Luigi Ghilardi

Military Actions in Europe

Influenced by Giuseppe Mazzini's ideas, Ghilardi fought in liberal movements during the revolutions of 1830 in France, Portugal, and Belgium. He enlisted in the Spanish Army against the Carlists under General Santiago Durando. In 1848 he left Spain to fight in the First Italian War of Independence.

During the armistice with the Austrians, he traveled to Sicily for the 1848 revolution against the Bourbon dynasty, reaching colonel. He was commissioned to recruit troops in Switzerland for the Sicilian cause. In 1849 he fought for the short-lived Roman Republic alongside Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Military Actions in the Americas

Unable to rejoin the Spanish army because his license had expired, Ghilardi traveled to Mexico in 1853. He met President Antonio López de Santa Anna but soon participated in the Plan of Ayutla against him. He initially fought under Santos Degollado, and near the end Juan Álvarez gave him the rank of brigadier general. On March 11, 1856, he was seriously wounded in the assault on Puebla and returned to Europe.

In 1858 he moved with his family to Peru. During the Peruvian Civil War of 1856–1858, he became involved in a conspiracy that ended with the death of General Carlos Varea, prefect of Cajamarca, earning a two-year prison sentence. In 1861 he moved to Italy to fight for unification but was not admitted to the Royal Italian Army because his enlistment attempt was extemporaneous. He returned to Mexico to combat the Second French intervention.

Ghilardi was commissioned to deliver correspondence from Giuseppe Garibaldi to U.S. authorities in Washington D.C. and to President Benito Juárez. He arrived in New York City in May 1862, met with Matías Romero, corresponded with General McClellan, and was received by President Abraham Lincoln. He asked them to support Mexico due to the Monroe Doctrine, but the American Civil War prevented help. He landed in Acapulco and visited Juárez in Mexico City.

In 1863 he joined the Army of the East and participated in the Siege of Puebla. In July 1863 he was appointed second chief of command in Jalisco during reorganization after the defeat at Puebla.

Legacy

In 1925 historian Alejandro Topete del Valle located Ghilardi's tomb in a pantheon in Aguascalientes City. In the 1990s, Italian historian Antonio Peconi recovered documents including correspondence, which he donated to the historical archive of Aguascalientes. In 1994 the tomb was rebuilt and a tribute attended by the Italian ambassador was held. A plaque in Jardín Carpio marks the execution site.