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Could Giuseppe Garibaldi Have Ended the American Civil War?
A historical “what if?”
“Posterity will call you the great emancipator, a more enviable title than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure.” — Giuseppe Garibaldi in a letter to Abraham Lincoln
History, like life, is filled with the always interesting “what if?” questions. What if Napoleon had not invaded Russia? What if JFK had lived? The list is endless, and it includes events and scenarios that have been largely forgotten by most today. One that has intrigued me as a student of American Civil War is an event that, until recently, many historians did not believe had ever happened. It did, however, and had things gone differently with this event, the Civil War would surely have ended years sooner than it did, with countless fewer lives lost on both sides.
Prior to the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, the Union generals, and pretty much everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line was convinced that they would crush the Rebels quickly and end the war in a few weeks. The loss at that battle stunned everyone involved (the Confederate leaders were surely as surprised as anyone). Having little faith in his current crop of commanders (a lack of faith that proved correct), President Lincoln took a bold gamble: he reached out to…
