New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-03-11
THE PASSING THRONG

The Inauguration ceremonies" said NJ
perial yesterday were in a No.
FIGHTING productive of some disanno,..
JOE ment Just before the nro,
WHEELER'S started it rained cats and sog.
RECEPTION and this considerably darnp.d ~.
enthusiasm of the onlookers w.
procession itself was an exceedingly in. a..
The governors of the various States were ebas-'s
to the echo Their severely plain black So
coats and high hats amid the glitterinp MI
forms of their various stats marked ther, on.
and made them easily recognizable by the crowss
The President himself was warmly received IT,
was much comment excited by the length a. 49,.
hair, which fell well over his coat collar Roos.
welt was heartily welcomed. while General NIL
and Admiral Dewey. riding together in an on
carriage. were received with conspicuous lack :,
enthusiasm. VI
The hero of The day. however was .Firbt,,u
Joe Wheeler The massed people who fr,ngaS
let loose when that gaunt. gray gare ea simply
Spare and light OF frame. gray of hair and bald >;
stirred the watching people none of those WE ne
had gone before had done. none who foIo VINO
thoroughbred, horse and man seem moulded 1
gether- Long years ago on the banks OF tba
Confederate cavalry he perfected his wonders 1
seat There Is something in Joe Wheeler Tbsr
of doubt March But the real reason for S'S
popular and Wonderful reception. ii seemed 10 r1s
lay deeper ana nearer the heart than could on V,
individual man To see Fighting Joe WIssiy
IN the uniform OF brigadier general of the Unirs5
states Army-Jce' Wheeler, who had led the CO.,
Tolerate cavalry in many a hard fought battle0to
see MIN In Union blue, riding 70 DO honor to a Re-
watching an outward and visible sign thar t5s
time healed; that there was no longer North a al
South. but that the twain would from this tirna
forth be one and indiviSible.
My mind cast back as I saw him ride along.
continued SIR. Philip. TO a summers month more
than quarter of century asons
A FORMER when l had witnessed two orbsr
PARADE and greater parades pass 49,
RECALLED. that self-same avenue II was an
May % and "a that Meades and
Sherman's armies just previous 20 their final dis
bandment passed in what is now historic reyisw
before President Andrew Johnson was bur a
boy at the time. but shall never forget the i'm
preston that those men made upon me Thoss
seemingly endless lines of bIue-the awful sense Of
power that impressed one as regiment after reyi
ment swung past has always remained with mo
IL has been said that that army was the fines.
body Of trained soldery ever got together and az
l remember them can well believe it was So
The look on the mems faces of self-reliance and
tireless swing OF their marching bodies the man
ner in which they carried themselves all went TO
prove them. a whole. what they were-a re-
nlorseless and terrible lighting machine To those
who saw what might be termed the army face
marched in the grand review-it seemed weiInigS 9
impossible at that time that the day would ever
dawn when the ChasIn that then divided the North
and the South would be bridged Yet but a quarter
OF century later, seated in almost the same place
occupied in 1860 when / saw Generals Meade
Sherman, Custer, Crook, Logan, Howard Miles
and host OF others pass at the head Of their men.
amid the applause of their grateful coUntrymen il
was given me TO see the Confederate cavalry leader
ride by in army blue and cheered the echo bv
the people. The band preceding him was playing
Dixie. as though still further and more acUtely to
mark the completeness of the reconciliation or all
the events OF 1IcKinley's second inauguration this
was by all odds 10 me the most significant and
satisfactory"