Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-29
ON THEIR WAY HoMEWARD.

jutant general. who had In charge The
organization Of tho volunteer forces,
he asked him for plan to suit the
case. A few days later General Vim
cent presented a method he believed
feasible. It was discussed for an hour
and a half by the secretary and finally
dismissed by his saying. Send the
method to General Grant and If APP
proved by him ISSUE the order" The
notes were sen to Grant. who re-
turned them Will, the brief comment,
PLANS and suggestions within APP
proved" II
To one who reads General vincent's
plan today 1t looks SO simple com
pared with the task on hand that it
seems hardly worth considering. yet
it was that plan which moved the
army. It provided simply that the
army organizations be kept intact and
tho troops sem to convenient rendez-
vous. There the men were to go into
camp Until muster rolls and payrolls
had been made out. when they We're
to be sent by bont and rail to their
various states. where they were to be
paid off and dismissed. It's vital fea-
ture was the provision that the work
Of disbandment be carried on by an
organization already In existence. The
mighty machine which had been de-
vtsed for getting men from their
homes into the army was to be used
now for returning them. The officers.
who had become experts in mastering
in men were now to muster them out.
The transportation facilities which had
taken the men south were to be de-
voted to taking them north.
IA q cNN,E,, t1,n ~, -, - To- Il I>on, or.i
proved the first of a long series Of
orders reducing the army was issued.
In rapid succession they followed each
other. Recruits. natients IN hospitals,
officers and men whose terms expired
before May 81. tho troops with Meade
and Sherman whose terms expired be-
fore Sent, 80 were to be disbanded.
Order after order. calling the men
from the field. had been issued before
the last hostile force had surrendered
on Nav 26.
As the troops reached the centers
around which the hardest and longest
struggles had been observation-disclosures,
Chattanooga. Richmopd-their excite
ment and interest arose to the highest
pitch. They encountered at these
places the troops who were being held
for further duty and at once fell to ex-,
changing experiences. For a full ac-
count OF the march to the sea the
soldier of the Army OF Potomac left at
Richmond conducted his comrade
from Sherrnan's troops over the forti-
fications of Petersburg. through the
shell battered town. to the crater and
down to City Point. SO long Grants
Headquarters. When Sherman's army
started from RichmondEit marched out
by the Hanover Court House road, blu
there divided into four columns. n
takingi a route by Chiiesburg. another
by Culpeper and Manassas. a third by
charlottesville and the fourth by
Fredericksburg. BY this distribution
the army covered almost every battle
field of northern Virginia The entire
force was completely engrossed In
sightseeing, the interest beginning
with General Sherman himself. who. In
HIS eager desire to see and know all
possible o. the campaign of the Army
of the Potomac. shifted from column
to column visiting en- route Spottsyf-
vania, Fredericksburg. Dumfries and
other fields. The war war over. and
already the day of "reminiscences had
opened.
The first large bodies of troops to
reach a rendezvous were Meade's and
Sherman's armies. both of which by
May 20 were encamped along the Po-
jtomac, opposite Washington. most OF
them within sight of the dome of the
capitol. In all the two armies num-
bered 100000 men. brought from the
field since the surrender of Lee.
The second step in the ~disbandment
was the preparation OF muster out and