At the beginning of the First Italian War of Independence, there were uprisings against the Austrian rule in Brescia on 18 March 1848. On 22 March, Schwarzenberg and his troops left Brescia to join the Army of Field Marshal Count Radetzky, who was retreating from Milan. Schwarzenberg reached Crema on 24 March, where he united with the imperial main army and retreated further to Verona. Prince Schwarzenberg was then given command of a division of the I. Corps under FML Wratislaw von Mitrowitz. On 6 May, he was lightly wounded by a Sardinian bullet at the Battle of Santa Lucia. He distinguished himself again in the following campaign of 1849 as a division general with the I. Reserve Corps under FML Gustav von Wocher in the Battle of Novara.