Loreta Janeta Velazquez

Who was Loreta Janeta Velazquez?

Loreta Janeta Velázquez, was a Cuban-born woman who claimed that she masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier during the American Civil War. According to her memoirs, she enlisted in the Confederate States Army in 1861, without her soldier-husband's knowledge. She then supposedly fought at Bull Run, Ball's Bluff and Fort Donelson, but was discharged when her gender was discovered while in New Orleans. Undeterred, she apparently reenlisted and fought at Shiloh, until unmasked once more. She then became a spy, working in both male and female guises. Her husband died during the war and she remarried three more times; being widowed in each instance. The circumstances of her own death are unknown.