Customer Reviews

Cubans in the Confederacy: José Agustín Quintero, Ambrosio José Gonzales, and Loreta Janeta Velazquez

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a valuable contribution to the historical truth that the Confederacy was much more diverse than is commonly assumed by most people. As the editor of the book states in his introduction "stereotypes continue to exist that the average Southern soldier was a typical Southern 'cracker' and Anglo-Saxon of homogeneous background, but such was not the case." This statement has been proven to be true in other earlier books such as Ella Lonn's classic "Foreigners in the Confederacy" first published in 1940, and reprinted several times since. As Lonn pointed out diversity was particularly apparent in some units from Louisiana, such as the Tenth Louisiana Regiment, where soldiers from 14 countries were represented, including England, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, etc.
Cubans in the Confederacy concentrates on three Cubans who provided valauble services to the Confederacy. There are three separate articles written by three different writers.
The first article, and the longest in the book (pp. 9-142) is about Jose Agustin Quintero who served the Confederacy as a diplomat in Mexico.
The second article (pp. 143-224) is about Ambrosio Jose Gonzales who served as a high ranking officer in the Confederate Army.
The third article and the shortest (pp. 225-239) is about Loreta Janeta Velazquez who served the Confederacy as a soldier and spy. She is probably the best known of the three persons covered in the book.
The book is an excellent contribution to our knowledge about the diversity that was the Confederacy. The only disappointment for me was that there are no photographs of the persons depicted in the articles. Some of the articles, I thought were a little too windy, and for these two reasons, I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 stars.

Been born in Cuba, I was fascinated with the tittle of this book. You have to understand Cuba's role in the Civil War is not really known in our Cuban circles. The book was a little over priced, but I decided to purchase it. In truth, it was a superv book, both from a Cuban an Civil War perspective. The only reason I did not give this book a 5 star was the price tag that comes along such a skinny book.

This was a most outstanding book. Cubans have enriched our American history so much. I found the section on Jose Augustin Quintero the most impacting. His genius on diplomacy and negotiating with people in adverse environments with multiple agendas is phenominal. Reading about him enduced me to purchase another book, The Matamoros Trade by Dr. James Daddysman. Unfortunately I didn't purchase it from Amazon.

There is another book on J.A. Quintero by Jorge Marban, but it is in Spanish and I don't believe it has ever been translated into English. Quintero was so impacting to both the Confederacy, later the USA government and also to Cuba and their struggle for independance. His abilities were so important to our country, he, a Confederate Diplomat, was appointed as the Consul to Costa Rica and Belgium in 1868, by Andrew Johnson, while the South was in Reconstruction and all connected with the Confederacy were being punished.

His legacy of service lived on through his two sons, Lamar and Marshall. His dueling pistols were sold in 1960 to aid Cuban refugees in their flight from Castro.

I know this because I am his great great grandson and have the original documents - even the letter assigning him as a Confidential Agent.

It is great that someone took the time to research our history.