erally
considered the most important military position in the Papal states.
The garrison was small, but, perched as they were on a hill crest
which looks inaccessible, the defenders might well hope to hold out
till help came from Rome. They had artillery, of which the volunteers
had none, and the old castle of the Orsini, where they made their
principal stand, was well adapted for defence. From the morning of the
25th till midnight, the Garibaldians hurled themselves against the
walls of the rock town without making much way; but at last the
resistance grew weak, and when the morning light came, the white flag
was seen flying. At four in the afternoon of the 26th a Papal column
tardily arrived upon the scene, but they perceived that all was over
at Monte Rotondo, and, after firing a few musket shots, they fled to
Rome in disorder.

Garibaldi rode into the cathedral, where he fixed his quarters for the
night. In Italy churches have ever been applied to such uses. After
the reduction of Milan, Francesco Sforza rode into the Duomo, and when
King Ladislaus of Naples conquered Rome, he rode into the basilica of
St John Lateran. The guerilla chief bivouacked in a confessional,
while his Red-shirts slept where they could on the cathedral floor.
Four hundred of them had been killed or wounded in the assault.

The prisoners of war were brought before Garibaldi, who praised their
valour and sent them under an escort to the Italian frontier. Two or
three were retained for the following reason. Garibaldi had heard of
the Cairolis' heroic failure, and after his victory his first thought
was of them and of their sorrowing mother. He asked Signora Mario if
there were any notabilities among the Papal prisoners. She mentioned
Captain Quatrebras and others, and he sent her into Rome on a mission
to the Papal commander with a view to exchanging these prisoners for
the wounded Giovanni and for his brother's body. The proposal was
accepted, and the compact kept after Mentana had changed the aspect of
affairs.

'Garibaldi at the gates!' was the news that spread like wildfire
through Rome on the evening of the 26th of October. Terror, real
terror, and no less real joy filled all hearts; but the sides were
soon to be reversed. Another piece of news was not long in coming:
'The French at Civita Vecchia!'

The French arrived on the 29th, and on the same day Garibaldi advanced
almost to the walls of Rome, still hoping for a revolutionary mov