Albert was then trained to be an infantryman of the 95th regiment at Camp Fuller and assigned to Company G, where he fought to liberate the Confederate strongholds of Columbus, KY, and Jackson, TN. His regiment was then ordered to become part of the Army of the Tennessee under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. At one point, he was actually captured by the Confederate army, but managed a daring escape, rejoined his regiment, and then laid siege to Vicksburg against the very army that had captured him just days prior. The siege lasted over a month, and was the last remaining Confederate stronghold along the Mississippi River. The importance of this battle cannot be understated. Capturing Vicksburg completed the second phase of Lincoln's "Northern Strategy", called the Anaconda Plan. Lincoln himself called Vicksburg "the key to the war". Under Grant, he fought in at least 40 battles, including Vicksburg and the Battle of Spring Hill.
After the war, Albert returned to civilian life and continued to live and work as a man until his declining mental health finally placed him in a mental institution where his birth sex was discovered and he was stripped of his military pension and forced to wear a dress. Fortunately, Albert was able to prove he was the same person who fought in the war, and his pension was reinstated. He is buried with full military honors in his uniform.
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