Federico Fernández Cavada

Who was Federico Fernández Cavada?

Colonel Federico Fernández Cavada was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Because of his artistic talents, he was assigned to the Hot Air Balloon unit of the Union Army. From the air he sketched what he observed of enemy positions and movements. On April 19, 1862, Fernández Cavada sketched enemy positions from Thaddeus Lowe's Constitution balloon during the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia.

He was captured during the Battle of Gettysburg and sent to Libby Prison for Union officers in Richmond, Virginia. Released in 1864, that year he published a book which told of the cruel treatment which he received in the Confederate prison.

After the war, Fernández Cavada was appointed by the United States government as consul to Cuba. When the insurrection began against Spanish rule, he resigned his commission and joined the insurgents. He was commissioned as a general. Cuban authorities eventually commissioned him as the Commander-in-Chief of all the Cuban forces during what became the island's Ten Year War for independence.