Rifle Fund,’ which was formed by popular subscription in the north of Italy.  The Dictator went as far as Alcamo to meet the hero of the last glorious fight of Rome, whom he greeted with delight and affection.  Later, arrived the third and last expedition, consisting of 1500 men under Cosenz, till recently commander-in-chief of the Italian army.  The Sicilian squadre had been brought into something like military organisation; and an Englishman, Colonel Dunne, had raised a picked corps of 400 Palermitans which contained, besides its commander, between thirty and forty of his countrymen, and was hence called the English Regiment.  This battalion was ready to do anything and go anywhere; it performed excellent work both in Sicily and on the mainland.[5]

Garibaldi arranged his forces in three divisions; one, under Tuerr, was sent to Catania; the second, under Bixio, to Girgenti; the third, under Medici, was to follow the northern sea-coast towards Messina, the strongest position still in the enemy’s hands.  All three were ultimately to converge with a view to the grand object of crossing over to the mainland.  Medici had 2500 men; the royalists in and about Messina could dispose of 15,000.  The Garibaldians did not expect much opposition till they got near Messina, but when they reached Barcelona they heard that the garrison of Milazzo had been reinforced by Del Bosco with 4000 men, with the evident design of cutting off their passage to Messina.  It is said that this move was made in consequence of direct communications between that officer and Francis II., whose ministers had already decided to abandon the whole island.  But Del Bosco secretly assured his King that such a measure was not necessary, and that he would undertake not only to bar Medici’s advance, but to march over the dead bodies of the Garibaldians to Palermo.  Milazzo is a small hilly peninsula, on which stands a fort and a little walled city.  The spot was well chosen.  On the 17th of July, Del Bosco attacked the Garibaldian right, and it was not without difficulty that Medici retained his positions.  Some further reinforcements were sent to Del Bosco from Messina, though not so numerous as they ought to have been, but they would have almost ensured him the victory had not Medici also received help; Cosenz’ column, and, yet more important, Garibaldi himself with the 1000 men he had kept in Palermo, hastening at full speed to the rescue.  The belligerents were, for once, about equally balanced in numbers when on the 20th of July Garibaldi attacked Del Bosco with the purpose of driving him on to the tongue of the peninsula, thus cutting him off from Messina and leaving the road open.  A desperate engagement followed.  The Neapolitans showed that they could fight if they were properly led, and inflicted a loss of 800 in killed and wounded (heavy out of a total of 5000) on their gallant opponents.  Garibaldi’s own life was nearly sacrificed.  He was standing in a field of prickly pears in conversation with Major