The National tribune., 1903-06-18

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Right Wing lost . total Of $50. This
shows who did the hard fighting In this
last battle Of the war. The enemy lost
223 killed, 1.467 wounded. 6S3 missing; TO-
tai 2,343.
On the 21st there was some heavy skir-
mishing by Mowers Division Of the Sew
enteenth Corps, but the enemy retreated
toward Smith6eld, and on the 23d the lost
army came out Of tho woods and entered
Goldsboro in triumph. 1t was a fitting
ending to a march which for hardships
and privation has never been excelled. Ma
poieon's disastrous retreat from Moscow
| was the result Of an unwarranted inva-
sion of Russia in furtherance OF his un-
bounded ambition; our march through the
Carolinas was to save our country from
dismemberment, and preserve for our
children the Government bequeathed to US
by our fathers.
We left Savannah in Midwinter, and
when we arrived in Goldsboro the peach
trees were in blossom, having marched
425 miles.
The work Of redtting the army was
pushed as fast as possible. Some changes
were made. The Left Wing became the
Army of Georgia. and the Right Wing re-
sumed its old name, Army Of the Ten
nessee." Gen. Joseph A. Mower was as
signed to the command of our Corps. and
Gen. Williams returned to his old First
Division.
Our next objective was Raleigh, the cap
ital of North Carolina, and promptly on
the morning Of April 10 the whole army
was in motion for that point, and on the
afternoon of the 11th the Fourteenth
Corps entered Smithfeld, closely followed
by the Twentieth. The enemy having
burned the bridge over the Neuse River.
very beautiful village. and the county
Gen. Sherman pitched his tent on the COM
mon, near the Court House. in close prox-
unity to our hearquarters. Many people
thought that he always liked to be in the
neighborhood Of the Chief Commissary of
the Twentieth for obvious reasons.
NEWS OF LEES SURRENDER.
During the night Gen Sherman got
news of Lees surrender, but said nothing
about it until the next morning, when as
the Twentieth Corps was marching by, he
out to tell us. The scene that followed
beggars description. No language Of mine
can do it justice; and comrades, / will not
attempt it-merely allude to it-that each
of you may call it up again in his own
memory. We can see now our great lead,
er pacing nonchalantly back and forth in
front Of his tent smoking a cigar, appar-
emily the most unconcerned man in the
army, when, as the troops went marching
by q perfect pandemonium was taking
place.
We advanced to Raleigh without oppo-
sition, Gen. Johnston having retreated to
Durham Station. While in Raleigh it was
our pleasant duty to guard the State In
sane ASYLUM, containing some 800 pa
tients. We had to stop our bands from
playing, as our Yankee music set them
frantic.
After some negotiations, Gen. Johnston
surrendered his army on April &c, and our
great leader consummated at Durham Sta
ton what Gen. Grant had begun at Apo
mattox.
At Raleigh, on the 18th, we heard the
terrible news Of the assassination of Presi
dent Lincoln, which seemed at first too
shocking to be true, and it cast gloon,
over the whole army, just then exulting
in victory.
| THE GRAND REVIEW.
On April 27 we set our faces toward
Washington and home. Peace had come
so suddenly that we could hardly realize
it; it seemed SO odd to encamp at night
without putting out pickets. On arriving
at Richmond some Of us met former COM
rades Of the Army Of the Potomac, and
exchanged pleasant greetings. We march
ed by Libby Prison, JEFF Davis Mansion,
and out through Hanover Court House
and thence by Spotsylvania Court House,
Charlottesville and Manassas TO Alexan-
dria, and l pitched my tent on the same
spot where it stood in the Winter of 1861
go. AS we marched by easy stages. il
gave us an opportunity to visit some of the
battlefields where the Army of the Po
tomac had struggled, and which many OF
us had seen before On May 90 we reach.
ed Washington and went into camp on the
hills northeast Of the city. But one more
act of the great drama remained to be put
upon the stage. before the curtain would
be rung down, never more to be raised, and
that was the Grand Review rendered US by
the Secretary Of War and Gen. Grant.
The passage Of those great armies up
Pennsylvania Avenue presented pageant
never to be forgotten, and such an exhibi.
ton will probably never be witnessed
again. May % was assigned to the Army
of the Potomac, and they made fine
display, with their bright, new uniforms
and steady marching. The 24th was ''oui
day." and the enthusiasm of the multi
tude that lined both sides of the Avenue
knew no bounds, as our old weather-beaten
veterans, with their tattered battle-flags
and uniforms, none too clean, went march
ing by with that characteristic free-and
easy, Independent step, engendered by oul
long marches.
| Cesar's victorious legions never trod
the streets Of Imperial Rome with proud
er step than did these battle-scarred sol
tuc StlcelS VI Tue Sdpit1
they had fought for four long years te
save. In that marching host they saw
men who had been with Howard and Slo
cum at Gettysburg. Others had been witt
Grant at the siege and surrender of Vicks
burg; others had clustered around Thomas
at Chickamauga. and felt his own great
arm lean on them for support; others haC
charged with Hooker around the base anG
beneath the frowning cliffs Of Lookout
all had been in the Atlanta campaign oil
a hundred days; all had marched with
"Uncle Billy" from ATLANTA to the sea,
and all had followed when his banner Leo
through the Carolinas, surmounting al
obstacles and overcoming all difficulties.
Hear what Gen. Sherman himself says
about it: 1T was in my judgment the
most magnificent army in existence
$1,000 men in splendid physique, who hat
just completed a march of nearly 20(
miles in a hostile country, in good drill
and who realized that they were being
closely scrutinized by thousands Of theiI
fellow-countrymen and by foreigners. Tht
steadiness and frmness of the tread. the
careful dress on the guides, the uniform
interests between the companies, all eyes
directly to the front. and the tattered anG
bullet-riven flags, festooned with flowers
! all attracted universal attention. The col
} umn was compact and the glittering mus
kets looked like a solid mass of steel
moving with the regularity of pendulum