Candelaria Figueredo

Candelaria Figueredo was the daughter of Pedro Figueredo y Cisneros, a Cuban revolutionary who fought against the Spanish in the war of independence that began in 1868. She joined the nationalist struggle as a teenager, when her father asked her to carry the new Cuban flag into battle at Bayamo. Candelaria was captured by Spanish forces 1871 but they released her on condition that she leave the country for the United States. Eventually she reunited with her mother and sisters in Key West, Florida; her father and brother had died in battle. In 1877, she married Federico del Portillo, who had studied law at the University of Havana. Candelaria and Federico returned to Cuba after independence was won in 1902. Her autobiography was published posthumously in 1929.