Page 107 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

THE 1849 CAMPAIGN 105

seemed convinced of the rightness of Garibaldi’s plan; later on, in one of his
letters, he stated that it had been his plan from Rome, to march quickly
through Tuscany where the French and the Austrians were, bringing fresh
supplies to Arezzo, attack Ancona and engage in battle with the Austrians,
and so to incite insurrection in the mountains. But that bold plan that final-
ly saw two of the main personalities of the Republic in agreement was deci-
sively opposed by Roselli and the others; and then Garibaldi, angry and dis-
couraged, abandoned his headquarters.
It sufficed, however, that Manara went to him and, with the heart of a sol-
dier, explained to him the dangers of his departure and asked him on behalf
of Rome to go back to his position, and Garibaldi took up arms again and
went back to the Gianicolo accompanied by the cheers of the population.
On the morning of 28 th when Garibaldi’s legionnaires appeared again at
their fighting posts, the ramparts were all a flame of red shirts: they all had
wanted to wear, for their last risky feat, that glorious uniform that until the
day before had been a prerogative of the General Staff only. Most people even
believed that for this they had come down to the city the previous day, and
the purest enthusiasm spread again among those legions that were to face
death.

THE SURRENDER

The fight between the artilleries of the French and that of the Roman
Republic was too unequal. The few batteries of the defence were, as Garibaldi
said, actually «put out under the storm of the enemy’s fire»; the parapets
along the Aurelian walls were but shapeless heaps of soil; the ground in the
upper area, in front of Porta San Pancrazio, was scattered with ruins and
holes.
Judging that the moment of the final attack had come, General Oudinot
chose the night between June 29 th and 30 th to launch it. That night, for St
Peter’s day celebration, the people of Rome had wanted Michelangelo’s dome
illuminated that year too and so the temple was lit by thousands of torches
as if to challenge the enemy and their adverse fortune; until when, just before
midnight, a violent downpour struck the city.
Up there, on the Gianicolo ramparts, the defenders kept watch.