New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-09-21
FIFTY THOUSAND STRONG.
THE GRAND ARNfY'S GREAT PARADE IN
WASHINGTON

| UNION ARMIES AFTER THE WAR CLOSED
WASHINGTON GLORIOUS WITH DECoRA-
TIoNs AND THRoNGED WITH
EAGER s.GHTSEERs-A MAG
| NIWCENT SHOW on
PENNsYLvANIA-AvE.
Washington. Sept 2Q-Through dense lanes OF
thousands of people who lined the pavemeats anu
side streets, past Buildings whose lavish display
OF Hutternc banners, flags and streainers attes'e
| the cordality of the welcome CT thelr o"hei''
cheered on by the fresh voices of hundreds Oh
school children singing patriotic airs, the "rah'
Army of the Republic, many Thousand strong,
| marched to-day up the broad, smooth aSpnalo'u
| Pennsyvania-ave., along whose rough CORNERSTONE
| as members of the greatest cf modern armies they
! had marched twentyseven years ago, tred, dusV'
tr,vcl-stained. war-worn, but with fierce eXulta-
| ton and pride born of the knowledge OF 'ier
deeds and accomplishments. Many an old soldier.
who had never felt able TO attend another re-
union. had said that, come what might, he must
600 tbo old comrades once more before the last
call sounded As one old and bent negro veteran.
whose honest but povcrty-stricken appearance had
caused a bystandcr to question him, remarked
| Il had 10 sell my stove 10 get here, but d"fe
amt no winter cold enough to chill dis ole pody
if ! can only see Washuntun and de ole soldiers
ergn"
The scene such one "a even this city,
accustomed 10 the great inalgural paradeS hau
not witnessed IN peace times. The entire
line of march was decorated with banners.
luntlar. co,ps insignia and 1a2, until each side
Of the long stretch between the Capitol and the
Treasury Department was as picturesque ana gay
as the decorator skill could make it,
Ills must ae callous heart indeed,
who could have watched without emotion
the march of the Grand Army up Penn-
| sylvania-ave to-day. II is now twentyseVen
Years since these same veterans, then in the prime
of life and yieor of manhood. returning from
many hard fought field, followed the line OF
march they followed to-day Time has thnned
| their ranks age has silvercd the hair oil most
their step is not what it once was. There Is stlh
that same spirit Of loyalty and devotion 70 duty
and country which fired their hearts when the
trumpt sounded and the shot upon Fort Sumter
awakened the echoes Of patriotism in the fartheSt
mountain valleys of the land
These were the men who came from the mills
| the FORCES the looms, the offices and the farms
thc men who left behind them wives and sweet
hearts. and listening to the cry of outraged free
dom. went forth to do battle in behalf Of 4,0OO-
600 Of shackled fellow beings and ~ demonstrate
70 All the world the fact that this country was
one and insoluble. These the men who en-
changed the case and comforts for hOm" for the
| discipline and haIdships Of the camp; the men
who abandoned prrfcrment in civil life 10 win
! their untry's gr, tituie at the cdnnols modt1'
| th. men vino Iskci life and limb and facing death
in nrson that they might hand down unim-
| palrel 10 their sons the heritage of the fathers;
! he mon who marched and countcrmarchcd in the
broilng MONDAY sun OF summer. in the chilly
| winter nights. among irstllcntial S"alnIN. IN
thicKcis hcset with fever and miasma, through the
horrors of a wilderness: who fought ani b.ci, AID
| saw their comrades die; who returned, crowned
with victory. amid the plauiis of grateful coun-
try and also lai down the sword AMI resumed the
yocations Of peace without clanor or complaint
4 RECEPTION THAT nONoEED THE COUNTRY
The country is proud of them 1t honors them
and il honois itself by the reception IL has ac-
co,dcd them M the Na;iorgl capital. What must
l.v,. ,ass,d H. the minds of these old veterans
.. they followed to-day their tattcrcd colors-
many Of them. perhaps, for the last tInc-ahu
listened to the shouts If the multitude, ana saw
the city so changed from the Washington oi
twcnty-scvcn years ago, deckcd with flags AMI
.tramors in honor of their coming? Dld the
.,oming of cannon on Grand Army Place awaken
tho echoes of DonclSon and Atlanta? Dd the mar
nal sounds of countless bands recall that autumn
morninp when music in the place fired the parts OF
these lines which irrtssibly swept over Missionary
RIDGE Did the tread Of thousands of comrades
lead back the memory to Sh"rnans matchlesS
march ? And as, in the battle Of life, comrale
after conlradc drops by the wayside, AMI at each
succeeding reunion once familiar faces ara missing,
did the thinning ranks suggest the carnage OF
Shiloh Of Gettysburg of Chickamauga, OF th'
horrors Of the Wilderness or the black despair OF
Andcrsonvillc9 Did they reflect that never agaln,
tt.t..n fltn nrsS
ent h, witnessed? Did they say TO themselves
that the lapse of time and the inroads OF age are
enemies which they may not fear but when th'S
c,upot han, to overcome? DiI they realize thas
the posts1 will sooner later, become dissolved,
and that before l0rg the remnant OF TIE "rah"
Army will b. gathercG around a single canph%
Viewed simply ~ a military pageant tnP
parade to-day would not bear comparison VIII"
that other grand parade OF twcnty-SeV'n years
aqo when portions Of the Armies oi the io'oh"''
the Tennessee and Georgia, which had dealt the
finishing strokes to th" great Rebellion, passed
through Pennsy sylvania-avc., but III other respects
II pos>essed features of even deeper interest an"
significance. Many thousands OF the veterans WHO
to-day marched with frosted locks ana steps
which lacked elasticity and lrmncss or who, on
account Of advanced age and physical iniirini-
Ties. were compelled to be- mere spectators. also
marched through the same street on one of those
BRIGHT Nav days Of 1868 and received the hom-
age of grateful Nation, which they had so
faithfully served and bravely saved Many thou
sands Of them had not revisited the National Capt.
taI since that time and TO them this occasion
one Of supreme interest.
A CONTRAST WITH 1865.
When they came to Washington &many for the
first time-in May, 1865, they found 1t an over
crown, ill-kcpt village, surrounded by great
military camp while strong fortiiicatons, armed
with a thousand heavy guns and defended by 4
Permanent garrison of 10000 men, crowned the