The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-04-30
REVIEW OF HEROES OF IS RECALLED
BY COMING PARADE IN CAPITAL

! All the school children of the city
the girls dressed in white and the
boys in black Jackets and white trous-
ers were massed on the terraces and
balconies of the Capitol and sang pat
riotic songs as the soldiers passed.
I Upon a strip of canvas along the front
of the capitol was a huge banner in
! scribed with the legend THE Only
| National Debt We can Never Pay is
| the Debt We Owe Our Victorious Sol
diers." 1t was estimated that over one
hundred thousand people, coming
! from all the Northern states, wit
messed the parade.
The order of march the first day in
Guided the Army of the Potomac, those
who had fought with Grant at Spott-
! sylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg.
First in the line came General Meade,
riding ahead of his escort and the
| headquarters division. Then came the
cavalry corps with Sheridan, Merritt
and Custer. Then followed the pro-
vost marshafs brigade, commanded by
| Brigadier General Massey, and the en-
gineers brigade, under Brigadier Gen
eral Benham. Then Major General
Parke's 9th Corps, Dwight's 10Th
Corps, GrifIith's 5th Corps and the I'd
! Corps in command of Major General
HUMPHREYS.
The soldiers presented a kaleido-
scopic picture. Their uniforms We're
soiled and faded, there had been no
brushing up for the occasion-they
marched in the uniforms they had
worn in the field. Many of them car
ried their camp utensils and there
were the pet animals of every descrip-
! ton, donkeys, dogs, goats, pet wolves
and even eagles, that had been adopt
ed by the various regiments as mas
cots-though the word was perhaps
unknown in that day. Freed negro
slaves who had been picked up in the
field added motley color to the scene.
Custer Gives Them Thrill.
And General Custer furnished an I'M
looked for thrill to the occasion. His
horse ran away and plunged wildly
down the avenue through the scatter
ing throngs, Clusters long yellow hair
streaming in the wind, while women
screamed and men shouted, expecting
the general to be dashed to his death.
But he suddenly brought his horse to
his launches, leaned over and picked
up his hat from the ground and rode
back to the head of the column amid
the plaudits of the crowd.
The second day was devoted to
Sherman's army, which included the
Army of the Tennessee and the Army
of Georgia. When General Sherman
appeared at the head of the column he
was greeted by tumultous cheers. The
Army of Tennessee was in command
of General John A. Logan and the
Army OF Georgia was under command
of General Slocum. Shermans de-
tachment presented picturesque
sight. There were black men armed
with picks and spades, baggage, am
balances loaded with the forage OF
"Sherman's Bummers," bigs, goats
army mules and even mich cows
marched solemnly in the parade. Sher-
man, in his memoirs, gives a vivid
description of some of the incidents
of the parade. @
! Sight Was Magnificent.
when l reached the Treasury
building" he wrote, and looked back,
the sight was simply magnificent.
| The column was compact and the
glittering muskets looked like solid
mass of steel, moving with the regu-
larity of a pendulum. We passed the
Treasury building in front of which
mense throng of people. AS / neared
the brick house opposite the lower
corner of Lafayette square, some one
asked me to notice Mr.. Seward, who
still feeble and bandaged from his
wounds (Seward was stabbed the
night of Lincoln's assassination, had
been removed there that he might be-
hold the troops. / moved in that dI-
rection and took off my hat to Mr..
Seward, who sat at an upper window.
Ne recognized the salute. returned it,
and then we rode steadily past the
president, saluting with our swords.
All on his stand rose and returned the
salute. Then turning into the gate
of the presidential grounds, we left
our horses with the orderlies and went
upon the stand. took up my post be
side the president, an for six hours
and a half stood while the Western
army passed in the order of the 18th,
18th, goth and lathe corps.
ut was in my judgment, the most
magnificent army inn eXiStence-Six-
ty-five thousand men, in splendid ply
sique, who had just completed march
of nearly two thousand miles in a
hostile country, in good drill, and who
realized that they were being closely
scrutinized by thousands of their fel'
low countrymen and foreigners. The
steadiness and firmness of the tread,
the careful dress of the guides, the
uniform intervals between the compa-
MES, and the tattered and bullet rid
den flags festooned with flowers, all
attracted universal notice. Many good
people, up to that time, had looked
upon our Western army as a sort of
mob but the world then saw and rec
ncnized the fact thai it was an army