An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Loreto Sánchez de Peón de Frías

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: Unknown

Events:

Connections:

Biography:
From Salta, she married Pedro José Frías and supported the independence cause even though her father was in the service of the king. She was among those who sent messages from Salta to Jujuy, which were then sent to Orán about royalist movements. Correspondence was hidden in a tree trunk on the river Arias. She went to Jujuy disguised as a bread seller and entered the royalist barracks to ascertain the number of enemy troops. She did not know how to count, but used grains of maize that she transferred from one pocket to another according to what was happening. In 1817, General La Serna, of the royalist troops occupying Salta, was commissioned to investigate the activities of the women spying for Güemes. He organised a dance to which all the women suspected of patriotic activity were invited. The troops left in secret, taking a different direction from that planned. Sánchez de Peón learned about this from an official at the dance and left the room, got onto a horse and rode off to tell the patriots. The patriots then made a surprise attack on the royalists and forced them to return to Salta.
On other occasions, she rode on horseback in disguise, to give information to the patriots on San Bernardo hill. She was awarded a pension of 12 pesos in 1856. She lived to the age of 105 and never lost her patriotic zeal. (Sosa de Newton, 577)

References:

Sosa de Newton, Lily (1986) Diccionario biográfico de mujeres argentinas