thecivilwarparlor:

She Fought In The American Civil War- Fighting As A Man-Rebel: Loreta Velazquez Civil War Soldier and Spy

It is estimated that between 500 and 1,000 women went into military service during the American Civil War, yet their contributions to major events of that era are often overlooked, misunderstood, misrepresented, or undocumented. -PBS



In 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, a teenager from New Orleans headed to the front lines. Under the alias Harry T. Buford, he fought at First Bull Run, was wounded at Shiloh, and served as a Confederate spy. But Buford harbored a secret–he was really Loreta Velazquez, a Cuban immigrant.

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. The Confederate general Jubal Early refused to accept her memoirs as fact, but recent scholars have verified her claims on the basis of secondary documents, including stories in contemporary newspapers.



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.



María Aguí Carter directed Rebel, an investigative documentary, examining the story of Loreta Velázquez. The film is a detective story exploring Velázquez’s claims and the politics involved in erasing her from history. It was produced in 2013 and lasts for 73 minutes.



https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Loreta-Velazquez-Soldier-American/dp/B00CP4Y5PU

