Associazione Italiani d'America

L'approfondimento su argomenti praticamente sconosciuti alla storia italiana e alla publicistica storica corrente, non è possibile se non ricercando e navigando in Internet per giorni a caccia di flebili tracce come un sottilissimo filo da cui poi ricavare il gomitolo dell'articolo. Nel caso degli italiani d'america questo è stato possibile dopo aver rintracciato ritagli di vecchi giornali e articoli, nonchè flash di vita attuale delle associazioni di vecchi italiani e bersaglieri (nulla a che vedere con gli emigrati dell'ultima generazione). Vi riporto anche un raduno del 1916 in calce e la specifica della divisa della "Garibaldi Guard" a cura di studiosi di uniformologia americani. In questo campo è più facile trovare ricercatori e studiosi (con ricostruzioni modellistiche e storiche) all'estero che in Italia.

-Red woolen Garibaldi Shirts - at least by all enlisted men. A rather famous picture of Captain Charles Schwab shows him wearing a red woolen, undecorated shirt with a left breast pocket.

-Dk. Blue coats with red piping, similar in construction to extended shell coats; similar to later VRC jackets in cut, not material. Very similar in cut and trim to 1861 New York Militia coats, which had red pipping instead of a red collar/cuffs. No clear indication of what style (if any) chevrons were used by NCO's. Line officers wore a modified form of the standard. officers 9-button frock coat, all having red and gold-braid epaulets, with insignia on the sleeve and collar. Staff officers wore a shorter Chasseur's-style coat, with the same non-standard insignia system.

-Dk. Blue trousers, with wide red stripes down the sides. NCO's probably had the same trousers. No clue as to what stripes (if any) the field officers wore.

-Black leggins (reportedly leather). Officers apparently did not wear these.

-Bersaglieri Hats were apparently worn by all enlisted men, trimmed with a wide black band, an cut-out eagle emblem, iridecent-green cockade feathers. Officers either wore Bersaglieri or Chasseur caps, on their preference. Forage Caps were issued; not all wore them. Some still kept their (now rather dilapidated) Bersaglieri hats

Presumably Red blankets, Double-bag Knapsacks, Gum-blankets, Tarred Haversacks, Bullseye Canteens. No photographic evidence to go on.

Presumably, the appearance of the unit throughout the rest of the war was largely indistinguishable from the rest of the Army of the Potomac, except for a few, rather dilapidated Bersaglieri hats amongst the surviving veterans. Almost all of the later did not choose to reenlist in 1864. The average age of the regiment in 1861 was somewhat higher than average for the Union Army, as the Regiment specifically recruited men who had served with Giuseppe Garibaldi and with other revolutionary armies in Europe. As such they were a unique regiment, dubbed "Lincoln's Foreign Legion." .

The goal of recreating the Garibaldi Guards is to honor the name of Giuseppe Garibaldi, and those men and woman who served and in some cases gave their lives to their adopted country. Join our members in learning of our forefathers ethnic past, and help teach others the contribution European immigrants made during the great struggle called "The American Civil War".


The Illustrated London News, vol. 39, no. 1099, p. 48. July 20, 1861	The Illustrated London News, vol. 39, 1101, p. 110. August 3, 1861
ATTACK ON THE PICKETS OF THE GARIBALDI GUARD ON THE EAST BRANCH OF THE POTOMAC. Our Special Artist writes as follows respecting the Illustration on the preceding "A few nights since I was sleeping in a tent close by the camp of the Garibaldi Guard, when there was an alarm. A party of Secessionists had crossed the river under favor of darkness, and were firing on the pickets. I turned out with the rest, and came up with the supports in time to see the Secessionists retire to the woods. One of the Garibaldi Guard received a bullet wound in his leg. This corps is made up of Germans, Italians, French, and Swiss, with a few Hungarians. Their uniform is a close imitation of the Sardinian Bersaglieri." Questo sotto non è il bando di arruolamento nelle Garibaldi Guards per la guerra. Il telefono, nonostante tutto, doveva aspettare ancora qualche anno. Si tratta di associazioni di rievocazione storica, che appaiono alle sfilate del Columbus Day o in altre occasioni e feste. La chiamata riguarda anche gli Honved ungheresi, i francesi e i tedeschi che completavano le compagnie	REVIEW OF FEDERAL TROOPS ON THE 4TH OF JULY BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND GENERAL SCOTT: THE GARIBALDI GUARD FILING PAST. On July 4, the anniversary of American Independence, 20,000 troops belonging to the State of New York alone were passed in review (rivista/rassegna) before the President and General Scott. Many of the Secretaries of the different departments were present, among whom Mr. Seward occupied a prominent position on the right of the Commander-in-Chief. The moment taken by our Special Artist for his sketch of this imposing ceremony, engraved on page 111, was when the Garibaldi Guard was marching past. As each company came in front of General Scott the men took the green sprigs they had fastened amid their cock feathers and threw them towards the old chieftain. The Garibaldi Guard is composed of Hungarians, Germans, Swiss, Italians, and French, and they are uniformed after the fashion of the Sardinian Bersaglieri. Garibaldi Guard Enlisted - mens' Uniforms, as they might have appeared at Bull Run, August 1861

23 SETTEMBRE 1895. CELEBRAZIONE A CHICAGO DEL 25° ANNIVERSARIO DELL'UNITA' D'ITALIA. GRAN PARATA. Dal Chicago Tribune "..Oltre trenta società di immigrati italiani hanno sfilato compostamente con bandierine italiane e statunitensi. Questa è la più grande sfilata che si sia mai vista per le strade del centro. Decine di bande suonano inni popolari e musiche contemporanee. Tra i tanti gruppi che sfilano preceduti da un plotone di ciclisti, v'è il gruppo Bersaglieri di Savoia... Nella prima divisione, Comandante John Simone, il Genova Cavalleria, Cristoforo Colombo, L'agricola di Ricigliano, Margherita di Savoia (figuranti) e l'Umana Baragiano... SOCIETA' DI BERSAGLIERI A NEW ORLEANS E A MANCHESTER (INGHILTERRA) http://digilander.libero.it/fiammecremisi/approfondimenti/jazz.htm http://www.digitalhistoryproject.com/2012/06/italian-immigrant-life-in-new-york-city.html	SOCIETA' DI BERSAGLIERI PRESENTI IN CALIFORNIA ALLA FINE DEL SECOLO 18°
There are two Italian newspapers in New York - L'Eco d' Italia and Il Republicano. There are also three societies for mutual assistance - the "Fratellanza Italiana," the "Ticinese," and the "Bersaglieri." When a member of the Fratellanza dies, his wife receives a hundred dollars; when a wife dies, the husband receives fifty dollars; and a physician is provided for sick members of the society. It gives a ball every winter and a picnic in summer, which are made the occasion of patriotic demonstrations that serve to keep alive the love of Italy in the hearts of her expatriated children. Many of the heroes of '48 are to be found leading quiet, humble lives in New York. Many a one who was with Garibaldi and the Thousand in Sicily, or entered freed Venice with Victor Emanuel, now earns bread for wife and child in modest by-ways of life here in the great city. Now and then one of the king's soldiers, after serving all through the wars, drops down in his shop or work-room, and is buried by his former comrades, awaiting their turn to rejoin King Galantuomo. There is something pathetically noble in this quiet heroism of work-day life after the glory and action of the past. I met the other day in a flower factory, stamping patterns for artificial flowers, an old Carbonaro who had left his country twenty-two years before- one of the old conspirators against the Austrians who followed in the footsteps of Silvio Pellico and the Ruffinis. He was gray haired and gray-bearded, but his eyes flashed with the fire of youth when we talked of Italy, and grew humid and bright when he told me of his constant longing for his country, and his feeling that he should never see it again. It was a suggestive picture, this fine old Italian head, framed by the scarlet and yellow of the flowers about him, while the sunlight and the brilliant American air streamed over it from the open window, and two young Italians, dark-eyed and stalwart, paused in their work and came near to listen. It was the Italy of Europe twenty years back brought face to face with the Italy of America to-day. In another room, pretty, low-browed Italian girls were at work making leaves - girls from Genoa, Pavia, and other cities of the north, who replied shyly when addressed in their native tongue. Italians are especially fitted for this department of industry; indeed, their quick instinct for beauty shows itself in every form of delicate handiwork.	Una via di New York A Bowery il commercio di frutta è nelle mani degli italiani in tutti i suoi rami, dal negozio di Broadway con il suo piano inclinato di colore sgargianti, allo stand all'angolo di una strada. In inverno ha anche castagne arrosto, piselli e noci, e in estate dispensa fette di anguria e acqua cedrata ai monelli delle strade di New York, proprio come aveva fatto una volta a Napoli o a Venezia. Di notte le luci sbiadite della strada fanno le facce della gente scura e l’apparecchiata della frutta colorata risalta in un modo che aggiunge molto al pittoresco delle nostre strade. Questi commercianti di frutta vengono da tutte le parti d'Italia e conversare con chiunque sia in grado di parlare la tua lingua è sempre piacevole, con l'eccezione di un giovane occasionale sulky (carrettiere) che rifiuta di dire da dove è venuto, allevando così il sospetto che è fuggito per evitare la coscrizione. Che si soffra durante i nostri lunghi inverni è indubbio, ma la pazienza dei loro caratteri e le privazioni a cui sono sempre stati abituati li rende forti e filosoficamente adattabili. IL TEATRO DEGLI ITALIANI A BOWERY

		A lato: Group photograph of the Bersaglieri Club. About 1916, before the dome on Bascom Hall burned - University of Wisconsin-Madison 1904 - Rochester: *Local units of the Bersagliere La Marmora, Regina Elena, Giovanni !!! Garibaldi, Duca Degli Abruzzi and Joseph (Giuseppe) Verdi Societies celebrate Victor Emmanuel Day.* La consuetudine di organizzare club storici e farne parte in maniera stabile, ha portato i membri a rivestire i gradi della scala gerarchica militare, con promozioni per anzianità di servizio (adesione e passione). Non stupisce quando navigando ci si ritrova davanti a Colonnelli o Generali di unità italiane con inconfondibili nomi (e cognomi) ormai Anglosassoni.

U.S. Immigration Statistics: Origin (in percentages %) Northern/ W. Europe East/Central/ S. Europe Canada and Latin America Asia 1861-1870 N° 2,314,824 87.8 01.4 07.2 02.8 1871-1880 2,812,191 73.6 07.2 14.4 04.4 1881-1890 5,246,130 72.0 18.2 08.1 01.3 1891-1900 3,687,546 44.5 51.9 01.1 01.9 1901-1910 8,795,386 31.7 60.8 04.1 02.8 1911-1920 5,735,811 17.4 58.9 19.9 03.4 1921-1930 4,107,209 31.7 28.7 36.9 02.4 Between 1880 and 1920, some 23 million immigrants came to a country that numbered only 76 million in 1900. Immigrants made up 15% of the total population in 1900; in the first decade of the 20th century, immigrants constituted nearly 70% of the industrial workforce. Immigrants were as essential as fossil fuels to the great surge of American industrialism. Many Americans were distressed by the deluge of foreigners. Organizations like the American Protective Association and the Immigration Restriction League lobbied Congress for measures to limit the type and number of immigrants, and to impose restrictions based on national origin, religion, and English proficiency. But the demand for cheap labor, combined with the tradition of America as a haven for the world's poor and oppressed, largely kept such nativistic proclivities at bay.

http://www.lodge138.com/history.html loggia de "the Order Sons of Italy in America" Lodge Ufficiale Bersaglieri 138 - The Ufficiale Bersaglieri, Lodge 138, Original Order Sons of Italy in America of Williamsport, Pa. meets at the Church of Ascension Parish Center, 2100 Linn St. on the 2nd Monday of the Month at 7:00 pm!

		"Camp of the Garibaldi Guards, Colonel DÕutassy, near RocheÕs Mills, Va., Potomac River in the distance. The fine body of men called the Garibaldi Guards were remarkable for the number of trained men in its ranks, at least one-half having fought in European battlefields. It comprised Frenchmen, Italians, Hungarians, Germans, Swiss, Irish, Scotch, and a few English who had served in the Crimean War. When reviewed by the President, on their arrival at Washington, they were highly commended. They formed a part of BlenkerÕs brigade, and were stationed near RocheÕs Mills, in a most picturesque spot, rendered more so by the foreign tastes of some of the Garibaldians."
Italian Mutual Aid Society of the Garibaldi Guard. Office, 423 Broadway street San Francisco. Italian Bersaglieri Mutual Benevolent Society (Societa' di Mutno Soccorso della Compagnia Bersaglieri Italiani). Incorporated February 17, 1881. Number of members, one thousand. Met at 625 Broadway street San Francisco. Italian Opera was brought to San Francisco in 1851. Soon other forms of performance art graced San Francisco's halls, as the city became a prime destination for performers, both Italian-born and American. The first major figure in Italian theater was Antonietta Pisanelli, who was the first established professional entertainer in the Italian community. Not only did Pisanelli sing and act, she molded the various amateur drama groups in the city into a professional theater company. Just as it did to most of the pillars of the Italian colony, the 1906 earthquake devastated the Teatro Bersaglieri, which was the center of the San Francisco theater scene. Pisanelli opened three nickelodeon-type theaters, and it was in one of these, the Bijou, that the Stenterello character emerged. By this time, the Stenterello character had evolved from a xenophobe who favored Italian unification and independence to a man on the Florentine man on the street, a living connection between Little Italy and the mother country. This character's popularity faded as a new attempt to be identified as American emerged in the colony. o quanto sotto... A professional italian Theater had existed for a short time in 1850; a Signor Rossi and wife did magic tricks, ventriloquisM, sinqing and dancing It was not until 1905 that another Italian theater was opened. A NeapolitAn singer and actress, Antonietta Pisanelli, hired local amateurs and presented variety show in North Beach's Apollo Hall, on Pacific near Stockton Streets. This "Spettacolo Variato" included operatic aria and sketches, Italian folk songs, comic skits ("Prestami Tua moglie Per Dieci Minuti or Lend me Your Wife for ten Minutes"), and dancing afterward, and cost only twenty-five cents for admission or fifty cents for reservated seats. This contrasted with the $2.00 and higher admission fees to grand opera. Because of the low price and central location, Pisanelli's theater appealed to many and Was a qreat success. She converted Bersaglieri Hall (on Washington Square) into a cafe-theater, the Circolo Famigliare, Pisanelli,or Pisanelli family Club. The building was destroyed in the earthquake and,in 1908, Pisanelli opened another ltalian theater. The Washington Square Tneater. The variety shows were continued with such combination as opera and wrestling, modern plays and Shakespearean drama, and commedia dell'arte. The commedia dell'arte was in the Italian tradition of street theater and used a number of standard characters (maschere) from var10us regions of Italy: Pulcinella from Naples, Menaghino from Milan; and Stenterello from Florence. A new character, Farfariello, developed in New York by an Italian comic actor, was introduced in San Franciseo: the arehetype of the poor Italian immigrant, he Was a combination of the Italian harlequin and Charlle Chaplin. Farfariello was a buffoon, who mimicked the immigrants' American mannerisms, slang and Italianization of Enqlish words, and parodied the upper classes. This type of theater provided a means for the immiqrants to laugh at and better understand their own experiences in adjustment. The development of this theater illustrates the use of Ita11an forms to assist the immiqrants' adjustment and the development of new forms, e.g., Farfariello, derived from the United States experience. Today, theater performances in Italian are rare. Occasionally, one of the societies, Vittoria Colonna or Leonardo da Vinci, wi11 present a performance in Italian. A sixteenth-century comedy, Il Burbero Benefico (The generous Boor") was performed in Ita1ian by members of the Leonardo da Vinci Society in May, 1975. During a University Of California Extension proqram, "Italy by the Golden Gate," in October , 1973, there was a performance of commed1a dell'arte. Thus Italian theater, requirinq, of course, an audience with considerable fluency in the language, has not survived as part of the heritage of this Italian American community, except in these occasional performance. and in historians' writinqs. As Seller has pointed out, Italian theater served a particular function in the early 1900's durinq the period of heaviest immigration; it was an interim institution in the process of immigrant adjustment (p. 13). As the number of immiqrants decreased and the United States born came to predominate in the Italian community the foreign language theater lost its purpose.