A MISTAKE IN THE MAP

265

the Retreat. Ugo Bassi's bonhomie was not altogether unsuccessful in consoling the victims, who received much sympathy from the officers when the fault was discovered.1 About a mile distant from Citerna lies Monterchi, another little town on a lower hill to the south. Here the Austrians lay in force, and Garibaldi, watching from the garden of the Cappuccini their preparations to attack or surround the Citerna hill, and their guns planted against him, determined that it was time for him to be gone. Indeed, his escape northwards across the valley might be closed at any moment by the troops from Città di Castello and Anghiari, some of whom were already in the neighbourhood of San Sepolcro. The forces of the Austrians within a few miles of Citerna were three or four times as numerous as his own, and their generals believed themselves to have blocked every road by which he could escape out of the Tiber valley; this error arose from the dependence of their Staff on a map which did not show the great road up to the Bocca Trabaria, though it was in full sight of Garibaldi at Citerna. At its foot lies San Giustino, and he determined to reach that town by a secret march on the night of July 26-27."

To effect this he had first to escape from the Austrians in Monterchi, and then to pass through their other armies on the line of the Tiber. The attention of the former was engaged by a false attack on Monterchi during the afternoon of the 26th, and by a screen of men left on Citerna hill, while the main column secretly descended its steep northern slope and began to cross the plain in the falling dusk. Through the night they made a forced march to San Giustino, one division going round by the road and bridge of San Sepolcro, and the rest moving in a straight line across the sandy fords of the Tiber. In the poplar

1 Magherini, 27; Vecchi, ii. 319; Bologna MS. Manfredini. 2 Corsi, i. 189; Rug. 46; De Rossi, 247-249.

The date, about which an erroneous statement is made in Bel. 110, is correctly given in Bel. 119; and is proved by Bologna MS. San Giustino. (Magherini, 27, 28; De Rossi, 249, 250; Rug. 46, 47.)

Bologna MS. Piva; Magherini, 31, 37; Hoff. 410, 411; Rug. 46;

grove on its banks there was a struggle with the fat friars of Citerna, who complained bitterly at the necessity of wading up to their knees; it had been thought prudent to take them along, because if left in Citerna they would have found means to warn the Austrians in Monterchi of the escape of their common enemies.1

Marching through the darkness, often in single file, by the narrow tracks of the vineyards and the rough fords of the streams, the army left behind-besides many baggage animals and much of their scanty stock of ammunition— a number of men who lost their way in the darkness, and were picked up in the following days by the Austrians. Many, when asked to what corps they belonged, although they knew that death or torture was awarded to all who followed Garibaldi, confessed him to the drum-head courtmartials as their chief and father.' Some were shot, and others flogged with that revolting cruelty which did so much to turn against Austria the sympathies of our country, happily forgetful that, fifty years before, she had been guilty of the same form of wickedness in Ireland.2

At dawn of the 27th the column of retreat reached San Giustino, but, too fatigued by the night march to begin at once the scaling of the great mountain, they remained during the greater part of the day at the foot of the pass, while the Austrians, only a few miles away, on three sides, left them strangely unmolested. This inactivity surprised the Italians then, and has surprised their historians since. The truth is that Garibaldi's enemies, all through July, were unduly afraid of him, being deceived by his devices into supposing him stronger than he was; and at this moment their troops were utterly exhausted by the forced marches that had brought them from Perugia, Arezzo and Siena. But when all is said, the Austrian generals were very stupid, and the best excuse for their inaction at this

Vecchi, ii. 320; Bel. 110, and Belluzzi's Note-book, Bologna MS. ; De Rossi, 250.

PASSAGE OF THE WATER-SHED

267

crisis-namely, that they thought the bandit' could not escape because they did not know of the important road over the Bocca Trabaria-in itself shows by how much they were inferior to their antagonist in personal activity and observation, as well as in the use of scouts. The Austrian officers were well aware that he was more than a match for their chiefs; as day by day they urged their tired men over fresh mountains, they cursed and admired the man who led them such a dance. This devil,' they said, to an Italian gentleman, will lead us to Africa at least.'1

On July 27, after a long halt at San Giustino,' about 2,000 men who still followed the desperate fortunes of Garibaldi began to move up the road to the Bocca Trabaria by gigantic spirals,' like those which join valley to valley in Hoffstetter's fatherland. The Switzer, riding in front with the Staff, looked back to watch the army winding up from below, like a long beautiful snake,' through the scattered oak copses, corn-fields and farms sprinkled over the steep mountain side. In the front Garibaldi rode beside Anita -his white poncho streaming out on the mountain breeze. Then came the few remaining lancers of Masina's devoted squadron; then the baggage-mules, now reduced to forty, and then, moving with deliberate steps, a majestic herd of white bulls with long, curved horns, destined to be the provisions of the army on the foodless mountains. Below, the red shirts of the Garibaldian Legion, and still further down, the light summer suits of Forbes and his boy were visible among the darker uniforms of their companions. At the bottom of all lay the broad, green valley, the scene of their night march, across which the last patrols and rearguard were hastening to the foot of the pass, and the white Austrian columns were still aimlessly in motion. The size and nature of the hunted army, the driven cattle, the wild scenery into which the war was being carried, the near 1 Corsi, i. 193, 194; Rug. 46, 47; Bel. 35, 36, 104; Torre, ii. 398. Bologna MS. San Giustino and Bel. 126, say they started at 6 P.M.; while Hoff. 412, and De Rossi, 250, say it was in the morning. But all agree they rested some time just outside San Giustino. (See also Rug. 48, 49.)

1 Hoff. 413, 414.