Statue of Juana Galán in Valdepeñas, by sculptor Francisco Javier Galán
Juana Galán (1787–1812), nicknamed La Galana, was a
guerrilla fighter
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics ...
of the
Peninsular War (1808–1814) who took to the street to fight against the French cavalry that tried to pass through the town of
Valdepeñas. At twenty years old, she was considered the best informed woman of the village, because she worked in a strategic location, the first tavern in the village.
On June 6, 1808, in the
Battle of Valdepeñas
The battle of Valdepeñas ( es, Contienda de Valdepeñas) was a popular uprising that took place on 6 June 1808, at the beginning of the Spanish War of Independence, in the town of Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha. Valdepeñas i ...
against
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's troops, there was a lack of sufficient men to defend the village, so she encouraged women to go out and fight. Although Galán is usually depicted armed with a baton, one version has it that she smashed in the heads of the soldiers with her
cast-iron stew pan. The other women poured hot water through the windows and boiling hot oil on the road.
This battle led, in part, to the French army abandoning the region of
la Mancha, which in turn led to the decisive victory for the Spaniards at the
Battle of Bailén
The Battle of Bailén was fought in 1808 between the Spanish Army of Andalusia, led by Generals Francisco Castaños and Theodor von Reding, and the Imperial French Army's II corps d'observation de la Gironde under General Pierre Dupont de l' ...
. This town was granted the title "very heroic".
Galán married Bartolomé Ruiz de Lerma of
Valdepeñas on May 2, 1810, with whom she had two daughters. She died during her second daughter's birth on September 24, 1812, the same day la Mancha was released by the troops of Napoleon. She was only around 25 years old.
See also
*
Agustina de Aragón
Agustina Raimunda Maria Saragossa i Domènech or Agustina of Aragón (March 4, 1786 – May 29, 1857) was a Spanish heroine who defended Spain during the Peninsular War, first as a civilian and later as a professional officer in the Spanish Arm ...
*
Casta Álvarez
Casta Álvarez Barceló (1786 – 29 April 1846) was an Aragonese insurgent, who fought in the First siege of Zaragoza. This took place during the 1808 to 1814 Spanish War of Independence, or Guerra de la Independencia Española, part of the P ...
*
María Pita
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galan, Juana
1787 births
1812 deaths
Women in war in Spain
Women in 19th-century warfare
Spanish military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
