The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-11 00:00:00

and instantaneous communication kept up between
the o fnr otnht
ea nd
ba
ttthl
eefireelsde r
which
was most contested;
namely, Santa Maria and St. Angelo, we had like•
wise an advantage, and that was to be able to'work
from one point into the flank of the enemy when
he was attacking the other. So, the Neapolitans
working from one angle of the triangle formed by
Capua, Santa Maria, and St. Angelo against the
two others, had to extend their line, which, when
they came near these two places, was too long to
be in connexion ; thus, the left flank of the column
attacking Santa Maria, and the right one of it at-
tacking St. Angelo, were always more or less ex-
posed, and it was just the last flank attack directed
by Garibaldi which finally decided the day.
St. Angelo and Santa Maria contest with each
other the honour of having had the hardest fight,
the real fact being that there was very hard fight-
ing at both places, and many critical moments or
rather hours. Santa Maria had the advantage
over St. Angelo of having had some earthworks
and barricades in front, which had been con-
structed before, as well as several points d'appui for
its defence. Scarcely 100 yards from the gates and
about the same distance from the road is a cascina
,or farmhouse, which had been loopholed, and
which flanked the road. In this building the
French company, formed by the late Paul Deflotte,
who, as you will remember, fell when the first de-

tachment of the Division Cosenz landed on the
shores of Calabria, held out the whole day defend-
ing the building against all attacks with great
bravery. A little further on, close by the road, is
the church and little Convent of St. Augustin, the
enclosure wall of which had likewise been provided
with loopholes, but which was abandoned during
the fight.
On the Santa Maria side the defence was in-

trusted to General Milvitz, of the Brigade Cosenz,
who, 'in spite of a contusion in the right foot,
exerted himself the whole day to keep his position.
He had, besides his own brigade, the small Brigade
Corti, mostly composed of Calabrese, and the
Sicilian Brigade of La Maya. With this force he
had these points to defend. On the right, the
road towards St. Angelo, in the centre, the gate of
Capua, and before it the high road to this latter
place, and then to the left the railway line. Be-
tween the gate of St. Angelo and that of Capua is
the prison, a large square building, with high
walls of enclosure, which defied any attempt be-
yond it ; in the same direction are gardens likewise
surrounded by tolerably strong walls, so that not
much can be apprehended. On the other side of
the Capua gate towards the railway it is the same,

the garden walls form a kind of enclosure, but they
did not serve much, because the real point of de-
fence—the railway—is at some distance from the
town. This was our weak point at Santa Maria,
but the enemy was, it seems, not aware of it, for
his real point of attack was the Capita gate. To-
wards the St. Angelo gate, on the right, he never
came, and towards the railway his operations had
more the character of a demonstration than a
decided attack.

The Neapolitans had exerted their last efforts to
gain the entrance into Santa Maria, and when we
brought up our last reserves from Caserta they had
likewise their last reserves in position. The Regi-
ment of the Grenadiers of the Guard held the Con-
vent of the Capucins and the Campo Santa, from
which they were dislodged by a portion of the
Brigade Eber. It was their last resource, all the
rest had been spent in the different attacks of the
day. It would probably have been difficult, if not
impossible, to resist had it not been for the little
earthworks, the sandbag battery at the Capua gate,
the behaviour of the Picdmontcse Artillery, and
above all of some of the Artillery officers. It was
to them that we owe the five guns taken on that
side. They were dismoumteta or the horses killed.
The practice was positively beautiful, three to four
shots a minute, of which almost every one told.
These Picdmontcse Artillerymen were not
.up iu
the beginning, but were sent during the day by
rail, and came just in time to begin their work in
the hottest part of the day.
At St. Angelo the position was less favourable
for defence. The village itself, or rather old abbey,
and its dependencies, which are built on the slopes
of the mountain, are safe enough against an attack
in front, and their safety would only have been com-
promised had the Neapolitans crossed the river at
the ford above the Scafa di Formicola and come up
by the mountain road in our rear ; but the impor-
tant thing in St. Angelo was to guard the main
roads of communication with Santa Maria and the
works and pontoons which had been prepared
towards the river. This made it necessary to push
the line of defence beyond the road, and thus come
down into the open. The only defensive work
which was made was a barricade of sandbags,
with four guns, on the road from Capua to St.
Angelo. And this became a hotly-contested
point all day long ; it was twice taken by the
Neapolitans, and twice retaken. Although there
were, besides the Calabrese and Genoese riflemen,
nominally three brigades, there were in reality
very little more than 3,000 men present, while the
enemy against them had columns of at least three
times that number. Part of our small force was,
besides, neutralised in some manner by Col. Dunn
being wounded early in the day. One part of his
men, under the orders of the brave Col. Wyndham,
stood indeed to their work, but the rest, indiffe-
rently led by their Sicilian officers, were brought
into confusion by the untimely wounding of their
commander. In no army is the example of a com-
mander of so much weight as in ours. One brave
and cool man often turns the tide and decides the
success of a movement, for our volunteers are crea-
tures of impulse, and not of discipline. ILI this
respect there was no want in St, Angelo, for, be-
sides Garibaldi, who went constantly along the
lines encouraging and urging the men forwalr
st
there was Col. Simonnetta, commanding the
Brigade of Medici, who was indefatigable in his ex-
ertions, always at the point most a
po
s threaten
iticald, hold-
cri-
ing out to the last moment
tion, and being always one of the first to regain it.
There was Col. Bordoni, the Chief of the Engineer
Corps, who acted in turn the part of Engineer, Ar-
tillery, and Infantry officer.Ther.e
Rome,n and
has left was Gen.
Avezzano, who in 1849 commanded
his profitable business in New York to come
Artillery, who
here to fight. There was Major Dowling, of
likewise in turns assumed the duties
of Artillerymenand general encourager ; and
others, who made up by extra exertions what may
have been wanting in some, and the result corre- '
ponded to their efforts.

OCTOBER 4.
Yesterday the 2,500 prisoners were taken by rail
to Naples. At the station a few hundred National
Guards were waiting for them, who conducted
them to the Fort of St. Elmo. When the prisoners
saw the National Guard they asked jeeringly,
Whether the Austrians had not yet skinned
them ?" The taunt was not understood until fur-
ther explanation. The prisoners asked where the
Austrians were, as they had been told that they had
already occupied Naples and defeated Garibaldi,
who was now between two fires. When they saw
the Piedinontese at St. Elmo they asked, astonished,
who they were, and when told that they were Pied-
inontese a new light seemed to dr wu upon them. It
is with such lies that the Neapolitans tried to raise
the spirit of their soldiery and of their officers, for
the ignorance of the latter cedes nothing to that of
the soldiers. For instance, this morning a Neapo-
litan Major of the Grenadier Guards came in with
his carpet-bag, waving a white handkerchief, and
when asked about his business he said that he had
given in his resignation on account of family
aft
whetherh soldiers
and that it had been accepted. In talki
D the
gwaiirth.
him about divers things he inquired
Maria to Naples and by the telegrap• sod
and materiel could be thus sent on With rapidity,