# 221. New Haven's Lt.  Augusto Rodríguez, First Civil War Soldier from Puerto Rico

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grating-the-nutmeg-500787/221-new-haven-s-lt-augusto-rodr-guez-first-civil-war-soldier-from-puerto-rico
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grating-the-nutmeg-500787/221-new-haven-s-lt-augusto-rodr-guez-first-civil-war-soldier-from-puerto-rico.md
Podcast: [Grating the Nutmeg](https://stenobird.com/podcast/grating-the-nutmeg-500787)
Published: 2025-11-14T22:16:00+00:00
Episode link: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/221-new-havens-lt-augusto-rodrguez-first-civil-war-soldier-from-puerto-rico
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/gratingthenutmeg/GTN_222_Augusto_FINAL_UPLOAD_3_w_music_-_MP3.mp3?dest-id=293199
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grating-the-nutmeg-500787/episodes/221-new-haven-s-lt-augusto-rodr-guez-first-civil-war-soldier-from-puerto-rico
Duration seconds: 1512

## Resource

More than twenty thousand Hispanic Americans served in the Civil War. When Cuban-born Loreta Velázquez's husband would not allow her to join him on the battlefield, she assumed the role of First Lieutenant Harry T. Buford to be near him. Philip Bazaar, born in Chile, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous exploits during the assault of Fort Fisher. The spying efforts of Floridian Maria Dolores Sánchez and her two sisters led to a Union defeat at the Battle of Horse Landing. Delving into the lives of these individuals, historian A.J. Schenkman, author of Hispanic Americans of the Civil War, published by the History Press in 2025, uncovers this often-overlooked aspect of Civil War history. Hispanic soldiers came from different countries. Mexico had declared its independence from Spain in 1821 and later abolished slavery in 1837. Some soldiers and sailors traced their families to Cuba and Puerto Rico, which were still part of Spain. Or from Spain itself or its other colonies. In this episode, Schenkman uncovers a bombshell story about New Haven's Augusto Rodríguez, the first known Civil War soldier from Puerto Rico. When this story was published in the Summer 2025 issue of Connecticut Explored magazine, the phone started to ring off the hook. Television news channels and newspapers quickly picked up this remarkable story. Grating the Nutmeg has covered the courageous Puerto Rican men of the 65 th regiment founded in 1899 when Puerto Rico became a United States territory in episode #184 but not someone this early in our military history. A. J. Schenkman is a New York-based writer. He is a social studies teacher in Ulster County, New York, and a former municipal historian. Schenkman is also author of several books about local, regional, and national history. He c…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grating-the-nutmeg-500787/episodes/221-new-haven-s-lt-augusto-rodr-guez-first-civil-war-soldier-from-puerto-rico/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/grating-the-nutmeg-500787/221-new-haven-s-lt-augusto-rodr-guez-first-civil-war-soldier-from-puerto-rico.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.