Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/529

 the camp of Satory, remaining there until they had been examined, when they were sent off to other places of confinement, Cherbourg, Brest, etc.

On Sunday, May 28th, a large column of prisoners, numbering 5,000 or 6,000, who had been captured at Belleville, was directed towards the west of Paris. When the head of the column reached the Arc-de-Triomphe, prisoners were still defiling on the Place de la Concorde.

There was every class of insurrectionists in this sad procession. National Guards, men in blouses, women and children, and, above all, a large proportion of deserters, belonging to those regiments which on the 18th of March had rendered the insurrection possible. It was they who, in the last hour, fought with the greatest fury and desperation. They marched sadly along, with their jackets turned inside out, and tied together in couples. All were bareheaded.

The column was guarded by chasseurs d'Afrique, who made frequent halts, allowing the prisoners to sit down and rest. At the Porte Dauphine, the procession was met by the Marquis de Gallifet, followed by an aide-de-camp. He passed through the crowd of prisoners, amongst whom were women dressed as men, the vivandières of the Commune, and by his orders they were divided into three parties before passing the ramparts.

Eighty prisoners, principally soldiers of every arm, linesmen, artillerymen, and Zouaves, were set apart and afterwards led to the right of the rampart to be shot. Twenty soldiers of the line were invited to return their jackets, and were set at liberty amidst the applause of the crowd, which had gathered while the remainder of the prisoners continued their march to Versailles.

A noted journalist gives an interesting account of a visit made by him to the camp at Satory:

"A prominent feature on the ground is a vast parallelo