Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-09-22
IS65-IS92.
Veterans of the Civil War in
-. Grand Review.
For the Second Time They March
Up Pennsylvania Avenue.
Not Fresh, However, from the
Fields of Battle,
BUT A REUNION OF THE GRAND
ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC,

BUT A REUNION OF THE GRAND
ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
Side by Side the Old Guard of Washington
and the Albany Grand Army Battalion
Lead the Most Imposingof All the Pa
rades Ever Made by the Members of the
Grand Army Washington Crowded
with Visitors.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20l-The Grand
Army of the Republic made its second
triumphant march along Pennsylvania
avenue Tuesday. Time ravages in its
ranks made it possible to attempt in one
! day what it required two long days to
accomplish in 1865. To the survivors of
the 160,000 men of the armies of the Po-
tomac and the west, who on the
memorable 23d and Gath of May, 1865,
passed in review before the president and
cabinet, including Secretary Seward,
just recovering from the assassin's knife,
the foreign ministers, the military at
taches of all the great powers of Europe
and their own beloved and illustrious
generals, Grant, Sherman and Sheridan,
the contrasts and "reminiscences called
out were necessarily striking.
1t took seven hours-from 8 to 4-each
day for the armies of 1865 to pass the re-
viewing stand and the estimated length
of the two days procession was thirty
miles.
Washington was very different city
then. The Capitol in 1866, was walled
in and surrounded by heavy timber.
Neither of the present stately marble
| wings now occupied by senate and house
was then completed. The cobblestone
pavement of Pennsylvania avenue was
worn into alternate hillocks and gullies.
Tiber sewer rolled its filthy waters
uncovered. Not one handsome building
was to be seen from the Capitol to the
treasury department.
The leading features of that great re-
view live in memory and have passed
into history. First the resonant hoof
beats and clattering sabers of Sheridan's
5000 calvary, Clusters magnificent
horsemanship and his theatrical dash up
to the reviewing stand. Next in line
the battle-worn Ninth corps, with its
bullet torn flags, and the shattered rem
nants of what once had been regiments
q thousand strong now reduced to bare
ly more than full company-the One
Hundred and Ninth and Fifty-frst New
York, the Fiftieth Pennsylvania, the
Thirtieth and Thirty-f fifth Massachusetts,,
and the Second Michigan. Then the
Fifth corps, with its trophies of York
town, Chickahominy, Antietam, Fred
ericksburg, Gettysburg and the Wilder
ness. The grim earnestness and steady
marching of Meade's magnificent army
of the east left nothing to be desired as a
spectacular military display the first
day.
But the enthusiasm of the second dav,
when the Sherman Bummers-the first
and only original wild west show
marched past with all their pictur-
esque lot of coons and chickens. and
goats and cooking utensils, and mules
and contrabands Of war all irregularly
mixed up, as in the actual march
through Georgia, with the swarthy vet
Grams themselves, with their long swing
ing stride that told Of forced marches
and hard fighting, some of them bare
footed, but with musket and cartridge
box bright and ready-all of them bear
ing the marks of gallant service done
all this no one who witnessed it will
ever forget.
And many of those in the march Tues
day were there in 1855, and not few of
the spectators Tuesday sa W that other
historic scene Of twenty seven years
past.
The arrangements for the movements
of the armies on the second day were
admirable. The right wing, composed
Of the Army of the Tennessee, including
the Fifteenth and Eighteenth corps,
Major General Logan commanding; and
the left wing, composed of the Army of
Georgia, including the Fourteenth and
Twentieth corps, Major General Slocum
commanding, had bivouacked on the
night previous, without knapsacks, and
with two days cooked rations in their
haversacks, on the Virginia shore of the
Long bridge. AT daylight in the morn
ing they had moved across the bridge
and taken their position upon the streets
and grounds east of the Capitol.
By o'clock both armies were in DO
sition awaiting, with stacked arms, the
signal for marching. Their marching
was irregular and with frequent gaps,
but the cheering which Sherman
and his army received from first to last
of that long day knew no cessation. In
the Third division of the Twentieth
army corps at the head of the First
brigade marched Brevet Brigadier Cen
eral Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana.
The parade of 1865 was the first great
national review the country had ever
seen. The nation had had its wars, but
no pageant had marked their successful
termination. The flag had been planted
upon the heights of Mexico, and then
the army had gone home separately like
folks from church.
When our boundaries were saved |
from British grasp, it was thought use-
less to do any congratulatory parading,
and after redeeming our gage Of inde- |
pendence our forefathers melted stead
lily away with only little sunburst Of |
Washington's farewell to his officers.
Fortunately, however, at the close of |
the war, there were two armies in and |
near this city. All of the soldiers COM
posing them dwelt at the north and
Washington was a better place than |
any other for their dispersion. The |
fortitude Of the men and the struggles |
In which they had borne so brave a
part, deserved commemoration, and out |
Of this sentiment grew the march rep
resented Tuesday. In many respects it
will stand out as equally remarkable in
the country's history.