THE WOMAN IN BATTLE.
CHAPTER I.
CHILDHOOD.
The Woman in Battle.-- Heroines of History.-- Joan of Arc.-- A Desire to emulate Her.-- The Opportunity that was offered. Breaking out of the War between the North and the South.-- Determination to take part in the Contest.-- A noble Ancestry.-- The Velazquez Family.-- My Birth at Havana.-- Removal of my Family to Mexico.-- The War be- tween the United States and Mexico.-- Loss of my Father's Estates. Return of the Family to Cuba.-- My early Education.-- At School in New Orleans.-- Castles in the Air.-- Romantic Aspirations.-- Trying to be a Man.-- Midnight Promenades before the Mirror in Male Attire.
THE woman in battle is an infrequent figure on the pages of history, and yet, what would not history lose were the glorious records of the heroines, -- the great-souled women, who have stood in the front rank where the battle was hottest and the fray most deadly, -- to be obliterated? When women have rushed to the battle-field they have invariably distinguished themselves; and their courage, their enthusiasm, and their devotion to the cause espoused, have excited the brave among the men around them to do and to dare to the utmost, and have shamed the cowards into believing that it was worth while to peril life itself in a noble cause, and that
