Stealth fighter

This Cuban woman toiled as a man in the Civil War. So why has no one heard of her?

By Johnny Diaz

Globe Staff / August 22, 2006

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Loreta Janeta Velazquez sounded like a mythical figure: a Cuban-born woman raised in New Orleans, where she masqueraded as a male soldier and fought in the Civil War. With a fake mustache, beard, and a soldier's uniform, the Latina enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford , without her husband's knowledge. (Full article: 1099 words)