Page 16 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

14 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

the time. There is also in him a jealous care in showing through actions that
he can be pirate or guerrilla fighter, depending on the requirement of the sit-
uation and the environment, but in a good war, for a just cause and always
with a disinterested, generous and gallant spirit and never a pirate or soldier
of venture in search of gain or prey with acts of banditry and looting.
In short, with his frank Italian character, he immediately marked, and
kept, his exquisite personality of soldier and commander, with the noble and
indelible mark of the warrior, fighting in fairness and with honour for a high
human ideal, in defence of the weak or for the cause of justice and people’s
freedom.
When highlighted in this way, with a few touches of colour, the funda-
mental virtues of the man of war, that was in that moment blossoming out
of the tanned skin of the consummate sailor, we can better appreciate his
unremitting fighting activity that in a few years would bring him out of
obscurity and into that universal reputation that reverberated in Italy with a
thrill of pride and hope and as a close prophecy of victory.

This was about mid 1838, the Rio Grande had lost their capital Porto
Alegre, occupied by Imperial Brazil, as well as the fortified post of S. Jose do
Norte, that dominated the outlet of the very large lagoon of Los Patos into
the ocean, while a large imperial army invaded the territory of the small
Republic from the north.
In this awkward situation, Bento Gonçalves, who was the head of the
country and on the field led the army of insurgents, did not hesitate to place
a very difficult mission in the hand of Garibaldi: that of organizing and lead-
ing a fleet with which to oppose the progress of the Brazilian war ships that
were freely roaming unhindered on the large lagoon with serious damage to
the people of Rio Grande.
In the space of only two months, with the rank of Captain Lieutenant,
Garibaldi set up a kind of rudimentary arsenal on the shores of the lagoon,
at the opening of the Camaguan River and with makeshift resources managed
to patch up together old ships and put on the sea a fleet composed of two
cutters: the Rio Pardo and the Republicano, with a 15-20 tonnage each, armed
with bronze light guns and with a crew of seventy men, a shapeless rabble of
all kind of people from any country, but all men of courage and ready for any
event.