With only a third of the army present and most of their cavalry absent, the outnumbered Carthaginians fought a small-scale battle not of their own choosing, and mostly got the worst of the engagement. The Romans, at first shaken by the initial Carthaginian onslaught, finally gained the upper hand when a fresh force numbering 8,000 foot and 500 horse under Lucius Decimus the Samnite arrived in the rear of the Carthaginians, having been sent by Fabius to join the army at Geronium. The Carthaginians withdrew, the Romans gave chase and at one point Minucius considered overrunning and dismantling the camp itself. The arrival of Hasdrubal (the Quartermaster General) with 4,000 foragers gave Hannibal the confidence to deploy his army for battle, and Minucius chose to withdraw to his camp. Exaggerated Roman accounts claimed 6,000 Carthaginians dead both in the engagement and throughout the countryside, with 5,000 Roman troops slain. The Romans had managed to catch the Carthaginians at a disadvantage and had inflicted a large number of casualties during this skirmish. This was the only time Hannibal had been drawn into large scale skirmishing and had surrendered the initiative to the enemy during the war.