experienced officer to brigadier general. He was stripped of his saber and sidearm. Without Cesnola the Fourth New York Cavalry balked repeatedly when asked to charge a hillside gun battery. The commanding general knew Cesnola was needed to rally the unit. He said, "Colonel, you are a brave man. You are released from arrest. Here is my own sword. Take it and bring it back to me covered in the enemy's blood." When he entered the battle "the regiment arrived on the scene of conflict, and by a gallant charge, turned apparent defeat into a glorious victory for our arms, completely routing the enemy and cutting off nearly 100 men, all of whom were captured." At the close of the battle Cesnola was found in a field lying under his own horse, wounded on the head by a saber and on the arm by a minie ball. See also List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Battle of Gettysburg List of Italian American Medal of Honor recipients List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F Italian Americans in the Civil War Notes References Giuseppe Giacosa, Impressioni d'America (Milano: Cogliati, 1898; 2nd ed. 1902) Gioachino Toesca di Castellazzo, Commemorazione del generale Luigi Palma di Cesnola (Torino: Cassone, 1905) Hunt, Roger D. and Jack R. Brown, Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue. Gaithersburg, MD: Olde Soldier Books, Inc., 1990. . Mcfadden, Elizabeth. The Glitter and the Gold: A Spirited Account of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's First Director, the Audacious and High-Handed Luigi Palma di Cesnola New York: Dial Press, 1971. Robert Cole. "A Cavalryman First." In They Made It in America (New York: Morrow, 1993) 12–15. Aldo E. Salerno. "Luigi Palma di Cesnola." In The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore J. LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), p. 106 Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . Maria Luisa Moncassoli Tibone. "Dal Piemonte a Cipro, a New York: un’avventura appassionante". In Catalogo della mostra "Luigi Palma di Cesnola. Le gesta di un Piemontese dagli scavi di Cipro al Metropolitan Museum." – Palazzo Lascaris, 12 novembre – 11 dicembre 2004'' (Torino, 2004), pp. 9–19 Online edition Further reading External links Digitized Guides to the Cesnola Collection from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries Luigi Palma di Cesnola collection, 1861–1950s (bulk, 1861–1904) in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives The Papers