Page 311 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

THE 1867 CAMPAIGN 293

Major Castella later boasted that he had ordered the retreat of the
Garibaldians from Casal dei Pazzi, but Garibaldi, evidently, only intended to
carry out a reconnaissance, maybe hoping that this could encourage the
revolt inside the city.
On the 1 November Garibaldi is again around Monterotondo with the
majority of his men, with the following deployment:
- The railway station strongly occupied, outposts on the Salaria, Forno
Nuovo and S. Colomba;
- 1 battalion at Mentana, II (Ciotti) of the Salomone column (from the 26);
- 1 battalion on the Tivoli road between Porci Mountain and Lupari
Mountain, XVII. (Rambosio);
- 1 battalion at Montecelio, XV (Vannutelli);
- 1 battalion at S. Angelo Romano, XVI (Buzzi) that with the other two
constitute the Paggi column;
- The rest at Monterotondo and the surrounding area.
Active exploration service – compatible with limited number of officers
and mounted guides – with daytime and night time reconnaissance towards
Rome on the Salaria and Nomentana.
Colonel Pianciani is in Tivoli from the 29 th with about a thousand men
including the XIV battalion (Marini) of the Salomone column.
The retreat greatly discourages those young and impressionable troops;
the news of the French landing in Civitavecchia convinces many that that it
is useless to continue in a venture that no longer has a chance of a positive
outcome. Desertions grow, disorder sets in. Menotti - as reported by Vitali
and others – orders the men to disarm and sends back 500 volunteers. Others
though arrived the same day (the lawyer Captain Semenza with 200 men),
but the low morale continues and augments. Nicotera was continuously
ordered to go to Tivoli and Acerbi to join the main column leaving the area
of Viterbo and crossing over the left bank of the Tiber.
The discouragement is also increased by the attitude of the Florence
Cabinet that with Menabrea has now become hostile to the volunteers; the
st
central committee of Florence is disbanded on the 31 October; getting sup-
plies is difficult: on the 2 nd November the transit of a herd of cows is stopped
from at Passo Cortese and dispersed; on the same day a wagon of ammuni-
tion catches fire in that station; the use of the railway is allowed only for the
wounded. General Ricotti, who led the Italian troops at the Roman border,
is ordered “to act in coordination with the French troops if necessary”.