THE BATTLE OF THE VOLTURNO.
Before starting for his drive Frank telegraphed to his mother: "Have not
found him here. I do not yet despair. Have a faint clue that may lead to
something."
That evening he wrote a long letter, acknowledging that he had been
bitterly disappointed, but saying that Signor Forli had found out that
some of the prisoners had been sent away to Capua before Garibaldi
entered the town, and that he still hoped his father might be among the
number. He gave no detail as to these prisoners, for he was anxious not
to raise hopes that might not be fulfilled; indeed, he had in all his
letters said little on the subject. He knew his mother had refused to
allow herself to cherish any hope, and he had written almost entirely of
matters concerning the events of the march, the country through which he
had travelled, and the scenes in which he had taken a part. He and
Signor Forli had at Salerno received long letters from home full of the
delight which the news of the discovery and release of the latter had
given them. His mother had said:--
"This is a joy indeed, my boy--one that I had never expected, or even
hoped for. But do not let yourself anticipate for a moment that because
this unlooked-for happiness has been given to us our other dear lost one
will similarly be recovered. That my father had been thrown into a
Neapolitan prison we never doubted for a moment; and I believed that,
should he have survived, Garibaldi's success would open his prison
doors. But it is not so in the case of your father. The evidence is
almost overwhelming that he died in the hands of the brigands who
carried him off, and nothing short of knowing that he is alive will
induce me to abandon the conviction I have all along felt that this was
so. I pray you not to indulge in any false hopes, which can but end in
bitter disappointment. You will, of course, search until absolutely
convinced that he is not in any of the prisons of the country. The
search will at least have been useful, for it will remove the last dread
which, in spite of myself, I have occasionally felt ever since he has
been missing, that he has been wearing his life out in one of these
horrible dungeons."
The next ten days passed slowly. Frank and the other members of the
staff had bought fresh horses a few days after the capture of Reggio;
and he was now constantly in the saddle, carrying messages between
Garibaldi's headquarters and the army. Garibaldi himself had been
distracted by the intrigues going on around him, and had been obliged to
go to Sicily. Depretis, who had been appointed head of the government
there, was inclined to the annexational policy, which was opposed by
Crispi and the other Garibaldians, and the consequence was that an
alarming state of affairs existed there. Garibaldi was therefore obliged
to hurry over there himself, and having appointed Mordeni, a determined
partisan of his own, pro-dictator, and arranged affairs generally, he
returned to Naples, where his presence was urgently required.
[Illustration: POSITION ROUND CAPUA]
The Neapolitan army at Capua had been very largely reinforced, and had
taken post along the river Volturno. Turr, who was in command of the
Garibaldian army, had in consequence, taken up a defensive position at
Madelone, Caserta and Aversa, thereby barring any advance on the part of
the royal army. The latter's position was an extremely formidable one:
its right rested on Gaeta near the sea, and forty thousand men were
massed on the right bank of the Volturno, a river which was here from
fifty to a hundred yards in width, their left was at Cajazzo, in the
mountains of the Abruzzi, where the inhabitants were favourable to the
royal cause.
Capua itself, on the left bank of the river, afforded them a means of
moving forward to the attack of the Garibaldians. Three sides of its
fortifications were surrounded by the river, which here makes a great
loop, and around the town twenty thousand men were massed, one half of
whom were in position in front of it. The only bridge across the river
was at Capua, but there was a ferry near Caserta. The position was so
threatening that Turr, who had under him about seventeen thousand men,
pushed a force up to the town of Santa Maria and the heights of
Sant'Angelo, both of which points were occupied after a skirmish.
On the 17th, six hundred men were sent off to march far up the river, to
cross it, and to throw themselves into the mountains above Cajazzo,
which was occupied by two thousand two hundred men with four guns.
Garibaldi arrived at Caserta on the night of the 18th, but did not
interfere with Turr's command. In order to attract the attention of the
enemy, and keep them from sending reinforcements to Cajazzo, it was
arranged that a feint should be made against Capua: two battalions were
to advance from Aversa to menace the southwest of that town, six
battalions were to advance directly against it from Santa Maria, and
Ebor's brigade was to march to Sant'Angelo, and then to drive the
Neapolitans on their left into Capua, and to extend on the right along
the hills as far as the road to Cajazzo.
The movement was completely successful. Cajazzo was captured, and the
force in front of Capua obliged to retire under the guns of the citadel.
Some loss, however, was sustained, owing to the division from Santa
Maria, instead of returning as soon as the work was done, being kept for
four hours under the fire of the guns of the fortress, owing to a
misconception of orders. The positions now taken were occupied in
strength. The next day, six hundred and fifty men were sent off to
Cajazzo to strengthen the small force of three hundred there, as the
place was attacked by no fewer than twelve thousand Neapolitan troops.
Although without artillery, the town was desperately defended for four
hours. The barricades at the end of the main streets were held, in spite
of repeated attacks and the fire from eight guns. Not until two hundred
of the little force had fallen, did the Garibaldians fall back, and they
succeeded in crossing the river at the ferry, covered by two companies
and a couple of guns, which had been posted at that point to prevent the
Neapolitans from crossing.
There was an interval now: the Garibaldians were far too weak to attack
their numerous enemy, posted in an almost impregnable position.
Garibaldi was so much harassed by the political intriguers, that he left
Caserta every morning long before daybreak, and remained the whole day
at a cottage on the heights of San Antonio. He had already done all in
his power to satisfy the royal party that he had no intention of
favouring a republic. Bertram, who had done so much for him as chief
organiser and agent, was requested to leave Rome. Mazzini also was sent
away, and other appointments were made, showing how bent he was on
handing over his conquest to Victor Emmanuel. There can be no doubt now
that it would have been far better had he from the first abandoned his
wish not to present his conquests to the king until they were completed.
Had he, on his arrival at Messina, at once declared Victor Emmanuel king
of the island, and requested him to take possession, he would have
allayed the jealousy and suspicion with which his movements were viewed
by Cavour and the Piedmontese ministry.
A similar course, as soon as Naples was occupied, would have had a still
greater effect, and both Garibaldi himself and his brave followers would
have been spared the bitter humiliations and the gross display of
ingratitude, which, however, disgraced those who inflicted them far more
than those so undeservedly treated.
Turr remained idle during the next six days, and beyond throwing up two
or three small intrenchments, did nothing to strengthen the position. In
fact, it was daily becoming more probable that there would be no further
fighting. Cialdini's division had landed near Alcona, had defeated the
army of Lamoriciere, and was advancing westwards without opposition.
Fanti, with another army, had crossed the northern frontier of the
Neapolitan territory, and was marching south. Thus, in a short time, the
Neapolitans would be surrounded by three armies, and would be forced to
lay down their arms.
On the 29th it became evident that a considerable movement was in
progress on the other side of the river and fort. Forty thousand men
were being concentrated at Capua and Cajazzo.
Garibaldi's force, available in case of attack, was about twenty-four
thousand men, of whom thirteen thousand were Northern Italians, eleven
thousand Calabrians and Sicilians, and one inhabitant of Naples. Of
these, two thousand five hundred were with Conti at Aversa, and over
seven thousand at Caserta; the remainder being at Santa Maria,
Sant'Angelo, the village of Santa Lucia, and Madalone. The position
occupied was nearly thirty miles long, but the reserves at Caserta and
Madalone, lying behind the centre, could be despatched speedily to any
point required. Frank had come out with Garibaldi to Caserta, and spent
the whole of his time riding between the different points occupied, with
communications from Garibaldi to his generals.
At three o'clock on the morning of October 1st, Garibaldi started as
usual for the front. Frank, with two or three of the younger
staff-officers, rode, and three carriages carried the general and the
older members of the staff. They had scarcely left the town when a
scattered fire of musketry was heard near Santa Maria. This rapidly
increased in volume; and soon afterwards the guns at Sant'Angelo opened
vigorously. When approaching the town, a mounted soldier, riding at a
furious gallop, overtook them. He was the bearer of a message that a
telegram had just been received from Bixio, who was in command at
Madalone, saying that he was being assailed in great force. This was
even more serious than the attack in front, for, if successful, it would
have cut the communication between the Garibaldians and Naples.
Galloping on to Santa Maria, Garibaldi sent a telegram to Sartori, who
commanded at Caserta, to tell him to hold a brigade in readiness to
support Bixio if the latter was pressed; and that Turr, with the rest of
the reserves, was to hold himself in readiness to move to the front, but
was only to send forward a single brigade, till quite assured of Bixio's
success. At Santa Maria were the greater part of the old cacciatori,
with four thousand other good troops, and Garibaldi felt confident that
the town was in no danger of being taken. He accordingly started at once
for Sant'Angelo, which was the key of his position. Morning had broken
now, but a heavy mist, rising from the low ground near the river,
rendered it impossible to see more than a few yards. The din of conflict
was prodigious. The Garibaldian guns at Santa Maria kept up a desultory
fire, answered by those of the Neapolitans, and the rattle of musketry
was incessant ahead, and, as it seemed, the fight was raging all round;
but it was impossible to tell whether Santa Lucia and other posts to the
right were also attacked. Suddenly a volley was fired from an invisible
enemy within a hundred yards. The balls whistled overhead.
"This is uncomfortable," Frank said to the officer riding next to him.
"They have evidently broken through our line connecting Sant'Angelo with
Santa Maria. If we had had a few earthworks thrown up this would not
have happened. Now they will be able to take Sant'Angelo in rear; and,
what is much more important, we may at any moment run right into the
middle of them, and the loss of Garibaldi would be more serious than
that of all our positions put together."
The Neapolitans had indeed issued out in three columns. One of them,
pushing out under cover of the deep water-courses, had broken through
the weak line, had captured a battery of four guns and a barricade, and
had then mounted one of the spurs of Tifata and taken Sant'Angelo in
rear; while a second column, attacking it in front, had captured another
four-gun battery and a barricade two hundred and fifty yards below the
village on the Capua road, and had taken two or three hundred prisoners,
the rest of Medici's division taking up their position in and around the
abbey, which stood on the hillside above the village.
[Illustration: Map of the BATTLE of the VOLTURNO
October 1860.]
Three of the guides, who had accompanied Garibaldi to carry messages,
and the three mounted staff officers, took their place in front of the
carriages in readiness to charge should they come suddenly upon the
enemy, and so give time to their occupants to escape. The horses were
all galloping at full speed; and though occasionally caught sight of by
the enemy, and exposed to a fire, not only of musketry but of round
shot, they remained uninjured until two-thirds of the distance to
Sant'Angelo, which Garibaldi believed to be still in possession of his
troops, had been covered. Presently, however, they saw, but sixty or
seventy yards away, a strong body of Neapolitans on the road.
"Turn off to the right!" Garibaldi shouted. As the carriage left the
road a round shot struck one of the horses. Garibaldi and the other
occupants at once jumped out, and shouting to the carriages behind to
follow them, ran across the fields. Fortunately there was a deep
watercourse close by; and the others, leaving their carriages, all ran
down into this. The mist was too thick for the movement to be observed,
and the Neapolitans kept up a heavy fire in the direction in which they
had seen the carriages through the mist. As soon as they entered the
watercourse Garibaldi told Frank and his companions to dismount, as,
although the bank was high enough to conceal the men on foot, those on
horseback could be seen above it. All ran along at the top of their
speed. As they did so, Frank told his companions and the guides, if they
came upon any force of the enemy, to throw themselves into their saddles
again and charge, so as to give time to the general to turn off and
escape.
They had gone but a few hundred yards when a party of the enemy, who
were standing on the left bank of the watercourse, ran suddenly down
into it. Frank and the others sprang into their saddles, and with a
shout rode at them; there was a hurried discharge of musketry, and then
they were in the midst of the Neapolitans. These were but some twenty in
number. They had already emptied their muskets, but for a minute there
was a hand-to-hand contest. The horsemen first used their revolvers with
deadly effect, and then fell on with their swords so fiercely that the
survivors of their opponents scrambled out of the watercourse and fled,
just as Garibaldi and his staff ran up to take part in the conflict. It
was well for the general that he had found the road to the village
blocked, for, had he ridden straight on, he must have been captured by
the enemy, who were already in full possession of it, with the exception
of the abbey church and a few houses round it, and the slope of the
hill.
Two of the mounted party were missing. One of the guides had fallen when
the Neapolitans fired, and an officer had been killed by the thrust of a
bayonet. One of Garibaldi's party was also missing; but whether he had
been killed by a chance shot or had fallen behind and been taken
prisoner none knew. As they ascended the slope of the hill they got
above the mist, and could now see what had happened. A part of the
column that had broken through the line of outposts had pressed on some
distance, and then moved to its left, until in the rear of Sant'Angelo,
where its attack had taken the defenders wholly by surprise. The force
had then mounted the hill, and from there opened fire upon the defenders
of the abbey and the houses round it.
These were stoutly held. The houses were solidly-built structures in
which resided the priests and servitors of the church, and the only road
leading up from the village to it was swept by two
twenty-four-pounders, while from the windows of the houses and from the
roof of the abbey a steady musketry fire was maintained. Garibaldi
ordered Frank to gallop to the pass, a short distance behind the
village, where two companies of Genoese carbineers and two mountain
howitzers were posted, and to direct them to mount the hill and take up
a position on the heights above that occupied by the enemy. With a cheer
the men ran forward as soon as they received the order. Ignorant of what
was taking place in front, but certain from the roar of battle that it
was raging round the village, they had been eager to advance to take
part in the struggle; but their orders to hold the pass had been
imperative, as their presence here was indispensable to cover the
retreat of the Garibaldians in Sant'Angelo, and to check pursuit until
reinforcements came up from the rear.
The movement was unobserved by the enemy, who were fully occupied in
their attempts to capture the abbey; and it was not until the two
companies were established on a ridge well above that occupied by the
Neapolitans, and opened a heavy musketry fire, aided by their two guns,
that the latter were aware that they had been taken in rear. Their
position was altogether untenable, as they were unable to reply
effectively to the fire of their opponents, and, descending the slopes,
they joined their comrades in the village. Several desperate attacks
were made upon the abbey, but each was repulsed with heavy loss; and as
the carbineers had now moved lower down, and their guns commanded the
village, the Neapolitans lost heart and fell back.
A battalion of Garibaldi's bersaglieri now came up. They were commanded
by Colonel Wyndham, and occupied the village as the Neapolitans fell
back, quickened their retreat, and then, descending to the four-gun
battery that had first been taken, turned the guns, which the enemy had
forgotten to spike, upon them.
In the meantime the fighting had been fierce round Santa Maria. At first
the Garibaldians had been hard pressed, and the Neapolitans had carried
all before them, until they came under the fire of the batteries placed
on the railway and in front of the gate facing Capua. These were well
served, and although the assailants several times advanced with both
cavalry and infantry, they never succeeded in getting within a hundred
yards of the guns. The left wing, however, swept round the town, and
captured all the out-buildings, except a farmhouse, which was gallantly
defended by a company of Frenchmen.
On the right the Neapolitans fared still more badly, for when their
attack upon the battery failed, the Garibaldian force at San Tamaro,
nearly three thousand five hundred strong, advanced and took them in
flank, and drove them back with heavy loss. By eight o'clock the attack
had ceased all along the line; but as the enemy, while falling back,
preserved good order, no attempt was made to follow them.
The battle had lasted four hours, and the Garibaldians were now
strengthened by the arrival of a brigade with four guns from Caserta,
where the news had just arrived that Bixio was confident of being able
to hold his ground at Madalone. Two of the newly-arrived regiments were
ordered to endeavour to reopen communications with Sant'Angelo, and
fighting went on with the force still threatening Santa Maria; these,
after suffering heavy loss, the Garibaldians, at ten o'clock, drove some
distance back, and captured three guns and many prisoners.
At eleven a fresh attack was made, Count Trani, one of the King's
brothers, having brought some fresh battalions from the town. This
attack was also repulsed, the Garibaldians maintaining their strong
positions. But the Neapolitan troops were still full of spirit, and at a
quarter-past one made another determined effort: their field batteries
advanced within three hundred yards of the town, and their cavalry
charged almost up to the railway battery, but were received with so
heavy an infantry fire by the troops protecting the guns, that they were
forced to fall back. The infantry, however, pressed on, covered by a
storm of fire from their field artillery, while the guns of Capua aided
them by firing shell into the town. The Garibaldians serving the guns at
the gate and at the railway suffered very heavily, but volunteers from
the infantry regiments took their place, although at one time their fire
was arrested by the explosion of a magazine which killed many of the
men, and dismounted two or three of the guns.
All this time, fighting was going on fiercely round Sant'Angelo. The two
regiments that had been sent out from Santa Maria to open communications
with the village had been unable to effect their object, the enemy's
force being too strong for them to move far from the town. At eleven
o'clock, the Neapolitans being largely reinforced, made a fresh attack
on the battery and barricades in front of Sant'Angelo, and an obstinate
struggle took place here; but superior force triumphed, and the royal
troops again captured the battery, killing or taking prisoners almost
the whole of the force that defended it.
Infantry and cavalry then advanced against the village; but the
Garibaldians, having their leader among them, fought with extraordinary
bravery, and for three hours maintained themselves, as did those in the
abbey, although the enemy brought up their cannon and rocket batteries
to within a short distance of it. The walls of the abbey were, however,
so massive that even the artillery failed to make much impression upon
them. Seeing that the assault upon Santa Maria had been repulsed,
Garibaldi sallied out with his entire force, retook the houses that had
been captured by the enemy, drove them back to the battery, and at last
captured this also. Knowing that some of the reserve would soon be up,
Garibaldi at half-past two rode out from the rear of Sant'Angelo, and
making a wide détour, entered Santa Maria, and at once ordered a general
advance. Ebor's brigade sallied out by the Capua gate, and advanced
against the Carthusian convent and cemetery on the Capuan road, while a
brigade moved out to endeavour once more to clear the way to
Sant'Angelo.
The former attack was successful. A small squadron of Hungarian hussars
charged three squadrons of the enemy's dragoons, defeated them, and
captured the two guns that accompanied them. The infantry went on at a
run, but it required an hour's hard fighting to gain possession of the
convent and cemetery. By this time five thousand men with thirteen guns
had arrived from Caserta, and the advance became general. Medici issued
out from Sant'Angelo, and the whole force from Santa Maria advanced, the
Neapolitans falling back from all points; and by five o'clock the whole
had re-entered Capua, abandoning all their positions outside it, and the
Garibaldian sentries were posted along the edge of a wood half a mile
from the ramparts. Until the arrival of the five thousand men of the
reserve, the Garibaldians had throughout the day, although but nine
thousand five hundred strong, maintained themselves successfully
against thirty thousand men supported by a powerful artillery.
At Madalone Bixio had routed seven thousand men who had advanced against
his position, and had captured four guns. The only reverse sustained was
at Castel Morone, which was garrisoned by only two hundred and
twenty-seven men of one of Garibaldi's bersaglieri regiments. They held
out for some hours against a Neapolitan column three thousand strong,
and then, having expended all their ammunition, were obliged to
surrender. The battle of the Volturno cost the Garibaldians one thousand
two hundred and eighty killed and wounded, and seven hundred taken
prisoners, while the enemy lost about two thousand five hundred killed
and wounded, five hundred prisoners, and nine guns. At two o'clock a
detachment of Sardinian artillery, which, with a regiment of
bersaglieri, had been landed a few days before at Garibaldi's request,
had arrived at Santa Maria, and did good service by taking the places of
the gunners who had been almost annihilated by the enemy's fire. The
bersaglieri did not arrive at Caserta till the battle was over. Wearied
by the day's fight, the Garibaldians, as soon as the long work of
searching for and bringing in the wounded was over, lay down to sleep.
Frank and the two other aides-de-camp of Garibaldi were, however,
aroused, within an hour of their lying down. The news had arrived that
the Neapolitan column, which had captured Castel Morone had suddenly
appeared on the heights above Caserta: their number was estimated at
three thousand. Orders were sent to Bixio to occupy a strong position.
Columns were directed to start from Sant'Angelo and Santa Maria for
Caserta, while another brigade was to reinforce the garrison of Santa
Lucia. At two in the morning Garibaldi himself started for Caserta, and
moved out with two thousand five hundred Calabrians and four companies
of Piedmontese bersaglieri. The latter soon found themselves obliged to
take off their knapsacks, hats, and useless accoutrements, finding
themselves, picked men as they were, unable to keep up with the
Garibaldians, clad only in shirt and trousers, and carrying nothing but
ninety rounds of ammunition.
There was but little fighting. The Garibaldians lost but seven or eight
men, among whom were three Piedmontese, who were the first men of the
Sardinian army to shed their blood for the emancipation of Naples. By
evening over two thousand five hundred prisoners were taken, and this
number was doubled in the course of the next few days by the capture of
a large portion of the force which, after being defeated by Bixio in
their attempt to seize Madalone, had scattered over the country
pillaging and burning. Thus, including the fugitives who escaped, the
Neapolitan army was weakened by the loss of nearly ten thousand men. The
explanation of the singular attack upon Caserta, after the defeat of the
Neapolitan army, was that, after capturing Castel Morone, their
commander had received a despatch stating that a complete defeat had
been inflicted on Garibaldi, and urging him to cut off the retreat of
the fugitives by occupying Caserta.
Now that the work was over, and that there was nothing to be done until
the royal army advanced from Ancona, and, brushing aside all opposition,
arrived to undertake the siege of Capua, Frank broke down. He had not
fully recovered from the effects of the two long days spent in the
pestilential atmosphere of the prisons; but had stuck to his work until
the Neapolitans surrendered; then he rode up to Garibaldi, and said,--
"General, I must ask you to spare me from my duties, for I feel so
strangely giddy that I can scarce keep my seat."
"You look ill, lad. Hand your horse over to one of the guides. I have
sent for my carriage; it will be up in a few minutes. Sit down in the
shade of that tree. I will take you down to Caserta with me, and one of
Bixio's doctors shall see you at once."
On arriving at Caserta, the doctor at once pronounced that it was a case
of malarial fever, the result of the miasma from the low ground,
increased, no doubt, by over-fatigue. Garibaldi immediately ordered
another carriage to be brought round, instructed two of his men to take
their places in it with Frank, and despatched a telegram to Professor
Forli at Naples, telling him to have four men in readiness to carry him
up to his room as soon as he reached the palace, and to have a doctor in
waiting. Frank was almost unconscious by the time he arrived at the
city. Everything was ready, and he was soon undressed and in bed, ice
applied to his head, and a draught of medicine poured down his throat.
In a week the fever left him, but he was so much weakened that it was
another fortnight before he could move about again unassisted.
"You have lost nothing: things have been very quiet," his grandfather
said. "To-day the voting takes place. Of course that is a mere farce,
and the country will declare for Victor Emmanuel by a thousand votes to
one. Medici has been occupied in putting down an insurrection in the
mountains, and Cialdini has won two battles on his way west; and a large
Piedmontese force has landed here, and undertaken the work of the
garrison."
"How long will it be before Cialdini arrives with his army before
Capua?"
"I should think that it would be another week."
"I must be able to go forward again by that time," Frank said. "I must
be at Capua when it is taken."
"I quite understand your feelings, and I am eager to be there myself;
but we must have patience. The Neapolitans have withdrawn their forces
from Cajazzo, and the country round, into the town. There are now some
nine thousand men there, and if the commander is obstinate he ought to
be able to defend the place for some months. Still I grant that
obstinacy has not been the strong point of the Neapolitan generals
hitherto; though it must be said that their troops fought gallantly the
other day, coming back again and again to the attack. But the commander
of the town, however brave he may be, must see that even if he can hold
out for the next ten years he would not benefit Francesco. The game is
already hopelessly lost. The Garibaldians, single-handed, have proved
themselves capable of defeating the Neapolitan troops; and with the army
that Cialdini has brought from Ancona, and that which has marched down
from the north, the cause is beyond hope. The army now in Gaeta and the
garrison of Capua alone remain in arms; and I should say that, ere
another fortnight has passed, Francesco is likely to have left this
country for ever."
"Quite so, grandfather," Frank replied; "that is what I have been
thinking for the last week, and that is why I am so anxious to go
forward again as soon as possible."
"That you shall certainly do; at any rate you have a few more days to
stay here, then we will get a carriage and go to Santa Lucia, lying high
in the mountains. The change to the splendid air there will benefit you,
while a stay at Santa Maria or Caserta would at once throw you back."