Altagracia Calderón

Biography

Calderón was born in Jalacingo, a town that at the time belonged to the municipality of Teziutlán. When French troops from the Second French Empire invaded, she joined the militias forming in Teziutlán alongside her husband, Gabino Ortega, who was a cavalry commander. Ortega was killed in military action, and Calderón, fighting beside him, had to leave his body behind to escape with their weapons. She then joined Ignacio Zaragoza's forces to defend Puebla during the Battle of Puebla in May 1862, working in the army infirmary of the Federal Republic of Mexico, where she met Porfirio Díaz.

In 1864, a bullet hit the left side of her neck and exited through her mouth, leaving scarring she often covered with a shawl. Imperial troops caught her in Papantla and imprisoned her, but she was freed by Porfirio Díaz's troops after the Taking of Puebla in 1867.

She stayed with the liberal troops until 1872, when the government granted her a pension. During her service, she commanded troops in San Juan de los Llanos, San Andrés, Apulco, Huauchinango, and San Juan Aquixtla. She died in 1917 in the city of Puebla and was buried in the Municipal Pantheon of Puebla.