The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Ramorino, Girolamo

RAMORINO, Girolamo (according to some, properly Giovanni Pietro Remorino), a military adventurer, born in Genoa about 1792, executed in Turin, May 22, 1849. He was a natural son of a French officer, entered the ranks of the French army, and in the campaign of 1809 against Austria served as a common soldier, and in that of 1812 against Russia as captain of artillery. In 1815 the emperor appointed him officer of ordnance, and after the second restoration he retired to Savoy. He was one of the leaders of the insurrection in Piedmont in 1821. After the failure of the movement he fled to France, and at the beginning of the Polish insurrection of 1830 hastened to Warsaw to offer his services. He was first made colonel, and then general of a corps with which he gained numerous advantages, and his success alone saved him from the condemnation of a court martial on account of his frequent disobedience of orders. After the fall of Warsaw he went to France. In 1834 he commanded in the invasion of Savoy planned by Mazzini. At the beginning of Charles Albert's second campaign, in 1849, Chrzanowski placed him at the head of the fifth division, with orders to prevent the advance of the enemy from Pavia. Ramorino, mistaking the design of the Austrians, left the N. bank of the Po undefended and the direct road from Pavia to Turin open. The fatal issue of the battle of Novara, March 23, 1849, was the consequence. He was deprived of his command, arrested at Arona by the national guards, tried before a court martial on a charge of insubordination, and sentenced to be shot. He justified his course on the ground of the feebleness of his division, which rendered it impossible for him to prevent the advance of the Austrian army.