Giuseppe Garibaldi to President Lincoln | American Battlefield Trust
Civil War
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Giuseppe Garibaldi to President Lincoln

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August 6, 1863

In this letter written on August 6, 1863, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the famed military organizer who eventually aided the uniting of the various Italian regions under a single king, offers superlative praise to Abraham Lincoln for his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.  The previous year, Lincoln had offered Garibaldi a Major General’s commission to fight for the Union Army in the Civil War, but Garibaldi had refused, busy at the time leading an expedition toward Rome as part of the Italian Risorgimento.  A New York infantry regiment, the 39th, was named the “Garibaldi Guard” in his honor.

