Manuela Hurtado y Pedraza was a patriotic woman who fought in the reconquest of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

after the first

British invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

of 1806. Her participation was considered heroic during the last battle, and her role was recognized by the Commander of the Buenos Aires forces, Santiago de Liniers. Her full name was "Manuela Hurtado y Pedraza", but she was known to all as ''"Manuela la tucumanesa"'' (old style

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

for "Manuela from Tucumán", then part of the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called "Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in ...

, now

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

). Even though her origin is known, the precise location, as well as her date of birth and death, are unknown. Manuela Pedraza participated in the largest, and last, battle of the reconquest; it took place over three days (August 10–12, 1806) at the very centre of Buenos Aires. She fought alongside her husband (a corporal in the army) with the Liniers forces that surrounded the Spanish Fortress (now, the Casa Rosada, seat of the Argentine government on Plaza de Mayo), at that moment in British hands. On the second day of the battle, August 11, her husband was killed by a British soldier; in turn, Manuela killed that soldier with her own

bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...

. Immediately after, she took her husband’s

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

and continued the fighting, killing another British soldier. After the battle, Liniers, the commander of the victorious local forces and soon to be appointed Viceroy for the Río de la Plata, named Manuela to the newly formed Patricios Regiment with a salary and the rank of "''alférez''" (approximately,

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

). The report by Liniers is displayed in the Museum of the

Buenos Aires Cabildo The Cabildo of Buenos Aires ( es, Cabildo de Buenos Aires) is the public building in Buenos Aires that was used as seat of the town council during the colonial era and the government house of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Today the bu ...

, and reads:

Homage

There is a street and a school in Buenos Aires named after her. In addition, the Government of the City of

gives the award "Mención de Honor Manuela Pedraza" in recognition to women involved in social activism in

. In the citation for the recognition, it is stated: "''This award seeks to reclaim a tradition of participation in the battles for liberty and the defense of the interests of the nation and its people, a tradition in which many countrymen gave their lives.''" Manuela Pedraza Award from the City of Buenos Aires (in Spanish)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedraza, Manuela Argentine military personnel People of the Argentine War of Independence People from Tucumán Province Women in 19th-century warfare Women in war in South America 19th-century Argentine people