"The road from St. Maria to St. Angelo forms, in the direction of St. Maria to Capua, an angle of about forty degrees; so that, while the column was proceeding along the road, it must always be on the left, and alternate forward. When, therefore, the Milanese brigade and the Calabrians were engaged, I sent forward the brigade Eber against the enemy on the right of the former. It was fine to see the veterans of Hungary march under fire with the tranquillity of a parade-ground, and in the same order. Their fearless intrepidity contributed not a little to the retreat of the enemy. With the movements in the front of my column and on the right, I soon found myself joining with the column of Medici, which had bravely sustained an unequal contest through the whole day. The courageous Genoese carabiniers, who formed the left of the division Medici, did not wait for any command to charge the enemy again. They, as always, performed prodigies of valor. The enemy, after fighting obstinately all day, toward 5 P.M., reëntered Capua in disorder, protected by the cannon of the place.
"At evening I had noticed in St. Angelo, that a column of the enemy of 4,000 or 5,000 men was in Old Caserta. I ordered the Genoese carabiniers to be ready at two in the morning of October 2d, with 350 men of the corps of Spangaro, and 60 mountaineers of Vesuvius. I marched at that hour on Caserta by the mountain road and St. Lencio. Before reaching Caserta, the brave Colonel Missori, whom I had directed to discover the enemy, with some of his brave guides, informed me that the royalists were on the heights between Old Caserta and Caserta, which I was soon able to verify. I went to Caserta to concert with General Sistori, and not believing the enemy bold enough to attack that city, I combined with him to collect all the forces at hand, and march against the enemy's right flank, and attack him by the heights of the park of Caserta, thus placing him between us and the division Bixio, which I had ordered to attack him on that side.
"The enemy still held the heights; but discovering only a small force in Caserta, had projected its capture, ignorant, no doubt, of the result of the battle of the previous day, and, therefore, pushed half his force upon that city. While I was thus marching under cover, on the right flank of the enemy, he attacked Caserta in front, and would, perhaps, have gained it, if General Sistori, with his accustomed bravery, and a band of valorous men, had not repulsed him. With the Calabrians of General Stocco and four companies of the northern army, I proceeded against the enemy, who was charged—resisted but little, and was driven almost at a run to Old Caserta. There a small number of the enemy sustained themselves for a moment, firing from windows, but they were soon surrounded and made prisoners. Those who fled in advance fell into the hands of the soldiers of Bixio, who, after fighting bravely on the first at Maddaloni, arrived on the field of battle like lightning. Those who remained behind capitulated with Sacchi, whom I had ordered to follow the movement of my column; so that, of all the enemy's corps, few were able to escape. This corps, it appears, was the same which had attacked Bronzetti at Castel Morono—and that his heroic defence, with his handful of brave soldiers, had restrained them the greater part of the day, thus preventing them from getting into the rear all that day. The corps of Sacchi also contributed to detain that column beyond the Park of Caserta on the first day by repulsing it bravely.
"G. Garibaldi.
"Caserta, October, 1860."
GARIBALDI'S PERSONAL HEROISM.
A correspondent of the Paris "Journal des Débats" says:
"The most brilliant episode of the action of the 1st of October was the recapture of the battery at the foot of Mont St. Angelo. When I left Santa Maria, I knew that this battery had been very much disabled in the morning. Garibaldi arrived at nine o'clock, when the enemy was thundering at it with all his strength, because it took him in flank, and was causing him severe loss. The triple battery courageously resisted the attack, and never slackened fire, when all at once the one situated at the foot of the hill became silent. The royalists, to the number of 2,500, got round the hill, and rushing upon the guns, spiked five of them, and killed several of the men at their pieces. Garibaldi, on the San Tannaro side, soon observed the silence of his favorite battery, and an aid-de-camp from General Milwitz soon informed him of the disaster, which would probably have lost him the battle. Garibaldi at once started off, crossed Santa Maria, followed by Medici and his staff, and collecting what men he could, cried out in a voice which caused all to shudder, 'We are going to die, but the Italians must win the day: at all other points we have conquered.' Followed by one hundred men, at a rapid pace, Garibaldi leading the way in a small, disabled carriage, went right forward. But just as they got near the Casino of St. Angelo, some Neapolitan Chasseurs, who were lying on the ground, rose and fell upon them. The coachman drove his horses into a ditch and formed a barricade of the carriage. Garibaldi jumped up, indignant, and went up to the Chasseurs, shouting, 'Viva Italia!' Some of his men coming up at the same time, the enemy became demoralized and took to flight. Garibaldi was slightly wounded in the stomach, and his trousers were riddled by two or three bullets. 'If I only had another pair,' he said, and without further remark he continued his march toward a battalion of one hundred and fifty Hungarians, commanded by General Mogyorady. He pointed to the Neapolitans who were in possession of the battery, and cried out to them, 'Forward, my lads, disperse that rabble for me!' This 'rabble' consisted of a regiment of the line, a squadron of Cavalry, a company of Chasseurs, and a company of Artillery. The Hungarians, without waiting to count the numbers of the adversary, rushed forward and charged with the bayonet. After a contest of twenty minutes, the battery was retaken, and once more it poured its storm of grape on the Neapolitan troops, who fled in confusion across the fields. The Hungarians, in this encounter, had thirty men put hors de combat, the Neapolitans about two hundred. Garibaldi did not wait to dress his wound, but hurried elsewhere. The day, however, was now won."