Antonia Nava de Catalán

Acapulco (1810–1811)

Antonia Nava followed her husband, Nicolás Catalán, into the Mexican War of Independence after he joined General José María Morelos in late 1810. She convinced many impoverished women to support the insurgent cause as cooks and porters, and she organized them into a women's battalion. The couple met up with Morelos in the Cerro El Veladero mountains above Acapulco. Morelos had been tasked by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla with starting a southern rebellion and capturing the port.

On January 4, 1811, Morelos took Tres Palos, seizing prisoners and loot; Nicolás Catalán fought well and was promoted to corporal the next month. When Morelos advanced on Acapulco on February 8, he believed Spanish sergeant José Gago would surrender for a bribe, but Gago betrayed him. The insurgents came under heavy fire at the Fort of San Diego and retreated. Morelos thought Nicolás Catalán had died leading the column, but he later turned up unharmed.

One of the Catalán sons was killed at El Fortín in Acapulco. Morelos called for Antonia Nava to comfort her, but she told him she had not come to grieve. She said she did not regret her son's death because he had done his duty, and she presented her four remaining sons: three to fight as soldiers and the youngest to serve as a drummer.

Ongoing struggle (1811–1817)

Antonia Nava de Catalán, alongside María de Jesús de Nava, cooked for revolutionaries and townspeople on 13 September 1813 during the Congress of Chilpancingo, when Mexico declared independence from Spain. Her husband, Nicolás Catalán, had become a captain by 1813.

Their son Manuel Catalán was killed on 21 January 1814 at Paso de Mezcala in Tixtla. Nicolás Catalán later served under Nicolás Bravo and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1816. Like Gertrudis Bocanegra and Leona Vicario, Antonia proved that women could fight in combat, not only handle cooking, cleaning, or nursing.

Cerro del Campo (February 1817)

In February 1817, the forces of General Nicolás Bravo and his second-in-command, Nicolás Catalán, were trapped in a stronghold on Cerro del Campo near Jaleaca. Royalist troops under José Gabriel de Armijo surrounded them for fifty days, causing extreme hunger. The group decided to kill and eat one out of every ten soldiers. Antonia Nava, joined by her sister-in-law María Catalán and Catalina González, offered themselves as sacrifices instead.

Catalina González volunteered to be the first. The offer was turned down, but it revived the revolutionaries’ morale. When asked what to do, Antonia Nava argued it was better to die in combat than to sacrifice themselves. At eleven at night, with the enemy asleep, she urged the women to take up weapons and break the siege together.

Armed with machetes and clubs, the women fought alongside the men. They escaped on March 14, 1817. Afterward, Antonia Nava became known as “La Generala.”

Later events (1817–43)

In late 1818, a force under Pedro Ascencio and Nicolás Catalán, Antonia’s son, attacked Coyuca. Nicolás, a First Sergeant, was killed there that November; the town is now known as Coyuca de Catalán. During the war’s final phase, Nicolás Catalán the elder served under Vicente Guerrero, earning a promotion to colonel on 19 April 1820. On 24 February 1821, Antonia and two of her children witnessed the signing of the Plan of Iguala, and on 27 September 1821 they rode beside her husband as the Army of the Three Guarantees entered Mexico City.

Nicolás Catalán became a brigadier general in 1823 and was appointed commander of the state of Guerrero on 24 January 1828. The family made their home in Chilpancingo. He died in 1838. Antonia Nava de Catalán passed away in Chilpancingo on 19 March 1843 at age 63. The three children she lost during the conflict are honored as young heroes by the people of Guerrero.

Did You Know?

• After the war, a statue of her was placed in Tixtla De Guerrero on February 15, 1987, and three schools in Chilpancingo were named after her.
• Jaleaca became Jaleaca de Catalán by decree 15 of 3 June 1889.