The following description of Garibaldi we translate from the "History of the Glorious Campaign of the Cacciatori delle Alpi, in the war of 1859," by one of his officers, Col. Francesco Corrano:
"Giuseppe Garibaldi is of middle stature, with broad and square shoulders, herculean limbs, long brownish hair, and beard slightly grey; a heavy and strong step, sailor-like air, look, and manner of speaking; his vest buttoned up to his throat, a hat with a broad brim, in the Calabrian style, and large trousers. The noises of the city annoy and disturb him. Commanding mountains please him, covered with evergreen trees, and the sight of the vast horizon and the boundless sea.
"His nose is straight and almost vertical, and his aspect at once vivacious and sweet. Often, under his very heavy beard, his lips are gently moved by a natural and fascinating smile. He converses frankly and unaffectedly, condemns with decision, and praises warmly but briefly; but he is ever animated, fluent, and even eloquent, whenever the conversation turns on Italy, liberty, and deeds of daring and skill; to overcome the enemy, and to overdo them (sopraffare), his favorite word. Above all things, he prizes faithfulness and valor in chivalrous warfare, though it be not accompanied by fame or popular applause. Proud despiser of pay and money, he loves Italy above all things.
"Cuneo, who is called his friend for life, by Garibaldi himself, writes of him: 'A man of humanity, he is laboring to secure in the future the brotherhood of the people; but at the banquet of nations he will sit only as an equal, or not sit at all.' He is by nature tolerant of every suggestion. He has trust and sympathy in discipline produced by love, more than by the rigor of laws.
"It would be difficult to find a successor to Garibaldi. His name is popular in Italy, through all Europe, and in America also, as no other is in our day; and it was owing chiefly to his name, that ten thousand Italians, from every province in the country, and in a short space of time, hastened to join him, and to write their names as 'Cacciatori delle Alpi.' But, more than to command battalions, he is fitted to lead them in fine order; prepared to fight, and with ten-fold moral force, by his terrible name, to overcome and scatter the enemy; to conquer or to fall with signal honor."
The intelligence and respectability of Garibaldi's soldiers were attested by an English gentleman who visited his camp at Firano, August 5th. He wrote:
"You are already aware that in this singular corps the soldier generally belongs to the best class of Italian society. In consequence of this peculiarity, each of this gallant band is a politician of the first class. The doings of our ministers are sensibly discussed in these bivouacs.
"The only Englishman who is among them has become the lion of this singular corps. In my former letter I had occasion to speak of Captain Peard, the gentleman in question. He comes from Cornwall, and belongs to a militia regiment, whose uniform he wears with a decidedly martial bearing. He is a man of tall and colossal frame, nearer sixty than fifty, and is considered the best shot in the party. Although he has been attached to Garibaldi's staff, he makes war at his own expense, and he was always to be found in the thick of the fray. Whenever he had killed an Austrian, he was seen to mark him down in his pocket-book. A few days ago I met Captain Peard at Brescia, and he was kind enough to show me his book, from which it was apparent that twenty-five Austrians were killed by him during the campaign, besides ten who were under the head of 'uncertain.'
"There are also with Garibaldi two rather eccentric young Frenchmen, dressed in a peculiar costume of their own, who are members of the Paris Jockey Club. These two gentlemen have been so charmed by the gallant general, that I am told they will share his fate, whatever it may be. Five American citizens, and a few Germans, are going to do the same, together with a Chinese, who, were I to believe what he told me, is one of the few who escaped the slaughter of Commissioner Yeh at Canton. Most of Garibaldi's officers belong to the upper classes of Lombardy, and have borne arms with him either in South America or in Rome."
The interval which occurred between the day of Garibaldi's departure from Turin, with his Alpine Huntsmen, and the dispersion of the forty thousand Austrians at Calatrava, is one of the most interesting and important in modern history. While the most anxious fears prevailed among his friends, and the most alarming reports were circulated by his enemies; while the promise of being supported by the number of troops which he had thought indispensable was entirely disappointed, by the inability of Cialdini to cross the rivers, Garibaldi, as we have seen, undismayed by that and other difficulties, pursued his way with unfailing resolution and complete success. He raised the country in insurrection wherever he went; kindled a flame in every heart from the electric fire which had so long been cherished in his own; unhesitatingly attacked the opposing hosts of the enemy, and put them all to flight. Thus he alarmed, weakened, and terrified the invaders, and animated the Allies, whose precursor he was; gave an impulse to the war at the commencement, and a most powerful support to it till the close, which will ever secure to him an indisputable claim to a large, a very large, share of the victory and its results. This claim, we may surely foretell, will never be made by himself. It will, however, be made by the world—by mankind—on whom he has conferred the inestimable benefits of his great deeds, and his pure and noble example. Such concurrences and successions of events, such men as have been employed in the various scenes, and especially such a heroic leader, could have been devised only by infinite wisdom, and conducted to such results only by an Almighty hand.