Filmmaker Brings Attention To A Latina Soldier Who Fought In The U.S. Civil War
The U.S. military may have recently lifted the ban on women in combat, but Loreta Velazquez, a wealthy Cuban planter’s daughter who immigrated to New Orleans in 1849, secretly fought in the U.S. Civil War 150 years ago — first as a soldier in the Confederate Army, and later as a Union Army spy.
“When you go back and you look at the actual documents, many people have said since then that it was about states' rights, but really the only significant state right that people were arguing about in 1860 was the right to own what was known as slave property — property and slaves unimpeded — and to be able to travel with that property anywhere that you wanted to. So it's clear that this was really about slavery in almost every significant way, but we've sort of pushed that to the side because of course we want to believe that our country is a country that's always stood for freedom. And ... certainly it's difficult for some Southern Americans to accept that their ancestors fought a war on behalf of slavery. And I think that Northerners really, for the cause of national reconciliation, decided to push that aside — decided to accept Southerners' denials or demurrals.”
—Adam Goodheart on why people still argue over the cause of the Civil War. The war began 152 years ago today, on April 12, 1861.
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”
—Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to Horace Greeley, 1862
Yet another example that government’s self interest is nothing new. It seeks only to perpetuate itself. Helping society is not among its goals.
