De Amici, also
of the Cacciatori and Guides, was another who fell at the beginning of
the battle. Not a few of the chosen band of the Thousand fell at
Calatafimi as our Roman forefathers fell--rushing on the enemy with cold
steel, cut down in front without a complaint, without a cry, except that
of _"Viva L'Italia!"_ I may have seen battles more desperate and more
obstinately contested, but in none have I seen finer soldiers than my
citizen filibusters of Calatafimi.
The victory of Calatafimi was indisputably the decisive battle in the
brilliant campaign of 1860. It was absolutely necessary to begin the
expedition with some striking engagement such as this, which so
demoralized the enemy that their fervent southern imaginations even
exaggerated the valor of the Thousand. There were some among them who
declared they had seen the bullets of their carbines rebound from the
breasts of the soldiers of liberty as if from a plate of bronze. Far
more men were killed and wounded at Palermo, Milazzo, and the Volturno,
but still I believe Calatafimi to have been the decisive battle.
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