The National tribune., 1883-05-24
Tho Veterans, Reunion.

We surrender a large portion of our space
this week to an account of the fourteenth
annual Reunion of the Society of the Army
of the Potomac. II was notable occur
renee in every respect, and our old compan-
ions in arms will find the reports of the
speeches and incidents with which it was
enlivened very entertaining reading.
To begin with, it was the first meeting Of
the society at the capital since the war, and
this fact alone was sufficient to impart spe-
cial interest TO the occasion. 1t was not
merely a reunion of old companions in arms
but a renewal of their acquaintance with
city whose fortunes throughout the war were
indissolubly linked with their own. 1t
was here that the Army of the Poto-
mac first sprang into existence, hence
that it set out on its illustrious career
and hither that it returned, upon the
accomplishment of its mission, to receive
the homage of a grateful Nation, so that
meeting here was almost like visiting one
of their old battlefelds to our veterans.
When they fell in behind the local militia
which constituted their escort in the parade
with which the Reunion was inaugurated
the scene was well calculated to recall the
spectacle of eighteen years ago, when the
whole army, in the first flush of its triumph,
passed in grand review before the President;
but, oh, what a touching contrast this thin
line presented to the magnificent column of
that day! Of those who composed this pro-
cession Of veterans, many were bowed with
age and iniTmities, locks that had been
raven black were white with the hoar fosts
of time, and in their faltering step there was
little that recalled the bearing of the soldier
The foreign ambassadors who scrutinized
them as they passed, and who expected to
witness a brilliant military pageant, were
astounded. They could not comprehend
how this handful of men, dressed in plain
citizens clothes and wearing such modest
air, could be in any sense representative of
that army which the historians of the old
world, as well as the new, agree in pronounc-
ing one of the most glorious that war has
ever produced. Yet 10 the eyes of all true
Americans this was a sight infinitely more
inspiring than the mobilization of any
standing army could have been, for it con-
tanned the assurance that from the ranks of
the people, should the occasion again arise,
there would spring soldiers and heroes as
great as they. But if a stranger, pnac-
quainted with their history, might have
been unable to discover in the appearance of
these veterans, as they marched by, any trace
Of their military training, he could not have
failed to recognize in the spirit which ami
mated their meetings their soldierly instincts
Such outbRrsts Of enthusiasm rs greeted the
speakers at the banquet and the "three
times three and tiger" that the mere men
ton Of the name Of some old commander
evoked, arc not TO be heard anywhere save at
the Reunions of our old soldiers. For them
the war wiz never be over. Though they
pursue the avoeations of peace with the
| tranquility Of the private citizen and their
demeanor furnish no suggestion of the ordeal
through which they passed, the memory of
what they dared and suffered viii live for
ever in their hearts, and the touch of a COM
rade's hand shall be sufficient to set their
pulses throbbing.