Page 176 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

174 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

From the Renda Pass, the desired destination, a sort of New Jerusalem, could
be seen. In fact, coming out from the pass, the plain appeared with its houses and
gardens, the proud city, the city of the Vespers, the city of great undertakings
From there, they could see the Bourbon outposts, Monreale full of troops
and, at a distance, the gloomy and sinister stronghold of Castellammare dom-
inating the city; at the far end, the sea swarming with Bourbon and foreign ves-
sels.
In that moment, the undertaking had to appear in all its extraordinary diffi-
culty. On the one side, 20,000 men equipped with artillery and good weapons,
on the other side, Garibaldi and his Mille, already reduced in number by the
fights and the marches, in rags, and poorly armed, and the squads of the insur-
gents, undisciplined and even worse equipped. However, as a last resort,
Garibaldi could still abstain from attacking the city and reach safety either help-
ing La Masa’s insurgents, that we will mention later, or finding shelter in
Corleone or Camporeale territories, in the hinterland, that he could reach
through S. Giuseppe Iato.
th
That same May 18 , General Lanza arrived in Palermo with the powers of
his alter ego. He issued a proclamation in which he promised a generous pardon
and the imminent arrival of a real prince as general lieutenant of the island; and
after the peace, the construction of railways and other public works.
But the Palermo committee replied with a violent proclamation and
announced Garibaldi’s victories under the title of «Official war bulletin”.

th
May 19 -20 th - Garibaldi’s small expeditionary army remained for two
days at the Renda Pass, in the open, as no one had a tent, under a «heavy rain,
all lacking the necessary equipment to face adverse weather conditions», making
a fire with telegraph poles to warm themselves. However, that stop was necessary
to understand the place and the situation, to rest, and, most of all, to collect
money and other means. In fact, from Castelvetrano and other towns, carriages
arrived with bread, wine, sugar, coffee, cigars, lemons and other supplies. Campo
and Ragusin from Salemi reached the column and brought cannons, some thou-
sands cartridges and many sacks of iron chips that had to be used instead of the
lead bullets that were lacking.
Garibaldi was worried about the safety of his camp, completely surrounded
by mountains. He could have faced very easily an attack from Monreale or
Villagrazia, but his weakness was his left flank, i.e. Portella Bianca. To protect this
side, he called Rosalino Pilo and his squads (520 men) to S. Martino Mountains.