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Spanish Essay  There are many Latinos that overcame challenges in the United States, but I believe there is one main Latino that hasn't overcame her challenges she defeated them. Her name is Loreta Janeta Valazquez. She was a woman willing to fight in the American Civil War for the Confederacy. When she was declined to join the war she disguised as a man and fought in many of the battles. She truly overcame her obstacles as a woman willing to fight. She created a book called Part I: "Rebel:" Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Civil War Soldier and Spy Alice Williams or Loreta Janeta Valazquez was born on June 26, 1842 in Cuba to a wealthy family. Her father was a Cuban official with a mother with American and French ancestry. Her father didn't like the United States because the ranches he had inherited in the Texas were destroyed because of the Mexican-American War. Loreta then moved in with her aunt in New Orleans to go to school in 1849. She learned English while she was at school in New Orleans. When she was 14 she had a quarrel with her aunt she moved out to Texas and married an United States Army officer known only as William. She traveled to various outpost in the west with her husband until the Civil War. Once the Civil War had began William joined the Confederacy to fight for the south .(Nation Museum of American History). Once Loreta Janeta Valazquez pleaded to let her joined the army she was denied her access. Once she was denied her access to be part of the war she disguised herself as a man. She later gave herself the rank of Lieutenant and traveled to Arkansas to gain a regiment of volunteers.(Council on Foreign Relations) After gaining enough volunteers for the regiment she brought them to her husband. After finding her husband he where he was later killed in a shooting accident. After her husband was killed she traveled North as an independent solider and meet up with her regiment just in time for the Battle of Bull Run. Later she went to Washington D.C and gained information about the Union. She later joined the Detective Corps. The Espionage didn't have enough excitement for her so she went back to the battlefield and showed her strength there. Resuming her disguise she went and fought in the Battle of Fort Donelson. She later was wounded in the foot and didn't want to go to an on site medic because she thought that her gender would be found out so she returned home. When returning home still in her disguise she was arrested for being a spy for the Union. The accounts got dropped but she was fined for impersonating a man. Still not content with the actions that took place she returned to Tennessee she found her original regiment and fought with them in the Battle of Shiloh. While on burial duty she was wounded on the side by an exploding shell and a military doctor found out her true gender. She at this point gave up becoming a solider and gave up her services to becoming a spy.(Wikimedia Foundation) All through her life Loreta Janeta Valazquez always kept a diary down and wrote down everything she has went through. The name of her book is The Woman In Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier. With the release of her book she was thought to have been married three or four times and she was last documented to be living in Nevada. She was later thought to have died 1897, but there is no supporting evidence to support this. When she died she was hoped she was judged impartially, because she thought she did what was right. The book wasn't very popular when she first released it, but it then got very popular when she later had died and everyone started finding out about her story. (UW Press) Many people might be wondering, "How is she a person that overcame many challenges in the United States" and I have the answer for you. She as a female was not allowed to fight in war, but she still did with her witty way by using her disguise to pretend to be a man to fight in the war. She also fought in the many wars that happened in the Civil War like The Battle of Bull Run. She gained a lot of information about the union during the war and used it to her advantage. She was later caught and gave her services to the Confederacy. Even though she had a long and tough journey during her whole entire life she had never gave up on her idea to fight in the Civil War and to fight for her army, the Confederacy. She did what she thought what was right for her and her country and she succeeded in what she did. She made it and helped many woman gained rights for their movement.

"Loreta Janeta Valazquez." //Council on Foreign Relations//. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016. < []://www.google.com/> "Loreta Janeta Valazquez." Wikimedia Foundation., n.d. Web. <[]> "Part I: "Rebel:" Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Civil War Soldier and Spy." //National Museum of American History//.Smithsonian, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2016. [] "UW Press - : The Woman in Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier, Loreta Janeta Velazquez." //UW Press - : The Woman in Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier, Loreta Janeta Velazquez//. University of Washington, 01 Oct. 2003. Web. 20 Apr.2016. []
 * Works Cited**
 * This source is reliable because it is a well known organization that their main focus is to preserve the grounds of the Civil War. It's focus is to focus on the people that structured the Civil War.
 * This is a reliable source because the source was given to me from my teacher.
 * This is a reliable source because the Smithsonian
 * This is a reliable source because a university made it.