The Woman in Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) [Paperback]

Loreta Janeta Velazquez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2003 | Series: Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography

A Cuban woman who moved to New Orleans in the 1850s and eloped with her American lover, Loreta Janeta Velazquez fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy as the cross-dressing Harry T. Buford. As Buford, she single-handedly organized an Arkansas regiment; participated in the historic battles of Bull Run, Balls Bluff, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh; romanced men and women; and eventually decided that spying as a woman better suited her Confederate cause than fighting as a man. In the North, she posed as a double agent and worked to traffic information, drugs, and counterfeit bills to support the Confederate cause. She was even hired by the Yankee secret service to find "the woman . . . traveling and figuring as a Confederate agent"-Velazquez herself.

Originally published in 1876 as The Woman in Battle, this Civil War narrative offers Velazquez's seemingly impossible autobiographical account, as well as a new critical introduction and glossary by Jesse Alemán. Scholars are divided between those who read the book as a generally honest autobiography and those who read it as mostly fiction. According to Alemán's critical introduction, the book also reads as pulp fiction, spy memoir, seduction narrative, travel literature, and historical account, while it mirrors the literary conventions of other first-person female accounts of cross-dressing published in the United States during wartime, dating back to the Revolutionary War. Whatever the facts are, this is an authentic Civil War narrative, Alemán concludes, that recounts how war disrupts normal gender roles, redefines national borders, and challenges the definition of identity.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography William L. Andrews, Series Editor

Introduction by Jesse Alemán, assistant professor of English at the University of New Mexico.

Product Details

• Paperback: 632 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (October 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299194248
• ISBN-13: 978-0299194246
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST!, May 20, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Woman in Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) (Paperback)

This book is TOTALLY AWESOME! It shows us just how brave Velazques was when fighting in the Aerican Civil War. I admit it was hard to read, but worth all the words I had to look up! If you haven't read it yet, you're missing out on the best historical narrative by far!

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome and hard to read, June 14, 2011

By 

Ashwin of Katira - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Woman in Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) (Paperback)

I tracked down this book because I was doing a report for school on women soldiers of the Civil War, and I saw this and thought, "Wow...it would be great to actually have a primary source from one of the women I'm writing about." This book was a HUGE help to me, and although I wasn't able to read all of it, the parts that I read were all amazing, or unbelievable, or made you look up and say, "Okay, that is not true at all." The way Velazquez writes is old-fashioned, and she is constantly using big words that make sentences sometimes hard to understand.

The introduction by Jesse Aleman was also really helpful, and it points out the three historical errors Velazquez made that makes her story sometimes doubtful.

This book is a huge help for a project on women soldiers, Loreta Velazquez, or just reading for fun

A. ^_^

P.S. I really have to include her dedication, because I think it's hilarious. (Velazquez was Confederate.)

TO MY
Comrades in the Confederate Armies,
WHO, ALTHOUGH THEY FOUGHT IN A LOSING CAUSE,
SUCCEEDED BY THEIR VALOR IN WINNING
THE ADMIRATION OF THE WORLD

This Narrative
OF MY ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER, A SPY,
AND A SECRET SERVICE AGENT,

Is Dedicated
WITH ALL HONOR, RESPECT, AND GOOD WILL.