Loyal Supporter, Trusted Comrade
The correspondence between Leonor Villegas de Magnón and officials of the Constitutionalist forces illustrate the level to which Magnón was respected, entrusted with the care of the soldiers, and even made privy to confidential military information. She served not only as head of the nurses that were dispatched to treat the Constitucionalist soldiers around Mexico, she was also often a messenger, and at times an advisor. In much of his communication with Villegas de Magnón, First Chief Venustiano Carranza, the primary leader of the revolutionary forces, does not hesitate to call her friend, to show his gratitude, and to place himself at her services. Other military officials and generals often did the same in their correspondence. Below is a sampling of some of their letter exchanges.
In her autobiography, La Rebelde, Leonor Villegas de Magnón describes her first meeting with Venustiano Carranza in April of 1914. After having succesfully treated over 150 injured soldiers during the course of two battles in Nuevo Laredo, La Cruz Blanca Constitucionalista is called to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, to attend those injured in Torreón during Francisco Villa's (on Constitutionalist side) second take of the city. She takes 25 women with her to San Antonio to take the train to Ciudad Juárez; but there, she is told she must first meet with First Chief Carranza to receive orders in person.
"¿Ordenes?... es que nunca he recibido órdenes de nadie...es que yo sé lo que tengo que hacer" (La Rebelde 94) (Orders? ...but I've never received orders from anyone...because I know what I have to do.)
She is assured that Carranza and the Constitutionalists are aware of and grateful for her services and agrees to meet with Carranza the next day.
At the meeting, he makes clear that he respects her and trusts her; her portfolio of documents is not required. She is pleased with the kind spirit that emanates from his person as they speak. To her surprise, Carranza recalls that when they were children, a doctor was called to treat a burn that he had sustained on his left hand on the very day that a little girl had herself received the same injury. The doctor had just treated her, he had told him; Carranza had later found out it was Joaquin Villegas daughter, Leonor, who had sustained that same injury and since then he'd known they would be linked together in a grand event. "Are you the daughter of Joaquin Villegas? ...You see, madam, I had been waiting for you" (Translation 101-102).
During this meeting Carranza communicates to the forces' medic, that Leonor Villegas de Magnón will be in charge of informing him regarding his soldiers conditions and the needs of La Cruz Blanca and he officially instates her as part of his military staff, "el Estado Mayor."
