Gertrudis Bocanegra

María Gertrudis Teodora Bocanegra Mendoza[1] (11 April 1765 – 11 October 1817) was a woman who fought in the Mexican War of Independence.

[2] She married Lieutenant Pedro Advíncula Lazo de la Vega, a soldier in the Spanish provincial forces of Michoacán; they had six children (two sons and four daughters).

Her husband and eldest son joined the forces of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla when the insurgents passed through Valladolid (now Morelia) in October 1810.

[3] She then served as a messenger for the insurgents in the region of Pátzcuaro and Tacámbaro, helping to form a communications network between the principal locations of the rebellion.

Sentenced to death, she and one of her fellow insurgents were executed on 11 October 1817 at the Plazuela de San Agustín in Pátzcuaro.

A monument in honor of Gertrudis Bocanegra in the plaza that bears her name in central Pátzcuaro , Michoacán