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Battle of the Expedition of the Thousand
The
siege of Palermo
took place between 27 and 30 May 1860 in
Palermo
,
Sicily
, during the
Expedition of the Thousand
led by
Giuseppe Garibaldi
against the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
, as part of the
Italian unification
wars.
Battle
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With about 750
Redshirts
able to fight, along with some 3,000
picciotti
(Sicilian volunteer
guerrillas
),
on 27 May Garibaldi attacked the Sicilian capital of Palermo, held by a garrison of 18,000 to 22,000
Bourbon Army
soldiers under the incompetent command of General
Ferdinando Lanza
.
A significant portion of the 180,000 residents of Palermo rallied to Garibaldi, including about 2,000 prisoners released from local jails.
On the first day of fighting, Bourbon forces were driven back from a number of key positions.
Lanza then ordered the
shelling
of the part of the city that had been captured by Garibaldi's forces, causing the death of around 600 civilians by the end of the siege.
By May 28, Garibaldi controlled much of Palermo, and the next day his volunteers repelled a counterattack.
However, with the arrival of two battalions of well-trained
Bavarian
mercenaries to
relieve
the Bourbon garrison, the battle turned against Garibaldi, whose troops were nearly out of ammunition.
Nevertheless, Lanza surrendered the city on 30 May.
Garibaldi sent his son
Menotti
to watch the garrison's surrender,
and an
armistice
was quickly signed with the mediation of British admiral
Rodney Mundy
.
Finally, a convention on 6 June arranged for the withdrawal by sea of about 22,000 Bourbon troops, on 19 June.
Gallery
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Citations
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References
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