Storming of the Bastille
...lly swords, in view of the fact that the district only possessed a few firearms. Being overwhelmed with tiredness, a shortage of food and hardly any sleep, at 5 a.m. I departed from the district. I discovered that at some point in the morning arms for the different districts were dispersed. I speedily returned to notify the bourgeoisie of St-André-des-Arts. At approximately two o'clock, we reached the place where the arms where being distributed. I kept up with the crowd in order to get to the cellar where the arms were held in reserve. On the flight of stairs that lead to the cellar, I saw a man equipped with two muskets, immediately I took one from him. Equipped with my gun in hand, I at that moment set off for my personal district. As I was on the way, I was notified that powder was being handed out at the Hôtel de Ville. So, I quickly rushed to this hotel, on arrival, I received about a quarter of a pound of powder, but no shot was given me because they claimed that they had none. As I departed from the Hôtel de Ville, I became aware that the Bastille was being surrounded. My disappointment at having no shot provoked an idea which I right away conducted. I purchased some small nails, which I bought from the grocer's. It was here that I arranged and lubricated my gun and without delay I got going for the Bastille, continuing to load my gun as I went. It was around 3:30 p.m. that the first bridge had been dropped, and the chains slashed. The portcullis restricted entrance, so people were attempting to launch some cannon which had previously been taken apart. I traveled over to the small bridge and from there I helped to bring in two guns. When they the guns had been set up on carriages, everybody together assembled in rows of five or six for some strange reason I found myself in the front of one of the rows. The cannon were leveled; the bronze gun placed at the big drawbridge and a small iron gun was positioned at the small bridge. It was decided that the attack would commence with musket fire. We each fired six shots. Subsequently a paper was push through an oval gap; we stopped firing our shots; one of us went to go and get a piece of wood which was placed on the walls to allow us to go and gather the paper. One of the men began to cross it, but just as he was about to acquire the paper, he was murdered by a shot and dropped into the moat. Another man who was carrying a flag, at once dropped his flag and went to get a hold of the paper, which was then read out loudly and clearly, so that everyone could hear. This message, which offered admission of defeat, proved unacceptable, so we chose to fire the gun everyone went on the side allowing the cannon-ball pass through. Just as we were about to fire some more shots, the little drawbridge was let down; it was immediately packed up by a crowd of people, which included me. We found the gate behind the drawbridge blocked, and after a few minutes a veteran came to open it. He then asked what we wanted to give up the Bastille, and in unison everyone said: “let us in’. My first interest was to scream for the bridge to be let down and surprisingly, this was done. Then I went into the major courtyard. I glimpsed at a staircase, to my left, and I observe three citizens who had gone up five or six steps and were rushing down again. I instantly rushed over to the staircase to assist the people. Quickly I went up to a room called “the keep”, I didn’t notice however, that nobody was behind me. When I reached the top of the stairs nobody was there. In “the keep” I ran into a Swiss soldier who squatted down with his back to me quickly, I aimed my rifle at him, yelling: “lay down your arms” he turned round in surprise, and put his weapons down, saying: “Comrade, don't kill me, I'm for the Third Estate and I will defend you to the last drop of my blood; you know I'm obliged to do my job; but I haven't fired.” Straight away, I returned to the cannon that were located just above the Bastille’s drawbridge, to push it off its gun-carriage but it was unusable. As I rise for this purpose, placing my shoulder under the mouth of the cannon, someone in the surrounding area fired at me, and the bullet cut my coat wounded me in the neck. I fell down unconscious! When I recovered from my faint, I was extremely weak and so I decided to go down the stairs; people approached me on seeing my blood and my wound. Approaching the Bastille kitchens I encountered an army surgeon, who advised me to show him my wound; when he had inspected the place, he told me I a bullet was in my neck, and he could not remove by himself, and convinced me to go to a nearby hospital to get it dealt with. Sadly this was the end of my experience of the storming of the Bastille, but I must say it was exciting! culminate Eyewitness Account of the Storming of the Bastille On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris searched for weapons to attack and capture the noble arsenal recognized as the Bastille. It was also a state prison, and its collapse marked the triumph of "freedom" over absolutism. This interference by the people of Paris rescued the Third Estate from King Louis XVI's effort to take the country completely over. Initially, the people aimed to enter this fort by the Rue St.-Antoine, The disloyal governor had place a flag of peace out. So a positive progress was made, which was the releasing of the French Guards, along with possibly five to six thousand prepared bourgeois, these protected the Bastille's outside squares, but after some six hundr...