Loreta janeta velazquez wikipedia

Female Soldier Disguised as a Man

Loreta Janeta Velazquez was born into an aristocratic Cuban family in Havana in 1842. Her father was a Spanish government official who owned plantations in Mexico and Cuba. As a young girl, Loreta developed an admiration for Joan of Arc, and expressed a desire to emulate her deeds and to make a name for herself as a woman of courage who would fight for a great cause.

In her early teens, Loreta was sent to New Orleans, where she attended Catholic schools and was educated in English, Spanish, and French. She met a dashing young officer in the United States Army named William. Since her family disapproved of the relationship, she eloped with him in 1856, and they spent the next few years at different army posts. Four years later in 1860 they were in St. Louis mourning the death of their three children. Loreta was 18.

When the Civil War began, Loreta was an enthusiastic supporter of the Confederacy. She talked her husband into renouncing his commiss

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Loreta Janeta Velázquez

American Civil War spy (1842–1923)

Loreta Janeta Velázquez (19th-century – 1923) was an American woman who wrote that she had masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier during the American Civil War. The book she wrote about her experiences says that after her soldier husband's accidental death, she enlisted in the Confederate States Army in 1861. She then fought at Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, and Fort Donelson, but was discharged when her sex was discovered while in New Orleans. 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 beneath the name Loretta J. Beard after many years away from the public eye in a public psychiatric facility, St. Elizabeths Hospital. Most of

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Loreta Janeta Velázquez

Loreta Janeta Velázquez (26 de junio de 1842 - 1923) fue una mujer supuestamente cubana que disfrazada de hombre luchó para el Ejército Confederado durante la guerra de Secesión estadounidense. Después de la muerte accidental de su marido soldado, se alistó en el Ejército Confederado en 1861. Luchó en Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, y el Fuerte Donelson, pero fue dada de baja cuando su género fue descubierto mientras se encontraba en Nueva Orleans. Se realistó y combatió en Shiloh, hasta que fue descubierta una vez más. Entonces se ofreció como espía confederada, trabajando en atuendo masculino y femenino, y como agente doble también informando a los Servicios Secretos de EE.UU Se casó tres veces quedando siempre viuda. Según William C. Davis, murió en enero de 1923 bajo el nombre de Loretta J. Beard después de muchos años olvidada, en una institución psiquiátrica pública, St. Elizabeths Hospital. Espió para la Unión por aproxi