Page 233 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

FROM THE STRAITS TO THE VOLTURNO 231

sive, whose imminence was seriously worrying Garibaldi, although he gave no
great signs of this concern.
But some feats of arms require our attention, since they were real failures
of the volunteers, the only ones during that campaign. It seemed that, since
at that time the commander was far away, in Palermo due to political prob-
lems already mentioned, the fortune that had smiled on the Hero and his
army had turned elsewhere, and that his lieutenants, although valiant and
well prepared, were not up to their task, a fact that often occurred in the his-
tory of military art, when the Captain was an exceptional man. It suffices to
consider the errors made by Napoleon’s Generals as soon as they were no
longer in the scope of action of that Great man and his personal influence.
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According to the orders given on September 14 , the volunteers made
the necessary moves to reach the surroundings of Caserta, in front of the
Volturno line, and the afternoon of that same day they were deployed in S.
Maria, Caserta and S. Leucio.
In S. Maria, with the outposts at about one kilometre from the built-up
area, there were the Eber Brigade, the battalion of the Sicilian light infantry-
men, Tanara’s Bersaglieri and the Hungarian legion: about 2000 men under
the lead of Sirtori. The main body of the army led by General Türr, had its
La Masa brigade and the Hungarian Hussars in S. Maria, the Milano Brigade
and the La Porta regiment in the surroundings of Caserta, the Sacchi and
Puppi Brigades near S. Leucio.
What happened in the thee days following the arrival of the volunteers in
the Caserta region did not show how precisely General Stefano Türr who in
the absence of Garibaldi, had the command of all troops wanted to imple-
ment the orders received. Not even the polemic that many years later broke
out between Türr and Missori about the painful setbacks suffered in those
days, could clarify this matter. Probably the general misunderstood the orders
received and went beyond Garibaldi’s intentions, if, on the contrary, he did
not believe he was acting in a wise way to create a condition that could have
improved the situation of his men, in expectation of the battle that many
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rumours allegedly announced for the 19 : he took the two banks of the
Volturno, and set foot in the well defended Caiazzo.
According to the original plan, General Türr wanted to leave his left flank
out of action (the Spangaro brigade had been sent to S. Tammaro) whereas
his right flank had to cross the river and rush to Caiazzo; and this task had
been entrusted to the Medici Division that, upon its arrival, would have been