Loreta Velazquez was born in Havana, Cuba on June 26th, 1842. She has a Spanish father and a French-American mother. In 1849, she was shipped from Cuba to New Orleans to live her aunt, she attended Catholic school. There she learned to speak English and eventually married an army officer known as William, she ran away with him and at the age of fourteen. Her and William had three children, all of whom died by the fall of 1860. Loreta distracted herself with the conflict between the North and South, she had the idea of joining her husband in combat. Her husband certainly had doubts but Loreta’s first day as a man included a false mustache, wig and one of William’s suits. William wanted to prove to his wife that men in the camp were demoralizing, so he insisted on a night of visiting bars, saloons, and gambling venues to show her how …show more content…
Sarah’s family debts kept increasing, so she left home to find work. With her leaving home as a woman she would soon find out not many options for work were open to her so, she found some men’s clothing and found work on a river barge along a canal in Utica, New York. During one of the canal trips, Sarah met some soldiers from the 153rd New York Infantry and she was convinced enough to join them. She enlisted under the name of twenty one year old Lyons Wakeman, receiving a hundred fifty two dollars in cash for her enlistment. She was described by recruiters being five feet tall with blue eyes, brown hair, and a fair complexion. Sarah told her family that she would be sending most of the money she earned to them to spend for themselves, she wrote them saying “I can get all the money I want,” She would receive thirteen dollars a month plus room and board for being a private in the Union army. Finally in October the volunteers left for Washington, D.C., where Wakeman would be on guard duty at the nation’s