Mercedes Martínez del Caso de Scarpetta

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: Unknown

Events:

1817  -  Quito  -  Unknown  -  She was punished by the royalists around this time.
1817-1822  -  Quito  -  Unknown  -  She fled to Quito around 1817 and stayed here until 1822.
1822  -  Cali  -  Unknown  -  She returned from Quito to Calí where she died shortly afterwards.

Connections:

Women arms to independence army
Women imprisoned, independence cause
Women publicly punished, independence cause
Women recruited soldiers for independence cause

Biography:
She was punished "before 1817" for her part in the independence struggles. Arciniegas describes her as having been terrorised, in Calí, Colombia, for the republican cause. (Arciniegas, 86)

She recruited men, gathered arms and horses for the independence cause in Calí. She was imprisoned by Francisco Warleta who demanded the whereabouts of her husband, Manuel Scarpetta y Roo. She refused, was put in chains and was made to ride the streets on an ass. She remained silent and was then locked up inside a filthy cell of the Húsares de Fernando VII battalion, and whipped. When Scarpetta y Roo heard of this, he gave himself up in return for her freedom. Warleta took 5,000 pesos in exchange for the freedom of both of them and they fled to Quito. In 1822, they returned to Calí where she died shortly afterwards. (Monsalve, 153-154, 259-260)

References:

Arciniegas, Germán (1961) América mágica: II Las mujeres y las horas
Monsalve, José D (1926) Mujeres de la independencia