300--Women Soldiers,like Jennie Hodgers, faught bravely with the Union Armey to end the horror of humen slavery. To this day offical U.S. Military records refuse to recognise that such Women Soldiers ever existed despite evidence to the contra.
At this moment, our Society is getting as many women as possible to singe a ledger to help build our Rosa Memoria. When our mission is accomplished that list of names will be handed in to the U.S. consulate in Dublin as a show of concern. A simlar method will be used in the U.S. as groups of women over there wish to see a Rosa Memoria erected in the U.S. as well.
Mr. President: we request, on behalf of all those women,that, as Commander in Chief of allU.S. military, you exercise exetive authority to have this denial of history addressed.
With sincerity and respect.
Signed by...Mike O'Carroll...and...Paddy Hodgins.......Co/chr.J.H.M.S.

2009-01-21T20:20:00.006Z

This obelisk only suggests what Jennies ‘’ Rosa Memoria’’might look like if it were part of the overall design of her monument. It is only a table model and not built to scale. The four sides could have, for instance, a rose pattern embossed as though it wished to ramble all the way to the golden cap stone.
Of course, a suitable back ground would be necessary to bring it into harmony with the local inviorement.Many people think the obelisk is essentially a male monument. Not so, according to Egyptology study seems to suggest that the obelisk made it’s appetence during the reign of a women Pharaoh named Queen Hatshepsut. If this be so one will have to admit that the obelisk is the mother of all monuments. Anyway, Queen Hatshepsut died and was followed by a male Pharaoh. This dudes contribution was to order his stone masons to chip away the queens name and have his own name embossed in bold capitols on all obelisks....’Poor man, he was having a severe gender moment that day.’’

Who Was Jennie Hodgers

2009-01-16T12:02:00.066Z

Jennie Hodgers was a girl born in Clougherhead, Co.Louth, Ireland.

At age sixteen she emigrated to the U.S.A.

When she arrived in the U.S.A. Jennie deliberately changed her identity by dressing as a man. She changed her name also, and was known by the alias Albert D.J.Cashier. Her ability to play the role of a man was so good that nobody tumbled to the fact that she was a teenage girl. What urged Jennie to dress as a man is not known. Perhaps it was genetic. Whatever the reason was, we do know her decision to dress as a man would earn her a place in U.S military history for ever and a day.

This Is How It Happened

By age nineteen Jennie was working in the State of Illinois employed as farmhand: everything was going her way. However, things were brewing big time in Washington D.C that would alter Jennie’s life for years to come. Abraham Lincoln was president elect and he was determined to put an end to human slavery in the U.S.A. The Confederate South refused to comply with Lincoln’s order.

War Broke Out

President Lincoln called for thousands of young men to volunteer for military service. When Jennie Hodgers heard the call she dropped tools and headed for the nearest recruiting office.

In those days medical requirements were not an issue. No clothes were removed .A quick check and the recruit was told: --- Pick up your gun Lad, you’re in the army now, and not behind the plow. ----And so it was that, on the 6 of August 1863, nineteen year old Miss Jennie Hodgers, of Clougherhead, Co. Louth, Ireland, entered the Union Army as Private First Class Albert D. J. Cashier. Not one of the new recruits had a notion that fellow soldier Al. as they called him, was a healthy young girl. All they knew was that Al. was a little Irish guy 5-3’ who spoke with a funny accent. They also observed: little Al.Cashier knew how to mind his own business, but he could carry his end of the can when called on.

Some twelve young men enlisted on the same day as Jennie. They were assigned to company G Illinois 95 Infantry. After a brief training the Illinois 95 were ordered to march South where they joined up with General Ulessas Grant’s army.
Jennie Hodgers now found herself in the thick of a soul searching Civil War that nearly tore the United States apart.

By all accounts of her comrades, Jennie’s bravery was beyond question. For instance, during the battle of Vicksburg, they tell us, Jennie was taken prisoner. When the Confederate soldier in charge of prisoner detail was rliveing himself or something like that, she kicked his rifle away and took off like a jack rabbit through bushes .The pursuit that followed failed to catch her. Later on she returned to company G to the cheers of her comrades.

It is said that Jennie fought in twenty odd battles without so much as receiving a scratch. The only time she had need of a medic was when she had a bout of dysentery after the battle of Nashville.

Now IT Must Be Reported

Jennie Hodgers was not the only girl who passed herself off as a man in the Union Army. Historians tell us that some 200 or more women tried their hand at it. What separates Jennie from all of them is this: she was the only one to get by without detection. Sooner or later, all the other women were found out and told to go home, or else serve as nurses in field hospitals which they did.

Jennie Holds The Record

The record shows Jennie is the only women in American history to have accomplished this. She holds the record and will be remembered forever. Never again will a woman have to disguise her gender in order to serve in the military of the U.S.A., or anywhere else for that matter.

Accounts of Jennie Hodgers, and all the other brave women of the Civil War, are to be found in books, magazines, and videos. Most of the stuff written about them is utter rubbish. Jennie Hodgers in particular has been singled out for ridicule. All kind of crap has been flung at her memory down through the years. Some scribblers have even referred to her as an infamous person.

Imagine referring to a young girl, of nineteen, as an infamous person who risked life and limb fighting against the most damned of all institutions: human slavery.
Shame on those scribblers. And double shame on the critics who let them get by with it. And triple shame on Ireland that never did a thing to defend Jennie’s memory, or recognise her courage. Mention Jennie Hodgers name and it falls on deaf ears. The people never heard of her and could care less.

Despite this sad state of affairs, you might like to know, something is been done to reverse this attitude. In Clougherhead a group of well meaning people are organising ----The Jennie Hodgers Memorial Society---The society is eager to erect a memorial to do Jennie honour and justice. A plaque stuck to a wall, or her name imprinted in concrete is not what they have in mind

The conventional plaque’s, statues, and silly looking effigies, one see’s scattered all over Ireland of men who were either blind poet’s, drink guzzling writers, rock ‘an roll singers, flute players, melodeon players, or masters of some overrated male dominated sport, is not for Jennie Hodgers. She deserves something better than a boring monotonous effigy. Anyone who suggests a statue is enough for her has not given the life and times of Jennie Hodgers a serious thought for one split second.
Jennie was a woman who took up a gun to fight for black people who were enslaved by a white male dominated society. By gender she too, like all women of her time, was denied liberty. Historians fail to point out that all those brave women of the Civil War were fighting for the freedom of women as well. And their effort was as tenacious as that of Joan of Arc

Jennie and Joan of Arc Compared

When you considers the life stories of Joan of Arc and Jennie Hodgers you can’t fail but to see how closely those two, unique women, resembled each other.

they had the same first name.

they both came from small farming communities.

they had no formal education of any kind.

they dressed as men and went to war while still in their teens.

they fought with valour and were respected by their fellow soldiers.

they were the victims of a political intrigue.

they were tried in an all male court room.

they were accused of fraud, embezzlement and making a skit of men.

they were betrayed by society in their moment of need.

they were found guilty and declared insane by the rule of law of their day.

they died alone, without friend or family.

they were rehabilitated, in a half ass way, by later generations.

The Jennie Hodgers Memorial Society has concluded that the only monument to do her justice would be the ‘Rosa Memoria’ . The idea for this type of monument is now in it’s incubation stage. The ‘Rosa Memoria’ is the working name the society has given this new monument which they intend to erect.

The ‘Rosa Memoria’ Explained

‘’Your names are unknown, but your deeds are eternal’’.Those are the words written on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in St. Petersburg Russia. It commemorates the siege the city endured during world war two. Paris France has it’s impressive Tomb of the Unknown in The Arc de Triomphe. The U.S.A has it’s beautiful Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington National Cemetery.Many other nations have their Tomb of the Unknown.

But where on mother earth do we find a tomb commemorating the Unknown Women Soldier. No where!!

The purpose of the ‘Rosa Memoria’ is to bring closer to the shameful way women soldiers were treated during the U.S. Civil War and the awful way Ireland ignored one of them: our own Jennie Hodgers.

Our U.S. Friends are Watching

In the U.S.A. staunch supporters are keeping a close eye on our effort to build the Jennie Hodgers ‘Rosa Memoria’ They are aware our task is a difficult one. Getting people to support a new concept, in Ireland, is no easy matter. Our U.S. friends look on us as pioneers. They know that the Jennie Hodgers ‘Rosa Memoria ‘is the prototype. If we succeed it will encourage them to kick start their own project .They have dreams of erecting a huge ‘Rosa Memoria’ to commemorate all the women soldiers who fought in the American Civil War. Women Soldiers may have fought in many other lands against the horror of human slavery and have been deliberately forgotten by history.The Irish effort to erect a ‘Rosa Memoria’may help others to remember their own brave ones.

What Will It Look Like

That’s the first question most people ask. Our plans, at the moment, are to hold a contest. Architects, artist, structural engineers, sculptures, or any one with a brilliant idea, will be invited to submit ideas for consideration. Seeing that the ‘Rosa Memoria’ is a women’s monument women will be given priority. However, men should not be discouraged by this, especially couples or groups.

Jennie Hodgers' Memorial Society

Email to President Obama

Who Was Jennie Hodgers