Most of the early sources refer to María de Estrada in general terms among the small number of women who accompanied the army at this time, but two writers of the later sixteenth century single her out as a soldier. The Tlaxcallan chronicler Diego Muñoz Camargo wrote that she fought her way out of the city as a rodelero during the battle, proving herself "as good a warrior as any man", and that she participated in the decisive charge of armored cavalry at the Battle of Otumba. The Dominican historian Diego Durán claims that she subsequently led a force of conquistadors into the area around Popocatépetl, where, she defeated the Nahua Indians of Hueyapan, charging head first and screaming "Santiago!"