Rafaela Herrera
Rafaela de Herrera y Torreynosa | |
---|---|
Born | Rafaela de Herrera y Torreynosa August 6, 1742 Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua (1762) |
Spouse | Pablo Mora |
Children | five, names unknown |
Rafaela de Herrera y Torreynosa (1742–1805) was a Spanish criolla. She is considered a national
Early life
Rafaela Herrera was born on August 6, 1742, in Cartagena de Indias, in the Viceroyalty of New Granada of the Spanish Empire. She was the illegitimate[1] and only child of Lieutenant Colonel Don José de Herrera y Sotomayor (died 1762) and Felipa Torreynosa.[2] Herrera's birth mother was Felipa Torreynosa, who was reported to be a criolla or possibly a mulatto woman.[2] She was raised in Cartagena by another woman—Doña Maria Felipe de Uriarte—who was widely considered to be her de facto mother.[2]
Herrera's father was a captain of artillery who had been engaged in heavy combat against
In raising his daughter, Lieutenant Colonel Herrera had tried to educate her not only in military exercises such as the handling of the cannon, but also in the principles of honor, faith and patriotism.[3] Rafaela and her father left Cartagena in 1753, when the latter was assigned as Commander of the garrison at the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception on the San Juan River in the Province of Nicaragua, in relief of Lieutenant Colonel Don Juan Antonio Alonso de Arce.[3]
The Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua
Because it represented a potential route between the
The conflict began in June 1762, during the administration of interim Governor of Nicaragua
The combined British and Miskito Sambu expeditionary force headed towards the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception on the San Juan River in July. The attacking force consisted of two thousand men and more than fifty boats,[5][7] while the soldiers at the fortress numbered only around a hundred. To make matters worse, the invaders threatened the region at a time when the commander of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception, José Herrera, was mortally ill. As he lay on his deathbed, Rafaela made a solemn oath to her father that she would defend the fortress at the cost of her life if necessary.[3] The elder Herrera died some time between July 15[8] and July 17,[3] and Lieutenant Don Juan de Aguilar y Santa Cruz assumed temporary command of the garrison.[3]
A few days later, on July 26, 1762, a combined British and Miskito Sambu expeditionary force laid
In response to the rejection of their demands, the British formed a skirmish line, believing that this would be sufficient to achieve the desired effect. Herrera, trained in the handling of weapons, fired one of the cannons and managed to kill the British commander with the third volley of cannon fire.[5][7][9] Enraged by the death of their boss, the British hoisted their battle ensign and began a vigorous attack upon the fortress which continued throughout the night. The garrison, energized by Herrera’s heroism, mounted a fierce resistance which inflicted great losses to the British soldiers and their boats.[3] At nightfall, Herrera ordered the troops to throw some sheets soaked with alcohol into the river on floating branches and set on fire. The current dragged the burning material towards the enemy craft. This unexpected action forced the invading British troops to suspend their attack for the rest of the night and retreat to defensive positions. The next day the British tried to besiege the fortress, with little progress and many casualties on their side.[7]
Inspired by Herrera's acts of heroism, Lieutenant Juan de Aguilar, the pro tempore garrison commander, led the defenders to victory in a battle that lasted six days.[2][3][10] Herrera handled the cannons of the fortress and the Spanish managed not only to defend the strategic position but also to defeat a much larger and better trained military force.[3] The British finally lifted their siege and retreated on August 3, 1762.[10] They withdrew to the mouth of San Juan River, where their presence impeded the flow of shipping into the Caribbean Sea for some time. Fortunately for the defenders of the fortress, Spain and Britain began peace negotiations (in Fontainebleau on November 3, 1762), which culminated in the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763.[5] Cuba and Manila, which had been captured by the British, were returned to Spain and the Spanish ceded Florida to the British.
Later life
Herrera later married Don Pablo Mora, a citizen of Granada. The couple bore five children, of whom two were paralyzed. Her husband died after the birth of their fifth child, and the family lived in poverty in barrio Corinto (a poor neighborhood in Granada) until 1781. On November 11, 1781, King Charles III of Spain issued a royal decree granting Herrera a pension for life as a reward for her heroic actions during the Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua;[7] she received some land and a pension of 600 pesos in payment for her merits.[2][11]
See also
- Women in warfare (1750–1799)
- Timeline of women in early modern warfare
References
- ^ Werner, Patrick S. (July 2010). Género y Derechos de las Mujeres en la Nicaragua del siglo XVIII: Dos Casos (PDF). X Congreso Centroamericano de Historia (in Spanish). Managua, Nicaragua: University of Costa Rica. pp. 1–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-17. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
- ^ a b c d e "Rafaela Herrera: File#201, Record#1651 (subscription required)" (in Spanish). Guatemala City, Guatemala: Archivo General de Centroamerica. 2009. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Carlos Viscasillas (2009). "La Fortaleza de la Inmaculada Concepción de María" (PDF) (in Spanish). Managua, Nicaragua: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
- ^ Maradiaga C., Hilda Rosa (2009-09-17). "Rafaela Herrera: sinónimo de arrojo y valentía". La Prensa (in Spanish). Managua, Nicaragua. Archived from the original on 2011-10-09. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
- ^ a b c d e Roberto Trigueros Bada (2011). "Defensas estratégicas de la Capitanía General de Guatemala Castillos de la Inmaculada Concepción y de San Carlos" (PDF). Revista de Temas Nicaragüenses (in Spanish). 34 (February): 149–94. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
- S2CID 163683579.
- ^ a b c d e José Dolores Gámez (1889). "Segunda mitad del siglo XVIII" (PDF). Historia de Nicaragua desde los tiempos prehistóricos hasta 1860 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Managua, Nicaragua: El País. pp. 255–256. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-12. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
- ^ "Efemerides Nacionales". La Trinchera de la Noticia (in Spanish). Managua, Nicaragua: Periodistas Independientes, S.A. (PINSA). 2010-07-15. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
- ISBN 0-313-28803-8. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
Rafaela Herrera 1762.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59884-100-8. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- ISBN 0-14-303936-9. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
Rafaela.