Such was his heroism that Simón Bolívar not only promoted him post-mortem but also decreed that in the future the first company of the Yaguachi battalion be reviewed as if he were alive, an honor rarely seen in military history.

He was immediately noted for his "heroic courage", in the words of the patriot colonel Luis Urdaneta, who asked Abdón for the rank of lieutenant after the triumph of Camino Real (November 9, 1820).

A more realistic version of events is that Abdón Calderón, despite having received four gunshot wounds, remained in the line of fire, encouraging his entire battalion, which he commanded as a lieutenant.

Antonio José de Sucre In his brief report of the Battle of Pichincha, dated May 28 of that year, he says: "I make a particular mention of the conduct of Lieutenant Calderon, who, having received four successive wounds, did not want to retire from combat.

He ordered that the first company of the Yaguachi Battalion to which Calderón belonged would not have a captain and in the magazines, when his name was mentioned, the troops would have to answer: "He died gloriously in Pichincha, but he lives in our hearts."