Order for Trial, Louise Michel, 1871

6th MILITARY DIVISION

Articles 108 and 111 of the Code of Military Justice.

Order for trial.

The General Commanding the 1st Military Division,

Having seen the proceedings initiated against the named Michel, Louise, teacher in Paris;

Having seen the report and the opinion of Mr. the Rapporteur, and the conclusions of Mr. the Imperial Commissioner, tending toward a referral before the 6th Council of War;

Considering that there exists against the said Michel sufficient evidence (1) of having in 1871, in Paris, in an insurrectionary movement, carried visible weapons, being dressed in a uniform, and of having made use of those weapons…

Having seen articles 108 and 111 of the Code of Military Justice,

Orders the trial of the named Michel.

Orders, furthermore, that the Council of War called to rule on the facts imputed to the said Michel shall be convened for December 16 [1871], at 11:30 in the morning.

Done at Headquarters, in Versailles, the 11th of December 1871.

Signed: General Appert

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Back Page: Personal Inscription

The second image shows the back of the document, which contains a handwritten note by Louise Michel herself, likely written while she was imprisoned years later.

Translation:

“Souvenir to my dear Marie. Centrale d’Auberive, August 4, 1873. No. 2182 Louise Michel”

Link to original digitised document at Geneva Graduate Institute