Maria Quitéria

Maria Quitéria de Jesus (27 July 1792 – 21 August 1853) was a Brazilian soldier and national heroine. She served in the Brazilian War of Independence in 1822–24 dressed as a man. She was promoted to cadet and lieutenant and later decorated with the Imperial Order of the Cross. Quitéria has been called the "Brazilian Joan of Arc", and has become a legendary figure in Brazil. Quitéria was the first woman to serve in a military unit in the country. She is known as one of the three Bahia women fighters against the Portuguese along with Maria Filipa de Oliveira (died 1873) and Sister Joana Angélica (1761-1822).

Against her father's will, an unmarried Maria Quitéria enlisted in the Parakeet Battalion, division of the Brazilian Army, as a man, in October 1822. Until June 1823, she fought in several battles against the Portuguese in Bahia, where she lived. Maria Quitéria's father outed her as a woman once he discovered her betrayal—but because of her skill in battle, she was allowed to continue to fight. She was promoted to cadet in July 1823, and then to lieutenant in August, where she was received and decorated by the Emperor.

Few details are known about her life. The historian Aristides Augusto Milton, a childhood friend of the poet Castro Alves, who in turn was a grandson of the major who defended Maria Quitéria for her skill with weapons and recognized military discipline, and incorporated it her to his troops, considered Maria Quitéria "a lady as brave as honest" in his Efemérides Cachoeiranas. She is briefly mentioned by English traveler and writer Maria Graham (later Lady Callcott) in her book Journal of a Voyage to Brazil: "Maria de Jesus is illiterate, but lively. She has clear intelligence and acute perception. I think that if they educated her, she would become a notable personality. One observes nothing masculine in her conduct, rather she is of gentle and friendly manners."

Personal life Maria Quitéria de Jesus was born on June 27, 1792, in Licurizeiro, in the parish of São José das Itaporocas (now located in Feira de Santana), Bahia. She was the eldest daughter of a farmer, Gonçalo Alves de Almeida, and his wife, Quitéria Maria de Jesus, who died when the young Maria Quitéria was just 10 years old. Although Maria received no formal education, she would have practiced the skills necessary to farming, such as riding, hunting, and using firearms—these skills would serve her in the military as well.

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