Page 69 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

THE 1848 CAMPAIGN 67

that country, generously loved by all classes, an imperturbable and valorous
man, he found everything easy and he made everything easy. Even in his
physical appearance he resembled my unequalled comrade-in-arms of
Montevideo, but, what is more, he had an iron constitution».
Garibaldi left Castelletto on the night of the 14, arrived in Arona early in
the morning, where he embarked his men on two steamboats normally oper-
ating on the lake and on ten towed barges; in the afternoon he crossed the
lake and reached Luino.
Around 5.15p.m., while the legion, reduced to less than 1500 men and
divided into three groups, had set off along a path set between steep slopes and
leading to Val Travaglia, three Austrian companies, perhaps sent to garrison
the armistice line, were approaching Luino marching along the road that bor-
dered the lake. Once he caught sight of the enemy, Garibaldi ordered the last
group to go back and take position in the Beccaccia hotel, a huge building sur-
rounded by walls and hedges, located almost at the intersection between their
path and the road, but the enemy, anticipating their move, drove back the
legionaries that had rushed to fulfil their general’s order. The narrow path pre-
vented the others retreating quickly, and some time elapsed before the rest of
the last group and the second group could go out from the path, draw up and
attack the Austrians who, in the meantime, had positioned as best they could
behind the walls of the building. The tardy, perhaps non co-ordinated attack
failed. But, after the arrival of the first group – the Pavia volunteer battalion –
the legionaries attacked again with greater impetus and courage, fixed their
bayonets and soon gained the upper hand over their enemy, who took flight
leaving on the battlefield 2 dead, 14 wounded and 23 prisoners; the volunteers
had 5 dead and 17 wounded. «With fifty cavalrymen to pursue them – wrote
Garibaldi –only a few or none of those enemies of Italy would have been
spared. The few cavalrymen I had, among which the very valorous officers
Bueno and Giacomo Minuto, were used as scouts or sentinels».
This short skirmish, the first fought by Garibaldi in Italy, had a remark-
able moral outcome, since it reassured and boosted the hearts of those young
volunteers, but turned out to be detrimental to the success of the expedition
since it put the Austrians into a state of alarm, and Garibaldi immediately
th
realized this, since on the 17 , while resuming his march on Varese, he pro-
ceeded with circumspection and on that same day only went up to Cunardo,
that was just 10 kilometres from Luino, whereas Medici went to Bosco to
protect the flank of Garibaldi’s troops.