He had one bullet hole in his forehead, which would seem to
indicate that the execution was not a military one, but that some
officer had, for some reason, shot him--perhaps in a moment of
impatience.
From Senlis we went to Clermont, which is the headquarters of the left
wing. There I had the great good fortune to be introduced to Gen.
Castelnau, who showed me his maps and the way a battle was fought on
paper. This is one of the greatest privileges I think I have ever
enjoyed, and the curious part of it was that their way of working in the
military art is very similar to the way we plot and scheme as
architects. The General interested me as a very fine, simple citizen.
Among other things he said to me:
"My dear Sir, how is it possible to fight with these people? They
seem to have no mercy, no decency. It really seems impossible to
know how to meet them."
He had with him several of his staff officers and one of them was
charged with making a report upon the atrocities committed. He allowed
me to read several of these reports and showed me photographs of one
incident that impressed me greatly. These photographs this officer had
taken himself and in order to prove that he had seen the incident and
was on the ground he was himself in the photograph.
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