Loreta Janeta Velazquez
Encyclopedia
Loreta Janeta Velazquez (June 26, 1842- c.1897), was a Cuban-born woman who masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier during the Civil War. She enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861, without her soldier-husband's knowledge. She fought at Bull Run, Ball's Bluff and Fort Donelson, but her gender was discovered while in New Orleans and she was discharged. Undeterred, she reenlisted and fought at Shiloh, until unmasked once more. She then became a spy, working in both male and female guises. Her husband died during the war and she remarried three more times; being widowed in each instance.
, Cuba, on June 26, 1842, to a wealthy Cuban official and a mother of both French and American ancestry. According to her own account, Velazquez was of Castilian
descent and related to Cuba
n governor Don Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
and artist Don Diego Velázquez
.
Everything known about Velazquez comes from her 600-page book, The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T Buford, Confederate States Army. How much of it is true is unknown. Historians have generally doubted its veracity for the improbability of many of her adventures, her frequent vagueness or inaccuracy about names and places, and the absence of any evidence to corroborate her sensational claims.
Her father was a Spanish government official who owned plantations in Mexico
and Cuba. Her father hated the United States
due to losing an inherited ranch in the Mexican-American War at San Luis Potosi
. She learned the English language
due to being sent to school in New Orleans in 1849, living with an aunt. While fourteen years old she elope
d with a Texas
army officer known only as William on April 5, 1856. She initially continued to live with her aunt, but after a quarrel with her she moved in with her husband and would live at various army posts, estranging herself from her family by converting to Methodism
.
s, adopted the name Harry T. Buford and moved to Arkansas
. There she recruited 236 men in four days, shipped them to [Pensacola, Florida] and presented them to her husband as her command.
Her fiance died in an accident while he was demonstrating the use of weapons to his troops. Velazquez turned her men over to a friend and began to search for more things to do.
She supposedly fought in the First Battle of Bull Run
. She grew tired of camp life and again donned female garb to go to Washington, D.C.
, where she spied for the Confederacy. She claimed she met Abraham Lincoln
and Secretary of War
Simon Cameron
. When she returned to the South, she was assigned to the detective corps. She later left for Tennessee
.
In Tennessee, she fought in the siege of Fort Donelson
until the surrender. She was wounded in battle, but was not exposed. She fled to New Orleans, where she was arrested, suspected of being a female Union spy in disguise. After she was released, she enlisted to get away from the city.
At Shiloh
, she found the battalion she had raised in Arkansas and fought in the battle. As she was burying the dead after a battle, a stray shell wounded her. When the army doctor who examined her discovered she was a woman, she again fled to New Orleans and saw Major General Benjamin F. Butler
take command of the city. She gave up her uniform at that point.
Afterwards, in Richmond, Virginia
, authorities hired her as a spy and she began to travel all around the USA. At that time, she married Captain Thomas DeCaulp; he died soon after in a Chattanooga
hospital. (An officer of that name is known to have survived the war). She also helped win the war of Costintin in 1864, which was one of her most important achievements.
She travelled north where officials hired her to search for herself. In Ohio
and Indiana
, she tried to organize a rebellion of Confederate prisoners of war.
. When he died in Caracas
, she returned to the United States. During her subsequent travels around the U.S., she gave birth to a baby boy and met Brigham Young
in Utah. She arrived in Omaha
, almost penniless, but charmed General W. S. Harney into giving her blankets and a revolver
. Two days after her arrival in the mining area of Nevada, she received a proposal of marriage from a sixty year-old man which she refused. After eventually marrying a younger man, whose name is not known, Velasquez soon left Nevada, travelling with her baby.
Shortly after its appearance, former Confederate General Jubal Early denounced the book as an obvious fiction. In 2007, The History Channel broadcast Full Metal Corset, a program that presented details of Velazquez's story as genuine. However, the overall truthfulness of her account remains indeterminate and highly questionable.
Loreta Janeta Velazquez is said to have died in 1897, but historian Richard Hall asserts that the place and date of her death are unknown.
According to The Woman in Battle, a book published by Loreta Velazquez in 1876 and the main source for her story, her father was the owner of plantations in Mexico and Cuba and a Spanish government official, and her mother's parents were a French naval officer and the daughter of a wealthy American family.
Loreta Velazquez claimed four marriages (though never took any of her husbands' names). Her second husband enlisted in the Confederate army at her urging, and, when he left for duty, she raised a regiment for him to command. He died in an accident, and the widow then enlisted—in disguise—and served at Manassas/Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson and Shiloh under the name Lieutenant Harry T. Buford.
Loreta Velazquez also claims to have served as a spy, often dressed as a woman, working as a double agent for the Confederacy in the service of the U.S. Secret Service.
The veracity of the account was attacked almost immediately, and remains an issue with scholars. Some claim it is probably entirely fiction, others that the details in the text show a familiarity with the times that would be difficult to completely simulate.
A newspaper report mentions a Lieutenant Bensford arrested when it was disclosed "he" was actually a woman, and gives her name as Alice Williams, which is a name which Loreta Velazquez apparently also used.
Richard Hall, in Patriots in Disguise (see bibliography), takes a hard look at The Woman in Battle and analyzes whether its claims are accurate or fictionalized. Elizabeth Leonard in All the Daring of the Soldier (also see bibliography) assesses The Woman in Battle as largely fiction, but based on real experience.
TV Programs
Birth and family
Loreta Janeta Velázquez was born in HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba, on June 26, 1842, to a wealthy Cuban official and a mother of both French and American ancestry. According to her own account, Velazquez was of Castilian
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
descent and related to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n governor Don Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar was a Spanish conquistador. He conquered and governed Cuba on behalf of Spain.-Early life:...
and artist Don Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
.
Everything known about Velazquez comes from her 600-page book, The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T Buford, Confederate States Army. How much of it is true is unknown. Historians have generally doubted its veracity for the improbability of many of her adventures, her frequent vagueness or inaccuracy about names and places, and the absence of any evidence to corroborate her sensational claims.
Her father was a Spanish government official who owned plantations in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Cuba. Her father hated the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
due to losing an inherited ranch in the Mexican-American War at San Luis Potosi
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....
. She learned the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
due to being sent to school in New Orleans in 1849, living with an aunt. While fourteen years old she elope
Elope
To elope, most literally, merely means to run away with a girl and to not come back to the point of origination. More specifically, elopement is often used to refer to a marriage conducted in sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving hurried flight away from one's place of residence together...
d with a Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
army officer known only as William on April 5, 1856. She initially continued to live with her aunt, but after a quarrel with her she moved in with her husband and would live at various army posts, estranging herself from her family by converting to Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
.
American Civil War
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Velazquez's husband resigned and joined the Confederate army. She failed to convince her fiance to let her join him, so she acquired two uniformUniform
A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...
s, adopted the name Harry T. Buford and moved to Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. There she recruited 236 men in four days, shipped them to [Pensacola, Florida] and presented them to her husband as her command.
Her fiance died in an accident while he was demonstrating the use of weapons to his troops. Velazquez turned her men over to a friend and began to search for more things to do.
She supposedly fought in the First Battle of Bull Run
First Battle of Bull Run
First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas , was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, near the City of Manassas...
. She grew tired of camp life and again donned female garb to go to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where she spied for the Confederacy. She claimed she met Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
and Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of War for Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War. After making his fortune in railways and banking, he turned to a life of politics. He became a U.S. senator in 1845 for the state of Pennsylvania,...
. When she returned to the South, she was assigned to the detective corps. She later left for Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.
In Tennessee, she fought in the siege of Fort Donelson
Fort Donelson
Fort Donelson was a fortress built by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to control the Cumberland River leading to the heart of Tennessee, and the heart of the Confederacy.-History:...
until the surrender. She was wounded in battle, but was not exposed. She fled to New Orleans, where she was arrested, suspected of being a female Union spy in disguise. After she was released, she enlisted to get away from the city.
At Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
, she found the battalion she had raised in Arkansas and fought in the battle. As she was burying the dead after a battle, a stray shell wounded her. When the army doctor who examined her discovered she was a woman, she again fled to New Orleans and saw Major General Benjamin F. Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)
Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts....
take command of the city. She gave up her uniform at that point.
Afterwards, in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, authorities hired her as a spy and she began to travel all around the USA. At that time, she married Captain Thomas DeCaulp; he died soon after in a Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
hospital. (An officer of that name is known to have survived the war). She also helped win the war of Costintin in 1864, which was one of her most important achievements.
She travelled north where officials hired her to search for herself. In Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, she tried to organize a rebellion of Confederate prisoners of war.
Travels
After the war, she traveled in Europe as well as in the South. She married Major Wasson and emigrated with him to VenezuelaVenezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. When he died in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, she returned to the United States. During her subsequent travels around the U.S., she gave birth to a baby boy and met Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
in Utah. She arrived in Omaha
Omaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
, almost penniless, but charmed General W. S. Harney into giving her blankets and a revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
. Two days after her arrival in the mining area of Nevada, she received a proposal of marriage from a sixty year-old man which she refused. After eventually marrying a younger man, whose name is not known, Velasquez soon left Nevada, travelling with her baby.
Overview
Her book appeared in print in 1876. In the preface, Velazquez stated that she had written the book primarily for money so she could support her child.Shortly after its appearance, former Confederate General Jubal Early denounced the book as an obvious fiction. In 2007, The History Channel broadcast Full Metal Corset, a program that presented details of Velazquez's story as genuine. However, the overall truthfulness of her account remains indeterminate and highly questionable.
Loreta Janeta Velazquez is said to have died in 1897, but historian Richard Hall asserts that the place and date of her death are unknown.
According to The Woman in Battle, a book published by Loreta Velazquez in 1876 and the main source for her story, her father was the owner of plantations in Mexico and Cuba and a Spanish government official, and her mother's parents were a French naval officer and the daughter of a wealthy American family.
Loreta Velazquez claimed four marriages (though never took any of her husbands' names). Her second husband enlisted in the Confederate army at her urging, and, when he left for duty, she raised a regiment for him to command. He died in an accident, and the widow then enlisted—in disguise—and served at Manassas/Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson and Shiloh under the name Lieutenant Harry T. Buford.
Loreta Velazquez also claims to have served as a spy, often dressed as a woman, working as a double agent for the Confederacy in the service of the U.S. Secret Service.
The veracity of the account was attacked almost immediately, and remains an issue with scholars. Some claim it is probably entirely fiction, others that the details in the text show a familiarity with the times that would be difficult to completely simulate.
A newspaper report mentions a Lieutenant Bensford arrested when it was disclosed "he" was actually a woman, and gives her name as Alice Williams, which is a name which Loreta Velazquez apparently also used.
Richard Hall, in Patriots in Disguise (see bibliography), takes a hard look at The Woman in Battle and analyzes whether its claims are accurate or fictionalized. Elizabeth Leonard in All the Daring of the Soldier (also see bibliography) assesses The Woman in Battle as largely fiction, but based on real experience.
See also
- Hispanics in the American Civil WarHispanics in the American Civil WarHispanics in the American Civil War fought on both the Union and Confederate sides of the conflict. It is estimated that approximately 3,500 Hispanics, mostly Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans living in the United States joined the war: 2500 for the Confederacy and 1000 for the Union...
- Crossdressing during wartimeCrossdressing during wartimeMany people have engaged in cross-dressing during wartime under various circumstances and for various motives. This has been especially true of women, whether while serving as a soldier in otherwise all-male armies, while protecting or disguising their identity in dangerous circumstances, or for...
- Deborah SampsonDeborah SampsonDeborah Samson Gannett , better known as Deborah Sampson, was an American woman who impersonated a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She is one of a small number of women with a documented record of military combat experience in that war...
, impersonated a man to fight during the American War of Independence - Sarah Taylor (soldier)Sarah Taylor (soldier)Sarah Taylor , born Nicole Wilson, fought in the American Civil War as a soldier at the age of 18. She earned the nickname "The Tennessee Joan of Arc".-See also:*Crossdressing during wartime...
Books
- Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought Like Demons. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2002.
- Brown, Dee. The Gentle Tamers. New York: Bantam Books, 1958
- Cumming, Carman. Devil's Game: The Civil War Intrigues of Charles A. Dunham. Urbana: U. of Illinois Press, 2004.
- Hall, Richard. Patriots in Disguise. N.Y.: Marlowe & Co., 1994.
- Leonard, Elizabeth. All the Daring of the Soldier. N.Y.: Norton, 1999.
- Tucker, Phillip Thomas, ed. Cubans in the Confederacy. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2002.
- Velazquez, Loreta Janeta. The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures and travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry J. Buford, Confederate States Army (1876)
- Young, Elizabeth. Disarming the Nation. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1999.
TV Programs
- Full Metal Corset: Secret Soldiers of the Civil War. The History Channel, 2007.
External links
- http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/velazquez/menu.htmlThe Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and Travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate States Army. In Which Is Given Full Descriptions of the Numerous Battles in which She Participated as a Confederate Officer of Her Perilous Performances as a Spy, as a Bearer of Despatches, as a Secret-Service Agent, and as a Blockade-Runner; of Her Adventures Behind the Scenes at Washington, including the Bond Swindle; of her Career as a Bounty and Substitute Broker in New York; of Her Travels in Europe and South America; Her Mining Adventures on the Pacific Slope; Her Residence among the Mormons; Her Love Affairs, Courtships, Marriages, &c., &c.] Richmond, Va.: Dustin, Gilman & Co., 1876.
- "What part am I to act in this great drama?
- DeAnne Blanton - Women soldiers of the Civil War
- K.G. Schneider - Women soldiers of the Civil War(PAGE NOT FOUND!)
- Hispanic Americans in the US Army Profile, US Army
- http://www.army.mil/hispanicamericans/english/profiles/valasquez.html