Cubans of the Civil War

Understanding Cuban Involvement through the Experience of Federico Fernández Cavada

Research and Presentation by Kristian Laureiro

“Whoever will take the trouble to read the following pages must admit that he was a remarkable man.” (Davis 4)

Notable Primary Sources

Cavada, Federico F. Libby Life: Experiences of a Prisoner of War in Richmond, Va., 1863-64. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1865.

Davis, Oliver W. Sketch of Frederic Fernandez Cavada, a Native of Cuba: Showing Partially What One of His Friends Knew of Him as a Soldier, a Gentleman, a Poet, a Patriot and a Victim. Philadelphia: James B. Chandler, Printer, 1871.

Significance of Libby Life• “Finally, you arrive at one, and only one conclusion, which is, that if there be

any one thing in this world more utterly unsatisfactory than any other, it is to be a prisoner of war… But the idea of being shut up in a dreary and loathsome tomb for weeks and months- to be tortured, pinched, and starved- merely for serving your country, and endeavoring, through it, to serve humanity!... And you finally arrive at the conclusion that it is all for the best…. No place, surely, is better adapted than the prison-house for the study of human nature. Suffering develops the real character.” (Cavada 152)

• “No place, surely, is better adapted than the prison-house for the study of human nature. Suffering develops the real character.” (Cavada 156)

All SourcesPrimary

Cavada, Federico F. Libby Life: Experiences of a Prisoner of War in Richmond, Va., 1863-64. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1865.

“Certificate of Naturalization”. Philadelphia District Court. October 2, 1865. From latinamericanstudies.org. (Accessed August 30 th, 2015). http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cavada/cavada-citizenship.gif

“’The Cuban Revolution’ lithograph in Harper’s Weekly”. Harper’s Weekly. October 16th, 1869. From the University of Miami- Fernando Fernández-Cavada Collection. (Accessed October 4th, 2015).

http://merrick.library.miami.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/chc5006/id/1399/rec/235

Davis, Oliver W. Sketch of Frederic Fernandez Cavada, a Native of Cuba: Showing Partially What One of His Friends Knew of Him as a Soldier, a Gentleman, a Poet, a Patriot and a Victim. Philadelphia: James B. Chandler, Printer,

1871.

Kircher, Henry A. In A German in the Yankee fatherland: the Civil War letters of Henry A. Kircher, edited by Earl J. Hess, Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1983.

Welsh, Peter, Margaret Cosse Richard, and Lawrence Frederick Kohl. 1986. Irish Green and Union Blue : The Civil War Letters of Peter Welsh, Color Sergeant, 28th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. New York: Oxford University Press

USA, 1986. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed November 3, 2015).

Secondary

Stevens, Michel W. Cubans in the Confederacy: Jose Agustin Quintero, Ambrosio Jose Gonzales, and Loreta Janeta Velazquez. ) Edited by Phillip Thomas Tucker. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002.