On this day in ...... 1821, Anita Ribeiro was born in a town in southern Brazil 1 year before it became independent from Portuguese colonizers. She was forced into marriage at age 15; her husband is believed later to have abandoned her. At age 18, she joined forces with Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi and became his partner in love and war. They took part in insurgent battles in Brazil and Uruguay. The couple married in 1842. Soon after they went to Italy to join the revolution of 1848. Fighting in the unsuccessful defense of Rome while pregnant with her 5th child, 27-year-old Anita Ribeiro di Garibaldi (right) fell sick and died on August 4, 1849, near Ravenna, during the retreat of the Garibaldian Legion. (credit for 1839 portrait)
(Prior August 30 posts are here and here.)
