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The battle of Tre Ponti (15 June 1859) was the last battle during Garibaldi’s Alpine Campaign of 1859 and was a drawn battle in which the retreating Austrians were unable to defeat Garibaldi's isolated force of volunteers.
Garibaldi’s campaign began on 22-23 May when his force of 3,000 volunteers crossed the Ticino River (the border between Piedmont and Austrian Lombardy). He then captured Varese, and repulsed an Austrian attempt to retake the city (battle of Varese, 26 May 1859). The defeated Austrians, under General Urban, retreated to Como where they received reinforcements, but on 27 May Garibaldi forced them out of Como (battle of San Fermo).
Garibaldi then turned back west and attempted to capture the Austrian fort at Laveno on Lake Maggiore (30 May 1859). This attack failed, and at the same time Urban recaptured Varese. Garibaldi returned to Como, expecting to have to fight a difficult campaign in the mountains, but his campaign was always secondary to the main events taking place further south. On 30 May the Austrians suffered a defeat at Palestro, and Urban was ordered to move south. On 4 June the French won the first major victory of the war, at Magenta, and the Austrians began to retreat east towards the Quadrilateral, their network of fortifications in the north-east of Italy.
When this news reached Garibaldi he decided to move east and pressure the Austrian’s right flank. On 6 June he shipped his troops to Lecco, at the south-east end of Lake Como. He then advanced to Bergamo, and finally to Brescia, which was reached after a difficult night march on 12-13 June.
At Brescia Garibaldi came back under the control of the Allied high command. On the night of 14-15 June he was ordered to advance from Brescia east towards Lonato, a move that would be supported by four regiments of cavalry and two batteries of horse artillery. On the morning of 15 June this cavalry didn’t appear, so Garibaldi began to march east without them. The Austrians were still present to his south, and so as Garibaldi advanced he was forced to leave part of his army at Tre Ponti (in Rezzato). This force was commanded by Cosenz and Medici, two of his more experienced officers, and by Türr, a Hungarian rebel.
Soon after Garibaldi left the rearguard it was attacked by the Austrians. This attack was repulsed, and the Italians pushed the Austrians south for two miles. This brought them close to a much stronger Austrian force at Castenedolo. Cosenz decided to halt the advance, but Türr continued on and began engaged in a fight with an Austrian brigade. The Italians began a rapid retreat back towards their original positions. This didn’t become a rout, mainly because Garibaldi appeared on the scene, having heard the sound of gunfire in his rear. He was able to restore discipline, and an Austrian counterattack was repulsed.
After this battle the Austrians continued their retreat. Garibaldi reached Lake Gardo, but was soon ordered to move to the Valtelline (north of Lake Como), to deal with a reported Austrian threat, and thus missed the battle of Solferino (24 June 1859). Soon afterwards this first phase of the Second War of Italian Independence came to an end. Piedmont gained Lombardy, but not Venice. After a short pause Garibaldi went on to launch his invasion of Sicily, the most impressive achievement of his military career.
The Second War of Italian Unification 1859-61, Frederick C. Schneid. Focuses on the three separate conflicts that made up the Second War of Italian Unification (the Franco-Austrian War, Garibaldi's invasion of the kingdom of Naples and the invasion of the Papal State), the conflict that saw the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. [read full review]
