A Real Wonder Woman

 

 Augustina Raimunda Maria Saragossa i Domenech was celebrated by Byron in one of his best-known poems:

"Who hang so fiercely on the flying Gaul?  Foiled by a woman's hand before a battered wall..."

When Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 1808, driving all the way to Lisbon and forcing the flight or abdication of Spain and Portugal's kings and installing brother Joseph as the new ruler, Augustina accompanied her husband, Sergeant Juan Rosa, immediately to the resistance, bringing along their young son.  The desperate defense of Zaragoza, which they joined, was mostly up to civilians facing an overwhelming French force. 

After heavy bombardment, the invader attacked at several points.  At Portillo gate, those gunners and militia who were not already dead fled to the central town square.  The abandoned 24-pounder cannon Augustina was near had been loaded with canister (shrapnel) shot; she touched it off and fired right into the face of a dense enemy column, driving them back with great loss.  The citizen defenders, inspired, rallied and returned to the barricades, holding the besieging army at bay for three months.  But their home was left in ruins.  Napoleon  was informed of the high casualties, and that "It is impossible that Zaragoza should ever recover; this city is a horror to behold. "

Amazingly, Augustina and Juan escaped and later participated in the second siege of Zaragoza, the defense of Tortosa and the decisive battle of Vitoria.  She became so ill she almost died, and their son did.

Honored as La Artillera and Maid and Defender of Zaragoza, Augustina was made a lieutenant and granted a lifetime pension by the grateful king -- the only female officer of the Peninsular War. 

Juan was also promoted to lieutenant and survived the war by eight years.   Augustina remarried a doctor, had a daughter, and lived to be 71.  She is buried near the scene of her brave stand, at the parish of Nuestra Senora del Portillo.

Portrayed by Goya