Um, OK, this is not something to be proud of folks.

Besides, she fought for the slave owning Confederacy. Maybe if she fought for the Union... but even then. Since she fought for the slave owning side I wonder how she felt about an independent slave freed Cuba? Was she of the Spanish aristos in Cuba - the ones marti fought against.

Besides, back them there was no such thing as a "Latina" or "Latino" or "Hispanic" for that matter. Oh, how culturally lost we are - even about our heritage. Don't you see - the left wants to make us "Spanish sur-named" individuals into one group - Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and East LA Chicanos are all the same to them. We are not the same -

Johnny is kind of giddy over this chick and I don't understand why, as I said this is not something I would go around saying - even about Cuban males who fought for the Confederacy - there are other more brave and valient Cuban women through out history that can be highlighted.

The idea of an independent Cuba - free of Spain was one of no slaves and equality. Yes, an historical oddity this is - interesting for five minutes - but how would doctor Biscet feel if Cuban Americans idolized her?

Just my 2 cents. Flame away folks - I love you all anyway.

Please accept my apologies for my bad grammer and spelling. I wrote this in a huff and did not bother to spell check. My bad.

Mandingo, take a deep breath and repeat after me:

"This happened 145 years ago. The world was different then."

"This happened 145 years ago. The world was different then."

"This happened 145 years ago. The world was different then."

Mandingo,

I still find the story interesting, regardless of what side she fought on. Besides I think the title to this post speaks volumes.

Yeah Val I guess you are right.

Agreed that it's not something to be proud of. No matter how different the world was back then, by the time Civi War rolled around, most understood that blacks were NOT animals.

That said, I don't think anybody is boasting here, and it's not anything for us to be ashamed of either. This is just a really cool story. Just a nother notch on the "Cubans are everywhere" post.

I mean, not only was she convincing enough to pass as a soldier, but she even played a role (from what I understood in this article) as a spy! Fascinating stuff.

I may be wrong, but if all it took was a haircut, a mustache, and some padding, Loreta must have been one UGLY Cuban (normally an oxymoron).

Cuban women come in all types - I have seen angels and some real fugly dogs. This chick was ugly.

I enjoyed the story but it wasn't very well presented unfortunately - why was this woman arrested as a Union spy, for one? What did she do to get that suspicion? More importantly, I know what both sides did to spies when they caught them in that war, why wasn't she shot? Did she do some certain ... uhhh, favors ... to avoid that spy fate? I can see the business of the fiance not recognizing her as a woman, people were like that in that era and disguises were amazingly easy because people literally never looked at each other, but how'd she get though injury? I mean, if you get wounded in battle, you might have to take your clothes off (though it was that era again, and some people got away with it.) I guess there were some unanswered questions. The worst part of the article's presentation is the ending, where there is some out of the blue reference to race. The writer still doesn't realize that Cuban is white, that Latinas and Latinos were not a 'race' or even considered different until the Chicano movement of the 1970s (when I was growing up, whites and obviously Indian-blooded Mexicans were considered the exact same race with no differences acknowledged - it was the same deal for Tex-Mexes, there weren't actually any recognized differences) and it was definitely the same for Cubans way back in the 19th century. The author seems to view everything through a 1970s Chicano Militant brown beret lens. If there was to be any "issue" of race, it had to do with slavery, not supposed "differences" between whites and Latinos. Not only was this woman's history as a soldier obscured by history, so was all the roles of all the white women who disguised themselves as soldiers on both sides of the war. I'd like this guy to name one white woman disguised soldier who got a ton of attention. This woman wasn't ignored because she was Cuban and the whole world is prejudiced against Cubans, but because all women soldiers were ignored - they were a small part of the war effort in any case, hardly earth-changing, they did not change the course of the war. But the writer found some great material worthy of writing about, and even though he knows too little about the Civil War era to be able to analyse it properly (he analyzes it though the 1970s Chicano lens), at he wrote about a compelling topic.

I don`t care what anyone says..............its a great story.

I don`t care what anyone says..............its a great story.

Great story. I learned of it years ago when I was doing research for my history major. By the way, don't forget Lieut. Colonel Federico Fernandez Cavada and his brother Captain Adolfo Fernandez Cavada. Both Cubans fought for the UNION during the Civil War.

I came upon this information while doing my research. This is not something you will not learn in school or university.

Cubans have fought alongside Americans from the War of Independence to the war in Iraq.

Sorry about the double negative.... my hands and my brain are not always working in tandem.

***
Mandingo:
The issue of slavery was not one of the primary causes of The Civil War. States Rights was the cause that resulted in North Carolina breaking away long before the first shot fired against Fort Sumter.

Slavery was brought to the fore in 1862-63 as a means to prevent European powers siding with the Confederacy, as by that time, slavery was something that England and France were turning away from.
Absent this probable involvement by the Europeans, Lincoln may never had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Regardless of whom she fought alongside, the fact that she was able to summon the courage to face rows upon rows of guns aimed her way is something that many men could not.

Also, remember that most all Confederate soldiers fought for their home state, not the "Confederacy".
Gen. Robert E. Lee would have fought on the side of the Union had his home state of Virginia not seceded.

And yes.... it happened 145 years ago and it is still being fought in many places in The South.

***

There were more than fifty Cubans who fought in the American Civil War on both sides. This is my area of academic expertise. I have dedicated a website to it at
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cubans-civil-war.htm
I published "Cuban Confederate Colonel: The Life of Ambrosio Jose Gonzales" in 2003.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/gonzales-reviews.htm
I am presently doing research for a biography of Federico and Adolfo Fernandez Cavada, Union army volunteer officers who fought in the Peninsula campaign, and at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. They were afterward generals in the Cuban Ten Years' War, in which they perished.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cavada.htm
The Fernandez Cavada family owned slaves in Cuba, where slavery was not abolished by the Spanish colonial regime until the 1880s.
Cubans living in the U.S. fought on both sides more out of family and regional ties than due to slavery, which did not become a major issue until Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect nearly two years into the war. Interestingly, the proclamation freed slaves ONLY in captured rebel territory. It was not applied to the five neutral states until after the war ended.
I recently finished the book chapter "Cubans in Blue and Gray," which will be published in the book "Ethnicity in the Civil War" by the University of Nebraska Press in 2007. I mention in it that Loreta Janeta Velazquez was one of more than 400 women who fought in the war disguised as men. This is a topic which has already been discussed in various books during the last 30 years. It's nothing new. This article got it wrong when it said Velazquez wore a man's WIG. What is that? A wig of shortly cropped hair? Logic tell you its easier to cut your hair short.
Here are some images of Velazquez from her own autobiography
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/velazquez.htm
The book chapter also mentions the five Cubans who belonged to the 39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, some of whom were discharged from the service for wounds received in combat. They were the true "Los Cinco."
Lt. Col. Julio Pedro Garesche is also mentioned in my piece. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/garesche.htm
He was killed at the battle of Stones River, Tennessee on Dec. 31, 1862 serving the Union Army. Garesche's family, like many American families, had divided loyalties, and were on both sides of the war, just like Abraham Lincoln's wife.
Cubans have been neglected too long from American history books. We have been in the U.S. as political exiles since 1848 and have contributed to this nation in many ways.

i found it interesting, reminds me a bit of william morgan..

I might be stepping in it here, but ironically, the actress they cast to play Velazquez looks just a little bit...mulata. The engraving I've seen of the real Velazquez shows a woman who was criolla to her core: fair skin, a narrow Iberian face, and ojos BIEN claros. The actress they cast looks like Rosie Perez. Clearly, the producers of this documentary have swallowed the whole idea of a "hispanic" race hook, line and sinker.