Three thousand followed him. Beside her husband rode Anita; not even
for the sake of the child soon to come would she stay behind in
safety. Ugo Bassi was there; Anghiar was dead, Mameli was dying in a
hospital, but there was 'the partisan or brigand Forbes,' as he was
described in a letter of the Austrian general D'Aspre to the French
general Oudinot, with a good handful of Garibaldi's best surviving
officers. Ciceruacchio came with his two sons, and offered himself as
guide. No one knew what the plan was, or if there was one. Like
knights of old in search of adventures, they set out in search of
their country's foes. It was the last desperate venture of men who did
not know how to yield.
After wandering hither and thither, and suffering severe hardships,
the column reached the republic of San Marino. The brave hospitality
of that Rock of freedom prevented Garibaldi from falling into the
clutches of the Austrians, who surrounded the republic. He treated
with the Regent for the immunity of his followers, who had laid down
their arms; and, in the night, he himself escaped with Anita, Ugo
Bassi, Forbes, Ciceruacchio and a few others. They hoped to take their
swords to Venice, but a storm arose, and the boats on which they
embarked were driven out of their course. Some of them were stranded
on the shore which bounds the pine-forest of Ravenna, and here, hope
being indeed gone, the Chief separated from his companions. Of these,
Ugo Bassi, and an officer named Livraghi, were soon captured by the
Austrians, who conveyed them to Bologna, where they were shot.
Ciceruacchio and his sons were taken in another place, and shot as
soon as taken. The boat which contained Colonel Forbes was caught at
sea by an Austrian cruiser: he was kept in Austrian prisons for two
months, and was constantly reminded that he would be either shot or
hung; but the English Government succeeded in getting him liberated,
and he lived to take part in more fortunate fights under Garibaldi's
standard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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