Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

staff,
THE CHOLERA OF 1867. 429
who took upon himself the management of the commune
for some time ; Major Gastaldini, who was commanding the
military forces of Ardore and the neighborhood and
; Broglia,
doctor of the battalion, behaved in such a way that I cannot
find words with which to praise them sufficiently. I say nothing
of the soldiers, who there, as elsewhere, worked for the
town with indefatigable zeal and earnest pity.
It is not necessary to say how the commanders of the corps
and divisions behaved during the time the cholera lasted,
because the population, municipalities, and the press awarded
them the highest praise and gave full testimony of
their deeds.
But among the many names dear to the army and country,
there is one I cannot withhold, no matter how easily every
reader may guess it,
and have already divined, pernaps with a
spontaneous heart-throb, all that I wish to say of him : it is
General Medici.
What he did from the beginning to prevent the spreading
of the cholera and to preserve the troops from it, has been
already told. It is easy to imagine what he did afterward.
At work night and day with mind and body, each moment
brought the announcement of some fresh disaster, or of new
tumults, which there seemed to be no end to the consultations,
orders, and precautions that were necessary. He betook himself
now to one place, now to another, in order to assure himself
that the military authorities were fulfilling their duties ;
he
visited barracks, prisons, hospitals, and the homes for the convalescent.
Noteworthy, among others, was the visit to Messina,
where he lost a very distinguished officer of his staff, the
good and brave Captain Tito Tabacchi and that
;
other, in the