Inventing Loreta Velasquez: Confederate Soldier Impersonator, Media Celebrity, and Con ArtistShe went by many names—Mary Ann Keith, Ann Williams, Lauretta Williams, and more—but history knows her best as Loreta Janeta Velasquez, a woman who claimed to have posed as a man to fight for the Confederacy. In Inventing Loreta Velasquez, acclaimed historian William C. Davis delves into the life of one of America’s early celebrities, peeling back the myths she herself created to reveal a startling and even more implausible reality. This groundbreaking biography reveals a woman quite different from the public persona she promoted. In her bestselling memoir, The Woman in Battle, Velasquez claimed she was an emphatic Confederate patriot, but in fact she never saw combat. Instead, during the war she manufactured bullets for the Union and persuaded her Confederate husband to desert the Army. After the Civil War ended, she wore many masks, masterminding ambitious confidence schemes worth millions, such as creating a phony mining company, conning North Carolina residents to back her financially in a fake immigration scheme, and attracting investors to build a railroad across western Mexico. With various husbands, Velasquez sought her fortune both in the American West and in the Klondike, though her endeavors cost one husband his life. She also became a social reformer advocating on behalf of better prison conditions, the Cuban revolt against Spain, and the plight of Cuban refugees. Further, Velasquez was one of the first women to venture into journalism and presidential politics. Always a sensational press favorite, she displayed throughout her life an uncanny ability to manipulate popular media and to benefit from her fame in a way that prefigured celebrities of our own time, including using her testimony in a Congressional inquiry about Civil War counterfeiting as a means of promoting her latest business ventures. So little has been known of Velasquez’s real life that some postmodern scholars have glorified her as a “woman warrior” and used her as an example in cross-gender issues and arguments concerning Hispanic nationalism. Davis firmly refutes these notions by bringing the historical Velasquez to the surface. The genuine story of Velasquez’s life is far more interesting than misguided interpretations and her own fanciful inventions. |
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
2 Heroine in a Fix | 22 |
3 The Summer of Harry Buford | 37 |
4 In Secret Service | 52 |
5 Win My Glory Back | 65 |
6 You Will Learn a Little More of Me | 76 |
7 Lost Months in the Shadows | 88 |
13 Embattled Woman | 172 |
14 She Is a Promoter | 188 |
15 The First Big Cons | 202 |
16 I Have Never Met Her Equal | 216 |
17 The Old BattleLight | 231 |
18 Legend Legacy and Legerdemain | 238 |
Acknowledgments | 261 |
Notes | 263 |
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Inventing Loreta Velasquez: Confederate Soldier Impersonator, Media ... William C. Davis Limited preview - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
adventures Alemán Ann Williams appeared April Arkansas army arrested Atlanta Daily Constitution August Beard Belle Boyd Bobo Bonner Buford Castle Thunder Chattanooga claimed Clemens Cleveland Columbus Confederacy Confederate County Cuba Cuban Daily True Delta DeCaulp DeCaulp Provost File December editor Enquirer fact February female Fort Snelling Galveston gave Harry Buford Heintzelman Herald Hotel husband Ibid Irwin January July June June 16 knew later Lauretta letter Lieutenant Buford Loreta Loreta Janeta Velazquez Louisiana Lynchburg Madame March marriage married Memphis mention Mexico Milwaukee Mississippi months narrative Nashville newspaper November November 21 October Orleans Daily Picayune Orleans Daily True papers Philadelphia prison railroad record Reese River reporter Republican Richmond Salt Lake September September 27 Shiloh soldier soon South Southern Stockdale story Thomas told Union Union army United States Census Velasquez Virginia Washington Wasson weeks Woman in Battle women Worthington wrote York