Edward Day Cohota

Edward Day Cohota was born around 1843, likely in Shanghai, China, though conflicting reports obscure his exact birthdate.{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/accsacw/Home/cohota|title=Edward Day Cohota|website=Association to commemorate the Chinese serving in the American Civil War|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=27 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827025034/https://sites.google.com/site/accsacw/Home/cohota|url-status=dead}} The earliest account of Edward dates to December 27, 1845, when a ship's master named Sargent Sawyer Day sailed his ship, the Cohota, out of Shanghai's port.{{Cite web|url=https://weservedtoo.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/1st-known-civil-war-soldier-of-asian-heritage-in-va-history-edward-day-cohota/|title=1st known Civil War Soldier of Asian heritage in VA history – Edward Day Cohota|date=22 May 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231104060357/https://weservedtoo.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/1st-known-civil-war-soldier-of-asian-heritage-in-va-history-edward-day-cohota/|archive-date=November 4, 2023}} Stowed away he found two starved, ragged Chinese brothers, one a few years older than the other. Both were near the brink of death but the Captain kept them aboard instead of turning back. While the older boy died during the voyage, the younger boy survived and Day decided to raise the surviving child himself, naming him Edward Day Cohota and choosing December 27 as his birthday. Edward grew up in the Captain's home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, developing a close, lifelong relationship with the family.{{Cite web |title=1860 Federal Census for Gloucester, Essex county, Massachusetts |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GB9V-9W6P?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMZHF-KZT&action=view |access-date=November 29, 2024 |website=FamilySearch |at=Sargent Day's family is on lines 12-17. Chota is on line 17.}}{{Cite web |title=Massachusetts state census, 1865, for Edward Cohota |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9203/records/3295050 |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 29, 2024 |website=Acnestry}} In childhood Edward received education and was trained to be a sailor.

Cohota enlisted with Company I of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of the Army of the Potomac and mustered in on February 12,1864 at Boston Harbor's Long Island.{{Cite web |last=War Department. |first=Record and Pension Office. |title=Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Volunteer Organizations During the American Civil War, 1890–1912 |url=https://www.fold3.com/file/524844596/cohota-edward-d-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-union-massachusetts?terms=cohota,edward,d |url-access=subscription |at=National Archive ID: 300398, Job number: 14-026, Record Group: 94 |via=Fold3}} He participated in many battles and skirmishes including the second battle at Drewry's Bluff on May 5, 1864 where reportedly seven bullets went through his clothes but none injured him. A bullet grazed his head in early June at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia and left a permanent part in his hair. The muster roll for his unit shows him "absent sick" from sometime in the period between February and June to sometime in September or October of 1864. Cohota was discharged on June 25, 1865 as the war concluded.{{Cite web |title=Nebraska, Grand Army of the Republic, Burial Records, 1861-1948, Entry for Edward Day Cohota. |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89X2-FNX1?cc=2721451&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQL3D-HS8B&i=235 |access-date=November 29, 2024 |website=FamilySearch}} After being unable to find steady work as a sailor for almost a year he met some war buddies by chance, one of whom was a recruiting sergeant, and went to a bar to celebrate. He drank a bit too much and when the alcohol wore off he found he had re-enlisted in the army.{{cite web|url=https://www.mccunn.com/Civil-War.pdf|title=Chinese in the Civil War: Ten who Served|website=mccunn.com|access-date=27 January 2024|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305092750/https://www.mccunn.com/Civil-War.pdf|archive-date=March 5, 2024}}

Cohota served as a private in Company C and H of the 15th Infantry Regiment. He was stationed at Fort Union in New Mexico, Fort Randall in South Dakota for twenty years, then at Fort Sheridan in Illinois, and finally at Fort Niobrara in Nebraska. In 1883, Cohota married Anna Halstensen, a Norwegian woman, at Fort Randall. There he supposedly guarded a prominent Indian chief resistance fighter, Sitting Bull.{{Cite web |title=National Museum of the United States Army |url=https://www.thenmusa.org/biographies/edward-day-cohota/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241130002129/https://www.thenmusa.org/biographies/edward-day-cohota/ |archive-date=November 30, 2024 |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=www.thenmusa.org}}

In 1892, Cohota was caught selling alcohol and running a gambling hall for soldiers at Fort Sheridan on Illinois' Lake Michigan near Chicago and was moved to Fort Niobrara in Nebraska near the South Dakota border.{{Cite news |date=1892-04-13 |title=A Chinese bluecoat |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-wichita-eagle-a-chinese-bluecoat/159954601/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |work=The Wichita Eagle |pages= |at=page. 2, bottom of column 3}} He retired from the army in August 1895 and settled with his family in Valentine, Nebraska. There, he and Anna had six children: Lucy, Edward, Elizabeth, William, Daisy, and Miles. In February 1899 Anna died five months after giving birth to Miles and she is buried in Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.{{Cite news |date=1899-02-16 |title=Died Monday morning |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valentine-democrat-died-monday-morning/160010600/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |work=Valentine Democrat |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |title=The Chinese Patriot |url=https://www.nps.gov/foun/learn/historyculture/edward-day-cohota.htm |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Department of Veterans Affairs. |first=National Cemetery Administration. |title=J Anna Cahota in Burial Registers, 1867–2006 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3135/records/525479 |url-access=subscription |via=Ancestry.com}} By May 1900 Cohota himself had become ill and his youngest children were placed in an orphanage in Omaha while the older children were living with Charles Sherman.{{Cite news |date=1900-05-25 |title=Cohota children in orphanage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valentine-newspaper-cohota-children-in-o/160063868/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=Valentine Newspaper |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web |title=Lucy Cohota in the Twelfth Census of the United States |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-678Q-552?wc=9B7Q-BZ2%3A1030896901%2C1033363401%2C1033378901%26cc%3D1325221&cc=1325221&i=14 |access-date=December 1, 2024 |website=FamilySearch}} Miles died sometime between May and July of that year when Cahota was arrested for stealing cattle.{{Cite news |date=1900-07-26 |title=For Cattle Stealing |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valentine-democrat-for-cattle-stealing/160011077/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |work=Valentine Democrat |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} Unable to afford bail, he spent the next nine months in jail before he was acquitted and released on April 19, 1901.{{Cite news |date=1901-04-25 |title=Cohota a free man |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valentine-democrat-cohota-a-free-man/160064431/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=Valentine Democrat |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web |title=Traillink {{!}} TrailLink |url=https://www.traillink.com/historic-places/edward-day-cohota-and-chinese-american-soldiers-in-the-civil-war/ |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231104055833/https://www.traillink.com/historic-places/edward-day-cohota-and-chinese-american-soldiers-in-the-civil-war/ |archive-date=November 4, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-04 |website=www.traillink.com}} He later reunited with Lucy, Elizabeth and Edward.{{Cite web |title=Edward D. and Edward W. Cohota in the Twelfth Census of the United States |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-678Q-TLR?wc=9B7Q-BZ2%3A1030896901%2C1033363401%2C1033378901%26cc%3D1325221&cc=1325221&i=19 |access-date=November 30, 2024 |website=FamilySearch |via=}}{{Cite web |title=Thirteenth Census of the United States |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RNR-3V4?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMLWY-Y2X&action=view&cc=1727033 |access-date=November 30, 2024 |website=FamilySearch}} On March 2, 1902, his adoptive father, Sargent Sawyer Day, died in Gloucester.{{Cite web |title=Sargent Sawyer Day, death registered in Gloucester, Massachusetts |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-67H7-D4Z?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3ANWXN-Y8H&action=view |url-access=subscription |website=FamilySearch |at=Line 58}} By the following January he had gathered the means to buy the Kangaroo restaurant in Valentine.{{Cite news |date=1903-01-01 |title=Kangaroo restaurant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valentine-democrat-kangaroo-restaurant/160065379/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=Valentine Democrat |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} Cohota also worked as a baker, ran a livery barn business for a number of years and opened restaurants in Valentine. In 1910 his restaurant burned down but he rebuilt it.

Cohota's last battle was with the Federal Government. Despite fighting for and being wounded for the Union in the Civil War as well as three decades of service as an American soldier, he was not a citizen of the US. He thought that his service, as well as his long residence in the US, naturalized him. In 1912, Cohota was informed of his non-citizen status when he was denied a homestead claim on that basis. Furthermore, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prevented the US government from granting him citizenship and this law would not be repealed until five years after his death. Even after gaining the support of Senator Norris Brown and presenting his case to Congress, he did not win this battle though he continued his fight till his death.{{Cite news |date=1914-06-12 |title=Nebraska chinaman must remain alien |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-omaha-evening-bee-nebraska-chinaman/160069697/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=The Omaha Evening Bee |pages=15 |via=Newspapers.com}} He did, however, receive a veteran's pension.{{Cite web |title=Approved Pension File for Private Edward D. Cohota, Company I, 23rd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Companies C and H, 15th U.S. Infantry Regiment; and Companies B and G, 8th U.S. Infantry Regiment |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/148018468 |archive-date= |access-date=November 30, 2024 |website=National Archives and Records Administration|series=Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs }}

In 1917, Cohota retired to National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers’ Battle Mountain Sanitarium in Hot Springs, South Dakota.{{Cite web |title=US, National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/719944169/registers-page-3332-us-national-homes-for-disabled-volunteer-soldiers-1866-1938 |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 30, 2024 |website=National Archives and Records Administration |via=Fold3}} In his final days, he used to tour the country in his car and cook for his family.{{Cite news |date=1929-05-05 |title=Chinese veteran, 86, tours in car |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montgomery-advertiser/159954965/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |work=The Montgomery Advertiser |pages=45 |via=Newspapers.com}} He died on November 18, 1935 on the front porch of the family home at Parmelee, South Dakota, and was later buried in Valentine, Nebraska.{{Cite news |date=1935-12-14 |title=Edward D Cahota passes away at 93 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-obituary-for-cahota-day/159954872/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |work=The Boston Globe |pages=3}} The US Department of Veteran's Affairs honored Mr. Cohota's service by designating him Army Veteran of the Day on May 15, 2023.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-15 |title=Veteran Of The Day, Army Veteran Edward Cohota |url=https://news.va.gov/119584/veteranoftheday-army-edward-cohota/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241201040611/https://news.va.gov/119584/veteranoftheday-army-edward-cohota/ |archive-date=December 1, 2024 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=news.va.gov |language=en-US}}

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| Cohota's February 12, 1861 enlistment

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| Sargent Day's signature on Cohota's enlistment asserting that he was 18. He was actually 15.

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| Chinese-born Civil War veteran Edward Cohota in a more natural setting.

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | last1=Zhao | first1=X. | last2=D | first2=E.J.W.P.P. | title=Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History| publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-59884-240-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AxIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA325 | page=325}}
• {{cite book | last=Lee | first=J.H.X. | title=Asian American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2018 | isbn=978-0-313-39928-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0FvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52| page=52}}

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Category:1840s births

Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States

Category:1935 deaths

Category:American military personnel of Chinese descent

Category:Military personnel of the American Civil War

Category:American military personnel of the Indian Wars