Loreta Janeta Velazquez was born in Havana, Cuba on June 26, 1842. She moved to the United States of America where she was raised in New Orleans when she was at the age of 7. Her father was a wealthy man in Cuba and her mother was the daughter of a wealthy American and French Naval officer. When Loreta left for the United States she was raised in new Orleans by her aunt. Loreta joined the Confederate Army as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford. No one knows the exact day or month of when she died but historians are set on the year 1897. As Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Loreta fought in the Battle of Bull’s Run, Ball’s Bluff, Fort Donelson, and the battle of Shiloh. Loreta was also a confederate spy she is said to have switched between her being Lieutenant Harry T. Buford and her true self Loreta Janeta Velázquez. …show more content…
As the war begun velasquez wanted to fight so she disguised herself as a man. She traveled to Arkansas and in just four days she had recruited 236 men, she then brought them to her husband in Pensacola Florida where he would then train the regiment. Whether the husband was pleased or not is not recorded. Sadly, the husband died a few days later, while Loreta was in New Orleans. He died in a training related accident, when a carbine had been set off in his hand accidentally while he was training his troops. After he died Velasquez continued on her path as an independent soldier as she calls it in her book, The Woman in Battle, she joined and fought in the Battle of Bull Run or The Battle of First Manassas and also fought in Ball’s