Adelitas
Adela Velarde Péres was only 13 years old when she joined Francisco Madero’s revolutionary army. She served as a nurse with such distinction that the Mexican government honored her (finally, a half-century later!) with a pension, a Revolutionary Merit Decoration, and even membership in the prestigious Legion of Honor. She died at the age of 71 in Texas.
Nonetheless, it was Adela’s legendary love for a sergeant that made her famous. When he returned to camp mortally wounded, with his last breath he whispered that he had a gift for her in his backpack: the words to the following poem:
Popular among the troops was Adelita,
the woman the sergeant idolized,
because in addition to being brave, she was pretty
that even the colonel respected her.
And if Adelita went with someone else, he
would follow her by land and by sea;
if by sea, in a warship,
if by land, in a military train.
If Adelita wanted to be my wife,
if Adelita were my wife,
I would buy her silk dress
to take her to dance at the barracks.
The poem became one of the most beloved Mexican corridos (musical ballads); and the diminutive of Adela’s name, Adelita (“little Adela”) came to refer to any courageous woman who participated in the Mexican Revolution. Adelitas served as nurses, cooks, couriers, freight drivers, rifle-loaders, lovers, and even front-line soldiers known as “soldaderas.” In fact, many even became officers, such as María de la Luz Espinoza Barrera, who rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in Emiliano Zapata’s army. Meanwhile, Amelia Robles Ávila began the revolution fighting as a woman but finished dressed as and identifying as a man. The adelitas were indispensable to the revolutionaries’ eventual victories.
The most famous soldadera was Petra Herrera, who called herself “Generala.” When Pancho Villa, after he learned of her true gender, refused to honor her for leading the victorious assault on the city of Torreón, and then kicked her out of his army, Petra formed her own female brigade of somewhere between 25 and 1,000 women. She later worked as a spy in a cantina, and died there, shot by brigands.
Today, Adelitas refers also to women who still courageously struggle on the front lines in the ongoing battle for equality for all.
¡Vivan las adelitas!
This is a selection from Ellison’s recently published book: Mexican Streets: Tales of Tragedy and Triumph, available on Amazon as well as Handy Mail and Diane Pearl’s.
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