Lincoln's Italian Prospect

"You're like the thief who isn't the least bit sorry he stole, but is terribly, terribly sorry he's going to jail."
--Rhett Butler (Gone With The Wind)

Tom DiLorenzo discusses Lincoln's attempt to outsource command of the Northern army to an Italian mercenary named Giuseppe Garibaldi. After a string of defeats and firing McClellan, Lincoln offered the command to Garibaldi who had built a reputation for paramilitary forays and terrorism during both an Italian civil war and campaigns in South America.

Garibaldi declined Lincoln's offer. Perhaps he didn't savor the prospects of engaging Lee's army rather than the unarmed civilians that he was used to.

Unable to hire an international mercenary, Lincoln subsequently settled on domestic generals willing to enact the president's version of domestic terrorism.