Federico Fernández Cavada
Cuban military officer in the United States and Cuban insurgency
Years: 1831 - 1871
Colonel Federico Fernández Cavada (1831 – July 1871) is an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Because of his artistic talents, he is assigned to the Hot Air Balloon unit of the Union Army.
From the air, he sketches what he observes of enemy positions and movements.
On April 19, 1862, Fernández Cavada sketches enemy positions from Thaddeus Lowe's Constitution balloon during the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia.
He is captured during the Battle of Gettysburg and sent to Libby Prison for Union officers in Richmond, Virginia.
Released in 1864, that year he publishes a book which tells of the cruel treatment which he had received in the Confederate prison.
After the war, Fernández Cavada is appointed by the United States government as consul to Cuba.
When the insurrection begins against Spanish rule, he resigns his commission and joins the insurgents.
He is commissioned as a general.
Cuban authorities eventually commission him as the Commander-in-Chief of all the Cuban forces during what becomes the island's Ten Year War for independence.
