Bùi Thị Xuân
She was athletic, beautiful, skilled in traditional feminine crafts, had elegant handwriting, but possessed tomboyish traits unusual for women at the time, she liked practicing sword fighting and martial arts.
At the age of 12, she enrolled in a formal school to learn literature, but after being bullied, she became enraged, assaulting and injuring two of her tormentors and decided to return home.
According to Bùi Sơn Nhi of Xuân Hòa, the old teacher was the great-grandmother of Hương Mục Ngạc, a renowned martial artist who specialized in the traditional art of Võ thuật Bình Định in the Binh Dinh village of An Vinh during Vietnam’s later French colonial period.
Her exceptional abilities, combined with her strong leadership and disciplined, stern teaching style, earned her great respect and admiration among her peers.
This encounter led to their eventual marriage when Trần Quang Diệu sought shelter at her home in Xuân Hòa to recover from his injuries and the two fell in love.
Soon after, they both joined the Tây Sơn Army, aligning themselves with the revolutionary peasant movement at the Phú Lạc military base and eventually later both becoming Generals.
In 1785, Bùi Thị Xuân and Trần Quang Diệu played a major role in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút, where the Tây Sơn army annihilated a 20,000-strong Siam (Thai) invasion force.
While Nguyễn Huệ and Võ Văn Dũng commanded the navy, Bùi Thị Xuân and Trần Quang Diệu led the infantry.
If she found any corrupt officials taking credit for others’ work or accepting bribes she would immediately remove them from office and replace them with only capable and virtuous individuals.
Furthermore, she also issued a decree to stop hunting down rebel groups who were simply stealing to survive, and boldly declared that anyone carrying farming tools would be considered a common citizen.
In 1795, General Võ Văn Dũng overthrew Bùi Đắc Tuyên, Xuân’s Uncle, killing him and his son for abusing power.
[2] In the spring of 1802, Emperor Cảnh Thịnh sent his younger brother, Nguyễn Quang Thùy, to defend Nghệ An, while he personally led an army to retake Phú Xuân.
As the battle turned against them, Bùi Thị Xuân rode her war elephant into the frontlines at Trấn Ninh, where Nguyễn Phúc Ánh was fortified.
However, Emperor Cảnh Thịnh panicked—seeing the Nguyễn army crossing the Linh Giang River, he mistakenly thought they were overwhelming his forces and ordered a retreat.
Bùi Thị Xuân desperately clutched the Emperor’s royal robe, begging him to continue the fight, but at that moment, catastrophic news had arrived.
They led their remaining troops and war elephants along the mountainous route through Laos to Nghệ An, hoping to regroup with Emperor Cảnh Thịnh and mount a final defense.
The Historian C. B. Mabon wrote: “Trấn Quang Diệu, along with his wife and daughter, led a small group of surviving troops northward through the Ai Lao route.
His soldiers deserted him, and a few days later both he and his wife were captured… Meanwhile Emperor Cảnh Thịnh, along with his two younger brothers, and a few remaining officers, attempted to escape across the Nhị Hà river, hoping to flee into the mountainous regions.
Because she had led the attack against Trấn Ninh with such ferocity, causing Nguyen Ánh and his generals a moment of terror where they feared imminent destruction, she was sentenced to the most brutal punishment.”A Western Missionary named De La Bissachère who documented the execution in 1807 and witnessed the event wrote of his accounts: “A war elephant slowly approached Bùi Thị Xuân’s young daughter.
