The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-08-04

coming to the fountain-head of everything.
Somehow they could not imagine it like
any other city in the world.
The sun of bright day was sinking be-
low the SUBMITS of the Blue Ridge when
they came out on the brow of a hill above
Alexandria. and saw the City of Green
and White spread out before them in the
great amphitheater bounded by the semi
circle of hills north of the Potomac That
was before the wilderness of new build
ings of staring red had come to thrust a
new tone into the predominating colors
of the wartime city.
They drank in, with swift, hungry ewes.
all the details of the scene
Directly In front of them was the line
OF heavy works encrclng the c.ty-wOrks
built with measureess labor by the young
volunteers of the Army of the Potomac.
in the Fall and Winter of 1861, and en-
larsed and completed by the heavy artil-
lery regiments which garrisoned Washing
ton for two years. There were long lines
OF breaStwOrks. connecting the great forts
on every hilltop. In front of all ran deep
bitches. and before these were abatis.
chevaux -de-frise and pal sades, and all
forms of Instructions and acknowledgements.
From every fort gaped the black mouths
OF huge guns, and the defenses were as
perfect as art and infinite labor could
make them.
Away to the right, upon broad plain
at the side of the widening Potomac. la,
quaint old Alexandria, which had hustled
much more in the last four years than in
all OF its previous century, by reason OF
being base of supplies for the army. The
whole of the great level plateau was COW
cred with camps. barracks, hospitals, cor
rails, Quartermaster. Commissary and
ordnance sheds, and there were teams and
men enough moving to carry OH the COM
merce of Il great city.
Among the noteworthy sights were
bales of hay piled as high as hills
Miles TO the left rose the nights of
Arlington, crowned by the stately Lee
Mansion 1t looked at that distance to be
veritable stone, instead of lath-and-plaster
Across the broad Potomac, upon whose
lakelike bosom lay great fleet of war
ships, transports and merchant vessels
with busy little tugs rushing about like
giant water insects. lay the National Cap
ltal, with its rectangular streets, broad
avenues, and innumerable parks, squares
and circles, now making a brave effort to
green over the ravages of their use as
camps and corrals. Everywhere were the
great low buildings of rough boa rts, built
for hospitals, barracks. and storehouses
81 and Shorty pointed out to the rest the
White House, the great white mass of the
unfinished Capitol, the Treasury, Patent
Office, Smithsonian. the Navy Yard,
Arsenal, and the famous Long Bridge, over
which 1.UW.OOO had been marched to bat
tie, and 100000 sick and wounded brought
back to fill the hospitals
On the line of hills beyond the city
to the east, north and west-was continued
the circle of heavy forts and connecting
breastworks. extending from the command
ing nights on the Potomac above George
town to the Anacostia Hills below it. The
line was 3D. miles long, and required D.
OOO men to occupy it.
All the forts were garrsoned. and few
their flags. Every suitable piece of ground
was now a regimental. brigade or division
camp, maintained with the utmost disci-
pline, and flying regular garrison flag.
With the flags on the public buildings, the
hospitals, the stOrehouses, and the shipping
in the river this made wilderness of ban
ners, glorious riot of the National colors
The green and white seemed to have BIOS
somed flowers in radiant beauty. rising
far toward the glad sunshine of perfect
days following the storms of war;
In all of the camps and forts, over the
whole of the 100 square miles of the origi-
nal District of Columbia, they were now
holding dress parades of all Of the 1OO,-
600 or more men then camped in and
around Washington.
The men. dressed in their freshest and
best, with their muskets shining like sill
yer, were marching into line. while bands
by the hundreds We're filling the after
noon air with bursts of patriotic melodies.
Say, Shorty this is a country worth
fighting for" said ST, deeply impressed by
belong to it, and was born in it."
70. yes. and you deserve to be patted
on the back for having selected Indiana
as your birthplace. when other fellows.
who didn't know no better. were letting
themselves be born in England, Germany,