Maria Filipa de Oliveira

[5][2][3] The resistance group fortified the island by constructed trenches along its broad beaches, sending supplies to the inland Recôncavo region, and watching the coast by both day and night to prevent the landing of Portuguese troops.

Ubaldo Osório Pimentel reports that the Maria Filipa's resistance group set fire to some of the 42 Portuguese vessels anchored in the vicinity of the island to invade the city of Salvador.

They used the peixeira, a knife used in the fishmongering trade; and stinging branches of cansanção, any of a number of indigenous species of plants highly poisonous to the skin.

[5][2] Two watchmen of the vessels, Araújo Mendes and Guimarães das Uvas, were seduced by members of Maria Filipa's group; once nude and drunk, the Portuguese were beaten with cansanção.

Maria Filipa, Joana Soaleira, Brígida do Vale, and a woman known as Marcolina occupied the warehouse of the wealthy Portuguese fish merchant Araújo Mendes.

[citation needed] A biography about her was written by author Jarid Arraes as part of her 2015 cordel collection and book Heroínas Negras Brasileiras em 15 cordéis.