Saturday, March 22, 2014

Edward Day Cohota, 1892 and 1895

The New York Times
April 13, 1892
Chinese Soldier Gone Wrong.
Chicago, April 12.—Private Edward De [sic] Cohota, the only Chinaman in the Army of the United States, has been banished in disgrace from Fort Sheridan, near this city, to the distant west. Cohota, who is a private in company H, Fifteenth Infantry, fought through the war, and has been in the service over twenty-seven years.

The cause of his removal to his new station, Fort Niobrara, is for selling liquor and keeping a gambling house, which was patronized by his white comrades in arms.

The Wichita Daily Eagle
(Kansas)
April 13, 1892
A Chinese Bluecoat.
(same story as The New York Times)

The Iola Register
(Kansas)
April 22, 1892
Banished to the West.
The Only Chinaman in the United States Army Disciplined.
(same story as The New York Times)

Omaha Daily Bee
(Nebraska)
April 13, 1892
For Ways That Are Dark.
Banishment of a Chinese Soldier from Fort Sheridan.
(same story as The New York Times)

Pittsburg Dispatch
(Pennsylvania)
April 13, 1892
The Only Chinese Blue-Coat
(same story as The New York Times)

St. Paul Daily Globe
(Minnesota)
April 13, 1892
Fall of the Only Chinaman in Uncle Sam’s Army
(same story as The New York Times)

The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
(West Virginia)
April 13, 1892
In Disgrace.
(same story as The New York Times)

Weekly Expositor
(Brockway Centre, Michigan)
April 22, 1892
Cahota [sic] Banished.
(same story as The New York Times)

Omaha Daily Bee
(Nebraska)
December 8, 1895
Cohota, a Chinaman from Fort Niobrara, Frank Boyd of Springview and J. Durfee were awarded similar punishment for selling liquor without government license.

World-Herald
(Omaha, Nebraska)
December 8, 1895
E.D. Cohota pleaded guilty to bootlegging whisky and was fined $10 and costs.


Cohota is profiled in the National Park Service book, Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War.

(Next post: Edward Day Cohota, 1897 and 1899)

2 comments:

  1. I’m not sure if you’ll ever see this, as it’s now 10 years after these were published but just in case. I am the descendant of Cohota and I’ve been gathering info on his for the last few years. There seems to be a lot of different accounts about his life, and I’m wondering why that is. On one post it speaks of him coming to the US when he was older and chose to, another says he was the son of Capt. Day, and then yet another says he was a stowaway. Do you have any thoughts on this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. My series of posts on Cohota established a timeline for him. The first post determined when he began his travel from China to America.

    Edward Day Cohota: Shanghai, China
    https://bluegraychinese.blogspot.com/2014/03/edward-day-cohota-shanghai-china.html

    Cohota and Edward Day did not know his birthdate. Cohota's newspaper interviews had different accounts of his travel; when it occurred, when he was born and his relationship with Edward Day. The newspaper reports are good for establishing Cohota's locations.

    Read my posts in chronological order and you'll see where he was and how his story evolved.

    ReplyDelete