On 18 September 1860, below the hill town of Castelfidardo near Loreto in the Marche, General Cialdini's IV Corps of the Piedmontese army defeated the papal army of the French general Lamoricière. The fight, which began when the papal columns crossed the Musone River to break through to Ancona, was over by early afternoon. Lamoricière reached Ancona with a few horsemen; the troops left at Loreto capitulated the next day, and Ancona fell on 29 September. The Enciclopedia Italiana calls it a fight of modest size with politically decisive consequences. Also on this day, in 1759, the French garrison of Quebec capitulated to the British.
Battle of Castelfidardo
18 September 1860 · 166 years ago
An ultimatum and an invasion
Trevelyan dates Cavour's ultimatum to the Pope's ministers, demanding the disbandment of the foreign mercenaries, to 7 September 1860, the day Garibaldi entered Naples; he writes that Garibaldi arrived by special train with his staff and friends, while his own army was still days behind. The Italian official history has General Fanti send his warning to Lamoricière on 9 September and Cavour's note handed to Cardinal Antonelli in Rome the next day, which Antonelli refused. On 11 September Piedmontese troops crossed the papal frontier.1
The official history describes Lamoricière as a French general and veteran of the wars in Africa who had accepted the supreme command of the papal forces in April; Trevelyan calls him a retired French general. The same official account says the papal army was meant to number about 23,000 but in September had no more than 20,000, of whom no more than 16,000 with 30 guns could be used in the field; the Enciclopedia Italiana gives 16,000 to 17,000 combatants in three brigades, and Trevelyan not less than 15,000 men. Most of the foreign troops were Swiss, French and Austrian, according to the official history; Trevelyan also names Belgians and Irish.2
Lamoricière decided to fall back on the fortress of Ancona and wait for foreign help. Cialdini marched round west of Ancona and on 16 September occupied the heights of Castelfidardo and Le Crocette, across the roads from Loreto to the port. Lamoricière's and Pimodan's columns gathered at Loreto, Pimodan's on the evening of the 17th after days of marching through the mountains.3
Across the Musone
The Enciclopedia Italiana and Trevelyan describe the plan: Pimodan was to cross the river and hold the Piedmontese while Lamoricière, with the rest of the army, made for Ancona along the coast. The official history puts Pimodan's column at about 3,500 men and Lamoricière's at about 3,300; the Enciclopedia Italiana counts 6,800 papal troops with 16 guns in the action.4
The official returns for Cialdini's corps, both taken from the strength on the morning of 16 September, give 16,449 officers and men with 42 guns present on the field, and 4,880 men with 14 guns in the units actually engaged; the second return notes that its figure is therefore somewhat higher than the number who fought. The Enciclopedia Italiana gives 17,000 and 4,800.5
The sources disagree on the hour: about nine according to the Enciclopedia Italiana, about 9.30 according to the official history, and 10 o'clock in Cialdini's report written that night. Swiss carabinieri, Franco-Belgian tirailleurs and native chasseurs waded the ford and fell on the bersaglieri holding two farmhouses, the lower and upper Casa; Irish volunteers of the St Patrick's battalion manhandled two guns across behind them. Trevelyan names Austrian battalions, Irish and Franco-Belgian Zouaves in the first wave.6
The bersaglieri lost both houses. Cialdini then galloped up and ordered the 10th Infantry to drop their packs and retake the houses with the bayonet. Pimodan, hit repeatedly, was mortally wounded; the official history and O'Clery have Lamoricière meet him as he was carried away. Lamoricière's own column came under fire from the guns on the hills and broke up. According to the official history and the Enciclopedia Italiana, the fighting was over by two in the afternoon.7
Voices from the field
O'Clery names the Irish unit as D'Arcy's company, whose task was to drag the guns through the ford and up the hill; the official history speaks of about a hundred Irish of the St Patrick's battalion, come from Spoleto, pushing the guns by hand.8
O'Clery quotes Lamoricière's report on the last stand at the farm: "In vain," the report reads, "Becdelièvre, collecting what was left of his half-battalion and some portions of the two others, dashed at the assailants, and for a moment forced them to fall back […] The fury of the attack redoubled, and it was necessary to retreat". He adds that the column withdrew, in Lamoricière's words, "not vanquished but massacred".9
At nine that evening, at Osimo, Cialdini wrote to Fanti: "I have beaten La Moricière, who has gone back to Loreto. […] I have taken about six hundred prisoners. I have taken six guns" (our translation). Of his opponent he added: "General Pimodan is dying" (our translation).10
Flight to Ancona, surrender at Loreto
The official history says Lamoricière left the field after midday with a few officers, some guides and about fifty Austrian light horse; O'Clery has him set out with about fifty horse and three hundred foot. Infantry who followed him were caught by the 9th Infantry near Umana and surrendered. Trevelyan writes that Lamoricière and forty-five horsemen alone reached Ancona between five and six in the evening, and that he greeted the governor with "Here I am" and "but I have lost the army".11
How the command passed is disputed. Colonel Coudenhove reported on 20 September that Lamoricière left for Ancona "without telling any corps commander or senior officer", and that the colonels asked him to take command after searching for the general for two hours (our translation). Cialdini wrote on 19 September that Lamoricière fled "without warning his own men" (our translation). The official history, by contrast, says he sent guides and officers with orders that the troops obey Coudenhove, to whom he entrusted the command, and the Enciclopedia Italiana also says he entrusted the command to Coudenhove.12
At noon on 19 September Coudenhove met Cialdini near the bridges of Loreto and signed the surrender of the troops in the town. The official history counts 3,094 papal soldiers and 150 officers who surrendered, with 11 guns; Cialdini's report of that day speaks of more than 4,000 men, and Trevelyan of some 3,000. Ancona capitulated on 29 September.13
The cost
The official history gives the Piedmontese loss as 55 men and 6 officers killed, and 130 men and 10 officers of the 10th Infantry, with one bersaglieri lieutenant, wounded; the Enciclopedia Italiana gives 60 dead, including six officers, and Trevelyan 62 killed and 140 wounded. On the papal side the official history counts 88 dead left on the field, about 600 prisoners, three guns and a flag, and about 400 wounded according to the papal reports; the Enciclopedia Italiana gives 88 dead and 600 prisoners.14
Pimodan died after midnight in a room of the upper Casa, according to the official history; Major Radicati reported from the outposts on 19 September that he died half an hour after midnight. The draft papal army bulletin printed in the same volume, which its editors say may never have been published, says he was killed on the field.15
The Enciclopedia Italiana judges that the battle made the defense of Ancona vain, opened the road to Naples through papal territory and dealt the final blow to legitimist hopes of an Austrian intervention. Trevelyan writes that the catastrophe acted as a strong deterrent to Austrian interference. The Dizionario Biografico notes a later dispute over whether Cialdini saw the fight himself, and both encyclopedias mention the monument to the battle by the sculptor Vito Pardo.16
Battle of Chrysopolis, 324: Constantine becomes sole emperor
18 September 324 · 1702 years ago
At Chrysopolis on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, facing Byzantium, Emperor Constantine I fought his rival Licinius in the decisive battle of their civil war. Licinius was routed and fled to Nicomedia, and his surrender soon after left Constantine sole ruler of the Roman Empire.
Read the full story of Battle of Chrysopolis, 324: Constantine becomes sole emperor ›Also on this day
1759: after the battle on the Plains of Abraham on 13 September, told on our 13 September page, the French garrison of Quebec capitulated. General Townshend wrote that a flag of truce had come out with proposals on the 17th and that the terms were "agreed to, and signed, at eight in the morning, the 18th instant". The Dictionary of Canadian Biography says Charles Saunders and George Townshend signed on the morning of 18 September, and puts Ramezay's garrison at about 2,200 men. Knox's journal for the day reads: "The garrison capitulated this morning, and the articles were duly ratified and exchanged".17
