Mobilisation of the Passeier Schützen and the Volunteer Corps in Val di Non

Unofficial section.

Meran, 22 April. On the evening of the 20th, two Passeier companies entered our small town. Numbering 200 men, they were all rugged, sturdy figures. Men who had stood in the gunsmoke back in the year '97 marched alongside tall youths. Their armament presented a strange sight; rifles of old and new make and muskets with fixed bayonets mingled in disorder; some sons of the valley marched unarmed, in the fond hope of seizing weapons as soon as matters grew serious. The muffled drum boomed its ancient tunes, accompanied by two fifes. Yesterday morning they marched towards Lana to occupy the Gampen Pass. When, shortly after their arrival, they were informed that the danger had passed and they should return home, the battle-ready men grew indignant. They are now relieving the Lana company. The St. Leonhard company has Anton Pirpamer as its captain; Holzeisen and the Sandwirth heir Erb are squad leaders. The captain of the St. Martin company is Ilmer, commonly known as Hasler, the valley's popular orator. The squad leaders are Martin Sarel and Königsrainer.

St. Martin in Passeir, 20 April. The retreat of the Austrian army as far as Verona gave the Italians room and courage to carry their flags to the Brenner and Finstermünz, as far, as they said, as the finger of God had drawn the boundaries of Italy. They broke into the Giudicarie, occupied the new road over the Stelvio Pass, and threatened the Adige valley from the Val di Non. The leaders of these hordes have abundant funds at their disposal. To anyone who enlists, they offer 26 florins bounty money and 1 florin 12 kreuzer in daily pay. The almost simultaneous invasion suggests a combined operational plan. The Milanese could not possibly have entrusted the execution of such a plan to such people had they not counted on an uprising in Southern Tyrol in their favour. Emissaries in the Vinschgau and Adige valley were supposed to prepare such an uprising. In this, the Italians miscalculated. Nationality and loyalty to the ancestral princely house stand unwaveringly against them. News of these events at the borders called the Passeier people to arms. In the wars of 1809, the Passeier people won the lion's share of Tyrol's fame. All Tyroleans were to see once more that the sons were like their fathers. All were to catch fire from that single flame. That was precisely what district judge Gebhard Honstetter intended when, acting wisely in concert with the clergy, he issued the call to organise the companies, carrying out this task with tireless enthusiasm. Two companies were formed, one of 70, the other of 90 men. The volunteers elected men who enjoyed their complete trust. Old claims were prudently set aside. Following the example of true German women, the district judge's wife provided the cockades in the Tyrolean colours. One company, that of St. Martin, lacked a flag. A new one was sent to it from Bozen. Repeated provocations by the Italians towards Ulten accelerated their departure. On the 20th, both companies stood assembled in St. Martin for the consecration of the flag and their departure. They drew up in rank and file to hear the words of the district judge in breathless silence. The address was brief and fitting: Dear men! A great duty is the defence of the fatherland, you know it yourselves, that is why you are here! As the duty is great, so is the honour. That can be seen in the Hofkirche in Innsbruck at the monument to a Passeier man, Andreas Hofer. In him the Emperor honoured the defender of the homeland. He was what you are. Become what he was! To become that, go forth bravely against the enemy, protect persons and property, obey your leaders. The moved heart of the noble man spoke unmistakably through these words. The parish priest, T. Benedikt Ladurner, then blessed the new flag and handed it to the standard-bearer, a gigantic Passeier figure, addressing the marksmen with his speech: Honour this flag after the custom of your fathers in the struggle for God, Emperor, and fatherland. The marksmen knelt down. He blessed them! Dr. Hildebrand, before whose house the ceremony took place, generously had wine passed around to the marksmen as a farewell. The overcast, rainy sky dampened neither face nor spirit! Zeal and cheerful courage shone from every eye. Thus the first detachment departed to protect the threatened borders and districts of Tyrol. Should the danger to our fatherland grow, the entire able-bodied population will march out.

Regarding the incursion of the volunteer corps into the Val di Non, the failure of which has already been reported, a letter from Kaltern dated 21 April provides the following further details: Last Tuesday, a local tax scribe ventured all the way to Cles to ascertain the number of insurgents. On that day there were 730 men there, and in the evening another 40 arrived from Malé. The aforementioned scribe even had the honour of being invited to the leaders' table. He also brought back two proclamations in Italian, one to the fratelli di Caldaro and an identical one to the fratelli di S. Michele, the brief substance of which is that the volunteer corps did not set out to plunder or commit other excesses, as Austrian soldiers had done, but would pay for everything they required, etc.; that although they trembled before no power, they should not be impeded in their work of liberation, as their watchword was: Giustizia e Religione, without failing, of course, to mention the name of Pius IX, and the like. They are signed by: Giammaria Scotti, comandante della colonna Longhena, and D. Paride Ceoli, comandante della colonna Tridentina. The former is said to be from Bergamo, the latter from Tione. In Cles a large tree was also erected, upon which the flag of the insurgents was hoisted. The insurgents demanded that every house (or perhaps every family) furnish two men for them, and when this failed, a contribution, I believe of 4,000 florins. — However, as is well known, on the morning of the following day a company of Jäger under Captain Vonn was already advancing towards Cles, accompanied by a company of volunteers from Bozen and the surrounding area under the command of Captain Alois Murmann, who had also been joined by around 40 men from Kaltern.