Thread by @yclbritain

On this day in 1916, Mexican revolutionary fighter Petra Herrera died. While her name is one you may not be familiar with, it is one slowly being explored and revealed 🇲🇽

Petra Herrera was a fighter in the 1910 Mexican Revolution and one of the bravest and most... (1/15)

successful "Las Soldaderas": women fighters in the Mexican Revolution.

The Mexican Revolution was a battle for civil liberties in which ordinary people fought to free themselves from the oppression of the corrupt federal government. Eventually, the success of the... (2/15)

uprising would transform the country’s political, financial and cultural life, but not until Mexico had endured a decade of bloody civil war between 1910 and 1920.

It is unlikely that the forces of the revolution would have been able to finally topple dictator... (3/15)

Porfirio Díaz and his army without the tremendous contribution of the Las Soldaderas – the female soldiers who not only cared for and supported the revolutionary troops but also fought alongside them.

Little is known about Petra Herrara’s early life but, like many of... (4/15)

her sisters, as a young woman she was inspired to fight for the freedom of Mexico. Many Soldaderas supported the troops as cooks, nurses and nannies, etc, in traditionally-held female gender roles. But such a life would never have satisfied Petra.

So instead she... (5/15)

disguised herself as a man in order that she might fight in the league commanded by General Francisco “Pancho” Villa, one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution. She called herself Pedro and would pretend to shave her beard early each morning, to avoid... (6/15)

any awkward questions about her hairless skin.

She quickly became a celebrated member of the Villistas, admired for her leadership qualities and her talent for strategy. With a flair for demolition, her game plan often involved destroying key bridges to limit the... (7/15)

enemy’s movement. Her skills soon earned her the rank of captain and she led a brigade of around 200 men.

Feeling confident in her position within Villa’s force, Petra thought she could be honest about her true identity, unfurling long braids of hair that would... (8/15)

become her trademark, and reportedly shouting out: “I am a woman.”

Herrera’s revelation did not change things, at least at first. In January 1914, the Mexican Herald reported, “Rebel leaders here were pleased to receive the first report from Peda [sic] Herrera, a... (9/15)

young Mexican woman who is commanding a force of 200 men in the state of Durango. She holds the rank of captain in the rebel army.”

But Pancho Villa refused to permit her the rank as General, so soon after Herrera formed her own brigade, exclusively for women. In May... (10/15)

1914 Petra and her 400-strong all-women army played a vital role in capturing Toma de Torreόn. The city had been one of dictator Porfirio Díaz’s most important military bases, so its capture was a hugely important victory for the revolutionary forces.

In light of this... (11/15)

success, Petra asked General Castro to promote her to the rank of general and re-instate her in the armed forces. He refused to do as she wished but did concede to make her a colonel.

Some sources claim that she eventually commanded a brigade of over 1,000 women... (12/15)

before her troop was disbanded, and Petra was forced to retire from the battlefield.

However, she was still determined to fight for Mexico’s freedom and in 1917 became a spy, working for Venustiano Carranza, another prominent revolutionary leader.

Her new role in... (13/15)

espionage saw Petra posing as a bartender in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. It was working in a canteen that she met her end; one evening a group of drunken men attacked and shot her. She was not killed immediately but died sometime later as a result of her... (14/15)

wounds.

Tragically, she would never enjoy a life of liberation in post-revolution Mexico for which she had fought and given her life for.

Long live Petra Herrera! (15/15)