Page 72 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

70 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

had to set out from Varese, circling the lake, one from the north and the other
from the south; the Maurer brigade had to march from Laveno and Luino;
and then he ordered the Simbschen and Liechtenstein (arrived from Lecco)
brigades to remain in Varese.
Garibaldi was almost caged in: the roads towards Lake Maggiore and
Varese were blocked; to escape the Austrian grip he could but turn south-
eastwards. He had not, nor could he have a destination or a fixed goal: at this
point his movements were subordinated to those of his enemy. He had
escaped once the encirclement with remarkable ability and now he tried again
to promptly do so; the mountainous territory helped him, Daverio helped
him with some scouts he had found. In fact he set off along the Ternate-
Mornago-Caidate road, while the Strassolo brigade, the closer to him, went
along the opposite line of march, Capolago-Galliate-Cazzago: the two
marching columns were separated only by the hills surrounding the southern
shores of Lake Varese. The volunteers reached Morazzone at 5pm on the 26 th
. They were reduced to roughly 800 men, because, apart from the Medici
Company, others were lost along the way: scouts, stragglers, sick people,
deserters. The rest had lost their original enthusiasm; the idea of the armed
uprising had definitely faded, and the population regarded them with a feel-
ing of mistrust, almost with hostility. And also, those continuous, long and
hard marches without a decisive action had exhausted them; they had got to
the point of wishing for that life to end soon; they continued to follow
Garibaldi only because they trusted him as the only one able to set them free
from the situation they were in.
Meanwhile, d’Aspre, having reached Osmate, was informed that Garibaldi
was between Galliate and Morazzone, and therefore ordered new deployments
to finally trap him into an iron grip from where he could not escape. He
ordered the Strassoldo brigade to set off from Cazzago, where they had arrived,
through Bernate for Villadosia; the Schwarzenberg brigade to fall back to
Azzate; the Simbschen brigade to send a battalion, half squadron and two
detachments from Varese to Malnate and block the way towards Switzerland.
The commander of this detachment, once arrived in Malnate, was
informed of Garibaldi’s presence in Gazzada and thought of taking him by
surprise. In fact he marched on Schianno, not far from Gazzada, and arrived
there at 7pm, but other news told him that Garibaldi was at Morazzone.
Although it was late, the Austrian commander continued his march towards