Loreta Janeta Velazquez During The Civil War

Boom! Bam! Goes the sound of a cannon killing many people in battle during the Civil War. Among those that were killed or injured were many women. Hundreds of women would join the war, as the thrill of battle was enticing. Many women joined because of loved ones serving. Loreta Janeta Velazquez is an example of this. Velazquez’s early life began when she lived in Cuba. Her early life includes living on a plantation to an aristocratic family. Velazquez’s father alone would own other plantations in Chile. The family hoped that Velazquez would become a lady that would marry a Cuban husband. She betrayed that dream. In New Orleans, she would fall in love with a Texan soldier and would marry even with the opposition from her parents. This paper …show more content…
Grant. Ulysses S. Grant was the general of the North that graduated from West Point. Next, to Robert E. Lee he was one of the most well-known generals out there. The importance that he has to Velazquez’s story is that she saw him on the night after the Battle of Shiloh. He was on a boat with another officer that seemed to be talking to him. Velazquez describes that she could not get that close to Grant. She had no idea what they were saying. She states that she knew who he was because she saw many pictures of him in newspapers. Seeing Grant caused her to grab the holster to her gun. It was time to fire. Velazquez hesitated and came to the decision that she was not going to kill him. Many men have already died from the battle that just occurred. At this point, it seems that she was tired of the war. She states that she would rather become a deserter than stay in the war. This situation is really the turning point for Velazquez to see the dangers of war. War was cruel. In a way, it seems that Velazquez knows that the war is necessary due to the different opinions on both sides. These opinions would develop further into the war. For the importance of this story, it should be noted that many historians debate whether this story about Velazquez was true. Ulysses S. Grant was at the Battle of Shiloh, but there was no way he could have been at the river that late at night. She may have mistaken him for another …show more content…
She was able to meet Lincoln because a friend had scheduled a meeting at the white house. Velazquez was allowed to meet him for only five minutes. Even in these five minutes, Velazquez is enlightened by the situation. Her views on Abraham Lincoln changed. Velazquez like many Confederates disliked Lincoln because of what he was going to do to the South. Everyone thought he was going to overthrow Slavery. A reason that Velazquez supported this was because she was surrounded by it at a very young age. Like her background in the Caribbean, her parents owned multiple plantations. Velazquez would own a slave during the Civil War to. This was a detail that she had in common with the southerners. She is a unique individual when she describes both of her meetings with Grant and Lincoln. Many people did not have the chance to get that close to the president of the United States. Several people found these events too good to be true. These events may be false. Velazquez through this wanted to express her desire to be like Joan of Arc. She wanted to be a woman that many younger women could look up to like she did in her childhood. People could spend all day arguing about what her true motives were for publishing the