Loreta Janeta Velazquez Loreta Janeta Velázquez ( June 26 , 1842 – c . 1902 ) , was a Cuban - born woman who masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier during the American Civil War . She enlisted in the Confederate States Army in 1861 , without her soldier - husband ' s knowledge . She fought at Bull Run , Ball ' s Bluff and Fort Donelson , but her gender was discovered while in New Orleans and she was discharged . Undeterred , she 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 . Birth and family . Loreta Janeta Velázquez was born in Havana , Cuba , on June 26 , 1842 , to a wealthy Cuban official and a mother of both French and American ancestry . According to her own account , Velázquez was of Castilian descent and related to Cuban governor Don Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar and artist Don Diego Velázquez . Everything known about Velázquez comes from her 600 - page book , " ' The Woman in Battle : A Narrative of the Exploits , Adventures , and travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velázquez , Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T Buford , Confederate States Army " . How much of it is true is unknown . Historians have generally doubted its veracity for the improbability of many of her adventures , her frequent vagueness or inaccuracy about names and places , and the absence of any evidence to corroborate her sensational claims . Her father was a Spanish government official who owned plantations in Mexico and Cuba . Her father hated the United States due to losing an inherited ranch in the Mexican - American War at San Luis Potosi . She learned the English language due to being sent to school in New Orleans in 1849 , living with an aunt . While fourteen years old she elope d with a Texas United States Army officer known only as William on April 5 , 1856 . She initially continued to live with her aunt , but after a quarrel with her she moved in with her husband and would live at various army posts , estranging herself further from her family by converting to Methodism . American Civil War . At the outbreak of the American Civil War , Velázquez ' s husband resigned his U . S . commission and joined the Confederate Army . She failed to convince him to let her join him , so she acquired two uniform s , adopted the name Henry T . Buford and moved to Arkansas . There she recruited 236 men in four days , shipped them to Pensacola , Florida and presented them to her husband as her command . Her husband died in an accident while he was demonstrating the use of weapons to his troops . Velázquez turned her men over to a friend and began to search for more things to do . Her husband actually died before she became a soldier . She supposedly fought in the First Battle of Bull Run . She grew tired of camp life and again donned female garb to go to Washington , D . C . , where she spied for the Confederacy . She claimed she met Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Simon Cameron . When she returned to the South , she was assigned to the detective corps . She later left for Tennessee . In Tennessee , she fought in the siege of Fort Donelson until the surrender . She was wounded in battle , but was not exposed . She fled to New Orleans , where she was arrested , suspected of being a female Union spy in disguise . After she was released , she enlisted to get away from the city . At Shiloh , she found the battalion she had raised in Arkansas and fought in the battle . As she was burying the dead after a battle , a stray shell wounded her . When the army doctor who examined her discovered she was a woman , she again fled to New Orleans and saw Major General Benjamin F . Butler take command of the city . She gave up her uniform at that point . Afterwards , in Richmond , Virginia , authorities again hired her as a spy and she began to travel all around the USA . At that time , she married a Captain Thomas DeCaulp ; he purportedly died soon after in a Chattanooga hospital . ( An officer of that name is known to have survived the war ) . She travelled north where officials hired her to search for herself . In Ohio and Indiana , she tried to organize a rebellion of Confederate prisoners of war . Travels . After the war , she traveled in Europe as well as in the South . She married a Major Wasson and emigrated with him to Venezuela . When he died in Caracas , she returned to the United States . During her subsequent travels around the U . S . , she gave birth to a baby boy and met Brigham Young in Utah . She arrived in Omaha , almost penniless , but charmed General W . S . Harney into giving her blankets and a revolver . Two days after her arrival in the mining area of Nevada , she received a proposal of marriage from a sixty year - old man which she refused . After eventually marrying a younger man , whose name is not known , Velázquez soon left Nevada , travelling with her baby . Overview . Her book appeared in print in 1876 . In the preface , Velázquez stated that she had written the book primarily for money so she could support her child . Shortly after its appearance , former Confederate General Jubal Early denounced the book as an obvious fiction . In 2007 , The History Channel broadcast " Full Metal Corset " , a program that presented details of Velázquez ' s story as genuine . However , the overall truthfulness of her account remains indeterminate and highly questionable . Loreta Janeta Velázquez is said to have died in 1897 , but historian Richard Hall asserts that the place and date of her death are unknown . According to " The Woman in Battle " , her book and the main source for her story , her father was the owner of plantations in Mexico and Cuba and a Spanish government official , and her mother ' s parents were a French naval officer and the daughter of a wealthy American family . Loreta Velázquez claimed four marriages ( though never took any of her husbands ' names ) . Her second husband enlisted in the Confederate army at her urging , and , when he left for duty , she raised a regiment for him to command . He died in an accident , and the widow then enlisted — in disguise — and served at Manassas / Bull Run , Ball ' s Bluff , Fort Donelson and Shiloh under the name Lieutenant Henry T . Buford . Loreta Velázquez also claims to have served as a spy , often dressed as a woman , working as a double agent for the Confederacy in the service of the U . S . Secret Service . The veracity of the account was attacked almost immediately , and remains an issue with scholars . Some claim it is probably entirely fiction , others that the details in the text show a familiarity with the times that would be difficult to completely simulate . A newspaper report mentions a Lieutenant Bensford arrested when it was disclosed " he " was actually a woman , and gives her name as Alice Williams , which is a name which Loreta Velázquez apparently also used . Richard Hall , in " Patriots in Disguise " ( see bibliography ) , takes a hard look at " The Woman in Battle " and analyzes whether its claims are accurate or fictionalized . Elizabeth Leonard in " All the Daring of the Soldier " ( also see bibliography ) assesses " The Woman in Battle " as largely fiction , but based on real experience . In Popular Culture . Maria Agui Carter directed " Rebel " , an investigative documentary , examining the story of Loreta Velazquez . The film is a detective story exploring Velazquez ' s claims and the politics involved in erasing her from history . It was produced in 2013 and lasts for 73 minutes . References . Robertson . Richard Books . TV Programs