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So which one is Loreta Velazquez? Born into an aristocratic Cuban family, Loreta Velazquez moved to New Orleans as a young lady. There she met a dashing officer in the United States Army. Since her family disapproved of the relationship, she eloped with him and they spent the years before the war at different army posts. When the Civil War began, Velazquez was an enthusiastic supporter of secession and desired to serve the Confederacy. So she purchased an officer's uniform and made adjustments to make herself look more convincingly like a man. With some assistance from friends, she became the dashing Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, who is at first a recruiter for the Confederate Army. Later the transvestite Buford serves in combat at the Battles of Bull Run, Balls Bluff, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh. Although wounded, her secrets are not revealed. Later Velazquez returns to female clothing to serve as a spy, a smuggler, and a counterfeiter.
Lieutenant Harry T. Buford was a respected Confederate soldier who fought in four major battles during the Civil War and later became a double agent spying for the Southern cause. However, Lieutenant Buford was actually Loreta Janeta Velazquez! Velazquez was a Cuban woman living in New Orleans, who disguised herself as a man in order to experience freedoms otherwise unattainable to her. This captivating book explores her unconventional life as a soldier, a spy, and a Latina in the American South who lived life on her own terms.
Loreta Janeta Velazquez was the daughter of a Spanish official living in Cuba. As a young girl she was sent to school in New Orleans, where she ran away and married a U.S. Army officer. After the outbreak of the war, she persuaded her husband to renounce his commission and to join the Confederate forces. After he was killed in battle, Velazquez disguised herself as a man so that she could serve, eventually doing so as an officer, a spy, and a blockade runner. The Woman in Battle tells the amazing story of Velazquez's experiences in a male-dominated world, offering a unique perspective on life as a soldier and detailing her many adventures, including fighting in the First Battle of Bull Run a...
This exciting new volume profiles several substantiated cases of female soldiers during the American Civil War, including Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (aka Private Lyons Wakeman, Union); Sarah Emma Edmonds (aka Private Frank Thompson, Union); Loreta Janeta Velazquez (aka Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate); and Jennie Hodgers (aka Private Albert D. J. Cashier, Union). Also featured are those women who may not have posed as male soldiers but who nonetheless pushed gender boundaries to act boldly in related military capacities, as spies, nurses, and vivandieres ("daughters of the regiment") who bore the flag in battle, rallied troops, and cared for the wounded. Examining the Civil War through the lens of these women soldiers who fought in the conflict offers valuable insight on existing historical work. This volume will acquaint readers with these women, offering in-depth biographies and behind-the-scenes information. While drawing from recent academic work, Women Soldiers of the Civl War is a lively text geared toward the general-audience reader.
The true crime author of Lady Killers presents a roundup of history’s most notorious female con artists and their bold, outrageous scams. From Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey to Frank Abagnale and Charles Ponzi, audacious scams and charismatic scammers continue to intrigue us. As Tori Telfer reveals in Confident Women, the art of the con has a long and venerable tradition, and its female practitioners are some of the best—or worst. In 18th century Paris, Jeanne de Saint-Rémy scammed the royal jewelers out of a priceless diamond necklace by pretending to be best friends with Queen Marie Antoinette. In 19th century Rochester, NY, Kate and Maggie Fox accidentally started a religious movement by pretending they could speak to spirits. In the 20th century, a woman named Margaret Lydia Burton embezzled money all over the country—and stole upwards of forty prized show dogs. A few decades later, a teenager named Roxie Ann Rice scammed the entire NFL. Confident Women investigates how these and other notorious women were able to so spectacularly dupe and swindle their victims . . .
The role of Cubans in the American Civil War is seldom appreciated. This work is the first to provide a close look at the often distinguished services they performed. Although Cubans are recorded in the rosters of both Union and Confederate forces, Cuban ties with the Confederacy were particularly strong, partly because Cuban patriots fighting for liberation from Spain tended to identify with the Southern cause as a revolutionary struggle. This work will focus on the biographies of three Cubans who served the Confederate army in the War Between the States. Darryl E. Brock offers a detailed portrait of José Agustín Quintero, who served as the South’s most effective diplomat. Michel Wendell Stevens writes on Ambrosio José Gonzales, who rose to the rank of colonel and served some of the Confederacy’s best-known generals. Finally, Richard Hall provides an intimate sketch of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, a soldier and spy for the Confederacy who infiltrated (as a double agent) the operations of Northern spymaster Lafayette C. Baker.
Loreta Janeta Velazquez was the daughter of a Spanish official living in Cuba. As a young girl she was sent to school in New Orleans, where she ran away and married a U.S. Army officer. After the outbreak of the war, she persuaded her husband to renounce his commission and to join the Confederate forces. After he was killed in battle, Velazquez disguised herself as a man so that she could serve, eventually doing so as an officer, a spy, and a blockade runner. The Woman in Battle tells the amazing story of Velazquez's experiences in a male-dominated world, offering a unique perspective on life as a soldier and detailing her many adventures, including fighting in the First Battle of Bull Run and Shiloh, where she was allegedly wounded. Upon the book's publication in 1876, its veracity was questioned, and it continues to be debated by contemporary historians to this day.
Drawing on a wealth of regimental histories, newspaper archives, and a host of previously unreported accounts, Hall shows that women served in more capacities and in greater number-perhaps several thousand-than has previously been known. They served in the infantry, cavalry, and artillery and as spies, scouts, saboteurs, smugglers, and frontline nurses. From all walks of life, they followed husbands and lovers into battle, often in male disguise that remained undiscovered until they were wounded (or gave birth), and endured the same hardships and dangers as did their male counterparts.
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. 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....
Popular images of women during the American Civil War include self-sacrificing nurses, romantic spies, and brave ladies maintaining hearth and home in the absence of their men. However, as DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook show in their remarkable new study, that conventional picture does not tell the entire story. Hundreds of women assumed male aliases, disguised themselves in men’s uniforms, and charged into battle as Union and Confederate soldiers—facing down not only the guns of the adversary but also the gender prejudices of society. They Fought Like Demons is the first book to fully explore and explain these women, their experiences as combatants, and the controversial issues surro...