Loreta Janeta Velázquez (c.1842 – 1923) was an American woman who wrote that she had masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The book she wrote about her experiences says that after her soldier husband's accidental death, she enlisted in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

in 1861. She then fought at Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, and

Fort Donelson Fort Donelson was a fortress built early in 1862 by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to control the Cumberland River, which led to the heart of Tennessee, and thereby the Confederacy. The fort was named after Confederate general Da ...

, but was discharged when her sex was discovered while in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. Undeterred, she reenlisted and fought at Shiloh, until unmasked once more. She then became a Confederate spy, working in both male and female guises, and as a double agent also reporting to the U.S. Secret Service. She remarried three more times, being widowed in each instance. According to historian William C. Davis, she died in January 1923 under the name Loretta J. Beard after many years away from the public eye in a public psychiatric facility,

St. Elizabeths Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The hospital opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for th ...

. Most of her claims are not supportable with actual documents, and many are contradictable by actual documentation.

''The Woman in Battle''

Velázquez recorded her adventures in her 600-page book, ''The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velázquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate States Army'' (1876) to support her son. The Confederate general

Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his ...

refused to accept her memoirs as fact, and modern scholars have cast doubt upon the veracity of the book's report.

Birth and family

According to her book, Loreta Janeta Velázquez was born in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Castilian descent and related to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n governor

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar Diego Velázquez de CuéllarPronounced: (1465 – c. June 12, 1524) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and ''adelantado'' who was first governor of Cuba. In 1511 he led the successful conquest and colonization of Cuba. As the first governor ...

and artist

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

. Her father was a

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

official who owned plantations in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and Cuba. He felt a deep resentment towards the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

after losing an inherited ranch in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

at San Luis Potosi. This animosity perpetuated the estrangement between Velázquez and her father after her elopement with an American soldier. Velázquez learned the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

at school in

in 1849, while living with an aunt. Her father's wealth as a plantation owner allowed her this opportunity to travel and continue her education. While in New Orleans, Velázquez took to fairy tales and stories of heroism, citing

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

as a particular inspiration. Velázquez was engaged young to Raphael, a Spaniard, in what she referred to in her memoir as a "

marriage of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. Cases whe ...

." At fourteen years old, she

eloped Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...

with a

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

officer known only as John Williams (also often referred to in various sources as simply "William") on April 5, 1856, despite the threats to be sent to a convent or back to Cuba from her family. Her decision to elope was poorly received by her family, causing their estrangement. She initially continued to live with her aunt, but after a quarrel with her she moved in with her husband and lived at various army posts, estranging herself further from her family by converting to

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

American Civil War

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Velázquez says that her husband resigned his U.S. commission and joined the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

. The couple became more interested in the Civil War after the early deaths of three of their children. At first, Williams actually aided Velázquez in her endeavors to cross-dress and to enlist. He agreed to a night out together with Velázquez disguised as a man, assured that upon seeing the behavior of other men she would be dissuaded. Velázquez's desires to enlist, however, were only strengthened. Velázquez failed to convince her husband to let her join him, so she acquired two

uniform A uniform is a variety of costume worn by members of an organization while usually participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency serv ...

s, adopted the name Harry T. Buford and moved to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. There she recruited 236 men in four days, shipped them to

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, and presented them to her husband as her command.Eggleston, Larry G. (2003). ''Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. . pp. 32–33. Her husband died soon after in an accident while he was demonstrating the use of weapons to his troops. Velázquez turned her men over to a friend and began to search for more things to do. Her first experience in combat was as an independent soldier in the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas
. by Confederate States ...

. She eventually grew tired of camp life, however, and again donned female garb to go to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, where she spied for the Confederacy. She reported that she had met

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

and

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Simon Cameron Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Ameri ...

on this excursion. When she returned to the South, she was assigned to the detective corps. She later left for

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. In Tennessee, she fought in the siege of

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 Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, authorities again hired her as a spy and she began to travel all around the US. At that time, she married a Captain Thomas DeCaulp; he reportedly died soon after in a

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

hospital. (An officer of that name is known to have survived the war.) She then traveled north where officials hired her to search for herself. In

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, she tried to organize a rebellion of Confederate

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

Travels

After the war, Velázquez traveled in Europe with her brother, as well as throughout South America and the southern United States. She married Major Wasson and emigrated with him to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. When he died in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, 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 ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...

in Utah. She arrived in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, almost penniless, but charmed General W. S. Harney into giving her blankets and a

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

. Brown, Dee (1958). ''The Gentle Tamers''. New York: Bantam Books. p. 200 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, Velázquez soon left Nevada, travelling with her baby. After encountering the miners, in 1868, she encountered Mormons as well, however, she was not impressed with these pioneers. Wanting to return to civilization, she goes to Texas, where her story fades into obscurity.

Reception of her book

Her book appeared in print in 1876. In the preface, Velázquez stated that she had written the book primarily for money so she could support her child, perhaps to combat the notion of her profiting from the war. The veracity of the account was attacked almost immediately, and remains an issue with scholars. Some opine 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. Shortly after its appearance, former Confederate General

denounced the book as an obvious fiction. In 2007,

The History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the General Entertainment Content division of The Wa ...

aired ''Full Metal Corset'', a program that presented details of Velázquez's story as genuine. However, the overall truthfulness of her account remains indeterminate and highly questionable. In 2013, ''Rebel-Loreta Velazquez: Secret Soldier of the American Civil War'', directed by María Aguí Carter, was released which presented Velázquez's story as genuine based on Velázquez's memoir with Loreta speaking in the documentary as first-person narrator. The documentary includes interviews with multiple academic scholars. DeAnne Blanton, Senior Military Analyst,

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

, states in the documentary that her memoir "took her life story and made it a little better." Blanton and other scholars address the claim of former Confederate General

that the book is a fiction but indicate that they largely believe Velázquez. "We can corroborate quite a bit of what she writes in her book" states Blanton of the National Archives. The documentary was released by PBS.

Career after the war

She became very active in public life and politics, and was particularly involved in grand speculative schemes around mining and railway building, as well as being involved in journalism and writing. Her biographer William C. Davis suggests that her actions were generally fraudulent, intending to raise money for herself and associates. Some press accounts were impressed by her vitality and business acumen, such as in an 1891 account from the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

'' reprinted in the
Saturday Evening Mail
' of

Terre Haute Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and its metropolitan area had a population of 168,716. Located along the Wabash River about e ...

. Velázquez was described there as "a woman of business, a woman who can 'run things like a man'."

Death

Loreta Janeta Velázquez is said to have died in 1923, but historian Richard Hall states that her death is unknown and the place and date of her death are also unknown. Hall, in ''Patriots in Disguise'', takes a hard look at ''The Woman in Battle'' and analyzes whether it is accurate or fictionalized. Historian Elizabeth Leonard, in ''All the Daring of the Soldier'' (1999), assesses ''The Woman in Battle'' as largely fiction, but based on real experience. A newspaper report mentions a Lieutenant Bensford arrested when it was disclosed that "he" was actually a woman, and gives her name as Alice Williams, a name that Loreta Velázquez apparently also used.

Revisionist biography

In October 2016, historian William C. Davis published a biography of Velázquez titled ''Inventing Loreta Velásquez: Confederate Soldier Impersonator, Media Celebrity, and Con Artist''. This account was based on newspaper and archival research, and came to the conclusion that the whole of ''The Woman in Battle'' is fiction. Davis asserted that Velázquez was neither Cuban nor a Confederate soldier, but "a thief" and a "

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

", possibly born in New York, and eventually a " swindler" and "

con artist A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...

". Velázquez used many aliases, according to Davis, while he was uncertain of her actual name, age, and place of birth, and thus unable to determine her family, background, or

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

. The woman he ultimately identified as Velázquez served terms in jail for theft and other minor offenses, and subsequently invented glamorous stories about her origin, having learned to lie while working as a prostitute. Davis's work viewed his subject in a negative light, expressing also doubt whether women ever served effectively in the Civil War, detailing specific doubts about Velázquez's service. Davis does, however, provide a definite date for her death as "Loretta J. Beard" on January 26, 1923, at the

for the Insane, Washington. In the final chapter, Davis critiqued

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

historiographical Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

approaches to Velazquez, as well as

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, m ...

, all of which, he said, have failed to accurately evaluate Velázquez's claims and thus "perpetuated" her lies to promote their own

agenda Agenda (: agendum) may refer to: Information management * Agenda (meeting), points to be discussed and acted upon, displayed as a list * Political agenda, the set of goals of an ideological group * Lotus Agenda, a DOS-based personal informatio ...

In popular culture

María Aguí Carter directed ''Rebel'', an investigative documentary, examining the story of Loreta Velázquez. The film is a detective story exploring Velázquez's report and the politics involved in erasing her from history. It was produced in 2013 and has a run-time of 73 minutes.

References

Bibliography

;Books * Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. ''They Fought Like Demons''. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2002. * Cumming, Carman. ''Devil's Game: The Civil War Intrigues of Charles A. Dunham''. Urbana: U. of Illinois Press, 2004. * Davis, William C
''Inventing Loreta Velasquez: Confederate Soldier Impersonator, Media Celebrity, and Con Artist''
Southern Illinois University Press, 2016. * Hall, Richard. ''Patriots in Disguise: Women Warriors of the Civil War''. N.Y.: Marlowe & Co., 1994. * Leonard, Elizabeth. ''All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies''. N.Y.: Norton, 1999. * 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) Reprinted in 1972 by the Arno Press. Reprinted in 2003 by University of Wisconsin. * Young, Elizabeth. ''Disarming the Nation: Women's Writing and the American Civil War''. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1999. ;TV programs * ''Full Metal Corset: Secret Soldiers of the Civil War'', The History Channel, 2007 * ''REBEL'', 2013, PBS home video

External links

Female Soldier Disguised As A Man

Richmond, Va.: Dustin, Gilman & Co., 1876. * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071008130543/http://www.saltmag.net/givetous/Andrea_21405.pdf "What part am I to act in this great drama?* ttps://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-3.html DeAnne Blanton – Women soldiers of the Civil War* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060501112510/http://freerangelibrarian.com/2005/06/women_soldiers_of_the_civil_wa.php K.G. Schneider – Women soldiers of the Civil War* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071012175124/http://www.army.mil/hispanicamericans/english/profiles/valasquez.html Loretta Janeta Velasquezat Hispanic Americans in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

(archived in 2007)
History of Female Spies of the Confederacy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velazquez, Loreta Janeta 19th-century births 1923 deaths American writers American media personalities Converts to Methodism from Roman Catholicism Hispanic and Latino American Confederates 19th-century American writers