Loreta Janeta Velázquez
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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 Velázquez' 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 re-enlisted and fought at Shiloh, until unmasked once more. She then became a Confederate spy, working in both male and female guises, supposedly as a double agent also reporting to the U.S. Secret Service. 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.
According to Velázquez' 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 re-enlisted and fought at Shiloh, until unmasked once more. She then became a Confederate spy, working in both male and female guises, supposedly as a double agent also reporting to the U.S. Secret Service. 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.
Books By Loreta Janeta Velázquez
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![The Confederate Female Spy: A Southern Woman In Disguise: Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate States Army [Special Illustrated Edition]](https://img.stevensbooks.com/yeb29byqyshzv3tlppe0775aj4x1?width=270&height=270&format=jpg&fit=inside)
