Queer Places:
Custer National Cemetery, Garryowen, MT 59031
John Noonan (1846 - November 30, 1878) was a sergeant of the Company L, 7th US Cavalry Regiment. He killed himself in the company stable at Fort Abraham Lincoln, ND, with a carbine a month after the death of his wife. In 1873, he had married Mrs. James Nash, who had been married twice before. Upon her death of natural causes on October 31, 1878, an autopsy revealed that Mrs. Noonan was a perfectly formed man, and had been carrying on as a woman for over nine years. She had been worth over $10,000 and it was presumed that she had "purchased her husband's silence." She is buried in this cemetery under the heading "Unknown Noonan" since her supposed maiden name is not given.
John Noonan had enlisted into the 7th Cavalry on January 14, 1872, at age 25, in Yorkville, South Carolina. He had previously been a soldier, but where this service occurred was not stated. He was discharged on January 14, 1877, at Fort Abraham Lincoln, ND, on expiration of his term of service, and reenlisted the next day. He had blue eyes, dark hair, a fair complexion, and was 5 feet 7 inches tall.
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