Page 152 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

150 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

country made of him a very disciplined subordinate commander, but his war-
like genius, and the excellent and singular abilities as a leader, really needed
freedom of action in order to shine: all of Garibaldi’s military actions prove
it, from those of the ’37 in America to the ’71 in France.
As the allies proceeded towards Chiese, the Franco-Sardinian command
were worried to be attacked on the left flank by enemy troops coming out of
the Alpine Valleys, and so the same day of the Treponti battle, an infantry
regiment with two pieces under the command of Colonel Brignone was sent
to Breno, to hinder the possible descent of the enemy through the
Valcamonica.
The news reaching the great forces in Tirolo led the command to believe,
despite the neutrality of the German Confederation to which that territory
belonged, that the imperials had every intention to attack from the valleys of
the Oglio and the Chiese on the flank and the rear of the allied Armies, so,
on June 17, the Brigade of the Hunters of the Alps was sent to Salò, and then,
considering the small number of these that by now were reduced to only two
thousand rifles, the Cialdini Division was sent to defend all the valleys - val
Sabbia, val Trompia, Valcamonica and Valtellina- and Garibaldi was placed
under the orders of general Cialdini.
The Brigade of the Hunters of the Alps had spent the night of the 16 th of
June in Mazzano, Nuvolera and Nuvolento, towards the hills, alongside the
road that goes to Salò through Gavardo. The following day it had moved a
few kilometres up to Paitone, and at dusk of the 17 th entered Gavardo and
continued its march to Salò, well protected on the flanks, ahead and at the
rear by detachments and capable cavalry platoons. At dawn of the 18 th it
entered triumphant into Salò, preceded during the night by the Bixio battal-
ion. Here the artillery – that in the meantime had acquired two guns and two
howitzers taken from the castle of Brescia – fired some shots on an Austrian
steamboat that was later sunk by the Sardinian artillery. The artillery
th
belonged to the Cialdini Division that arrived in full in Salò on the 19 .
Having ruled out from the start the possibility of the enemy coming down
from the Stelvio, the defence of the Valtellina had been entrusted exclusively
to the local voluntary troops; but some news that arrived later from
Switzerland suggesting that a corps of 8000 men was about to enter Valtellina,
persuaded them send Garibaldi’s entire brigade. The brigade therefore
marched through the rough alpine road of Vallio-Caino, in order to avoid the
large road of Brescia and the city filled with Franco-Sardinian troops.