Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/215

 *pants of the fort the momentary respite was of little service, for their commander had disappeared, and all was confusion. Some officers endeavored to give directions for the repair of certain points, but they were not listened to. A few of the insurgents attempted to place sacks of earth in the gaps, but a discharge of chassepots wounded some and forced the rest to retire. It was in this state that the day broke. The whole morning was spent in altercation, some proposing an evacuation—others persisted in holding out to the last.

After a violent altercation, the party advocating the evacuation carried the day. There were about three hundred men in the fort. At ten o'clock another and final council was held in the midst of a shower of shells, and the final resolution was taken at eleven. The sailors spiked the guns, the northern gate was opened, and the insurgents, artillerymen and workmen, set out on their return to Paris.

Some insurgents still remained, it was supposed with the intention of blowing up the fort, as there was an abundance of powder. At half past eleven three superior officers left Paris by the Vaugirard gate, evidently with the intention of reoccupying the fort. The red flag was still flying above the ruins of the barracks. Several battalions of insurgents were now massed in the village of Issy, which lies between the fort and the Vaugirard gate, while fresh barricades were erected. Holes for musketry were pierced in the walls, and passages were made from house to house. The troops, in the mean time, were not inactive. Not venturing to penetrate into the fort, which they knew to be mined, they passed between it and Molineaux to a small wood on the right, while the light batteries were advanced to a spur of the plateau on which the fort is situated, and at three in the afternoon were ready to open fire on the ramparts. The cannonade soon