Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

whole plan; the garrison came out, but, master of all his forces, Oribés repulsed them, and it was he who, in his turn, was able to march upon us, and execute the plan of battle formed against him.

We were then attacked in our turn by the army of Oribés and the corps of observation: we had but one course, to retreat upon Cerro, and, whilst falling back, do the enemy as much injury as possible. I took the command of the rear-guard, in order to support the retreat as vigorously as possible.

There was between us and Cerro, a sort of muddy river, called the Bayarda. We had to cross this with the mud up to our middles. In order to endeavour to throw disorder into the passage the enemy established upon a hillock a battery of four pieces of cannon, which began playing upon us at the moment we commenced crossing. But the Italian legion was becoming more warlike every day; they took no more notice of this shower of mitraille than if it had been an ordinary shower of hail. It was then I saw what brave men our negroes were. They suffered themselves to be killed, awaiting the enemy one knee on the ground. I was in the very midst of them, and was able to see how they behaved. The fight lasted six hours.

There was an Englishman in the service of Montevideo. My Englishman of the last campaign has more than once reminded me of his compatriot. There was then in the service of Montevideo an Englishman, who had carte blanche from Pacheco, who knew him well, to do everything he thought would be serviceable. He had from forty to fifty men under his command. We called him Samuel; I don't know whether he had any other name or not. I never saw a braver man than he was. After the passage of the Bayarda, I saw him coming alone with his warrant.

"Well, Samuel," said I, "where is your regiment ?" Regiment!" cried he, "Attention!"

66

Nobody appeared, nobody answered; his men had all been killed, from the first to the last.

General Paz's order of the day gave great praise to the Italian legion. We had twenty men placed hors de combat. We re-entered Montevideo by the Cerro. Samuel immediately set about recruiting his corps.

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE ITALIAN LEGION REFUSE THE LANDS WHICH ARE OFFERED TO THEM.

On the 30th of January, 1845, General Riveyra, asi tonished at the bravery the Italian legion had displayed at the fight of Cerro and the passage of the Bayarda, wrote me the following letter :—

"MONSIEUR, When, last year, I made a gift to the honourable French legion-a gift which was accepted, and which the journals mentioned, of a certain quan tity of land, I hoped that chance would lead to my head-quarters some officers of the Italian legion, to afford me an opportunity of indulging an ardent wish of my heart, by evincing to the Italian legion the esteem I profess for the important services rendered by your companions to the Republic in the war we are sustaining against the invading armed forces of Buenos Ayres.

"That I may no longer defer what I consider the accomplishment of a sacred duty, I enclose, and with much pleasure, a deed of the donation which I make to the illustrious and valorous Italian legion, as a sincere testimonial of my personal gratitude for the heroic services rendered by that corps to my country.

"The gift is certainly not equal to the services or to my wish; nevertheless, I hope you will not refuse to offer it in my name to your comrades, and to inform them of my goodwill and gratitude towards them, as well as yourself, Monsieur, who so worthily command them, and who, before now, have, by aiding our Republic, won an incontestable right to our gratitude.

"I take this opportunity, Colonel, to beg you to accept the assurance of my perfect consideration and profound esteem. "FRUCTUOSO RIVEYRA."

It is worthy of remark that this excellent patriot drew upon his own fortune to make us this gift. The lands he offered us did not belong to the Republic, but were part of his own patrimony.

I therefore replied to him on the 23rd of the following May, the period at which his letter was communicated to me.

“EXCELLENTISSIMO SIGNORE,-Colonel Pandi, in the presence of all the officers of the Italian legion, has remitted to me, according to your desire, the letter you have had the goodness to write to me, bearing date the 30th of January, and with that letter a deed by which you make a spontaneous gift to the Italian legion of a portion of land, taken from your own property, and extending between l'Arrayo de las Avenas and l'Arrayo Grande, to the north of the Rio Negro, and, in addition, a drove of cattle, as well as haciendas, standing upon this land.

"You say that the gift is made by you as a reward of our services to the Republic.

"The Italian officers, after being made acquainted with your letter and its contents, have unanimously declared, in the name of the legion, that they did not contemplate, when asking for arms and offering their services to the Republic, receiving any other reward but the honour of sharing the perils of the children of the country which had afforded them hospitality. They obeyed, whilst acting thus, the voice of their conscience; having satisfied that which they consider simply the accomplishment of a duty, they will continue, as long as the necessities of the siege require it, to share the toils and perils of the noble Montevideans, but they desire no other price and no other recompence for their labours.

"I have, consequently, the honour to communicate to your Excellency the reply of the legion, with

which my own sentiments and principles completely agree.

"I therefore return you the original of the donation. May God grant you many days.

[ocr errors]

"GUISEPPE GARIBALDI.” The Italians then continued to serve without any recompence. Their only means of obtaining a little money, when they absolutely wanted sometimes to replace a portion of their clothes, was to perform the duty of some French or Biscayan trader, who paid for the substitution about two French francs. It was understood that if any fighting were going on, the substitute was to fight, and get himself killed for his principal.

CHAPTER XLV.

DISGRACE OF RIVEYRA.

I HAVE described the plan of General Paz, on the occasion of our nocturnal sortie from Montevideo. This plan, if it had succeeded, would have changed the face of things; and, according to all probability, would have forced the Oribés to raise the siege; but this plan being defeated, we returned to our garrison duty, that is to say, to the advanced posts, which we continued to fortify, on both parts, more and more, till we, on our side, had a line of batteries almost corresponding with the enemy's.

At this point, General Paz left us to go and direct the insurrection of the province of Corrientes, and thus aid the national cause by dividing the forces of General Urguisà, who was opposed to General Riveyra.

But things were far from turning out as it was hoped they would, and that by the impatience of General Riveyra, who, without heeding the orders of the Government, which forbade him attempting a decisive battle, accepted that battle, and completely lost it in the plains of India Muerte. Our field army was

beaten, and two thousand prisoners, perhaps more, were strangled, hung, beheaded, against all the laws of humanity and war.

Many deserted on the field of battle, others were dispersed in the immense steppes. General Riveyra, with a few of his people, gained the frontier of Brazil, and was exiled by the Government as the cause of this great disaster.

The battle of India Muerte lost, Montevideo was abandoned to its own resources. Colonel Correa took the command of the garrison. The soul, however, of the defence, remained concentrated between Pacheco and myself. Some of our leaders, after this deplorable battle, were, notwithstanding, able to get together various parties of dispersed soldiers, and carry on the war. General Flanos collected about two hundred men, and preferring uniting himself with the defenders of Montevideo, fell upon the body of the enemy which was watching Cerro, forced his way through them, gained the fort, and joined us.

Pacheco took advantage of this little reinforcement, and formed the idea of a coup-de-main, On the 27th of May, 1815, we embarked at Montevideo, during the night, the Italian legion and a few other troops, taken from Cerro, and, with this small body we placed ourselves in ambush in an old abandoned powder-mill. On the morning of the 28th, General Flanos' cavalry came out, protected by the infantry, and drew the enemy towards the powder-mill; and, when they were within convenient distance, our troops rushed out, the Italian legion at their head, and charging with the bayonet, covered the ground with slain. Upon this the whole division of observation at Cerro fell upon the line, and a murderous conflict ensued, which terminated to our advantage. The enemy were completely put to the rout, and pursued with the bayonet at their heels; it requiring one of these hurricanes of thunder mixed with hail and rain, of which no one can form an idea who has not seen them, to put an end to the fight.

« AnteriorContinuar »