Evening star., 1942-05-24

While we are today engaged in q
great war-testing whether this Nation
or any nation so conceived and SO
dedicated can endure. as Lincoln would
probably put tit might be quite inter-
esting to hark back to the grand re-
view of May % and "a, 1865, just n
years ago, when the Army of the Poto-
mac and the Army Of the Tennessee and
the. Army Of Georgia marched along
Pennsylvania avenue and were reviewed
by thousands of spectators with shouts
of gladness and even enraptured ecstasy
over the knowledge that at last the
War Between the States had finally
ended and that we, again, were a united
Nation-one and inseperable.
The very nature of the Civil War
an internal strife, where in many in
stances father was pitted against son.
brother against brother, relation against
relation and friend against friend-made
it quite different from the other wars
in which our country has engaged, and
the tremendous loss of life brought sor-
row into the home of nearly every family
North and South. Even the White
House at times felt the sting of death,
for Mrs. Lincoln. whose family fought
with the South, lost her half brother
Samuel, he having been killed in action
in the Battle OF Shiloh. David, another
brother, died of wounds received at
Vicksburg. and then came Mrs. Lincoln's
baby brother, 1t. Alexander H. Todd,
only to be followed later by Brig. Gen.
Hardin Helm, who married Mrs. Lin
coins sister Emile.
Indeed the casualties in the Federal
Army numbered 359,528 men, l10.072 of
whom were killed in action or died of
wounds, and 249,456 who died from
disease, accident or other causes. The
Confederate loss in killed and wounded
during the war was about 95, 900 men,
and the losses from disease, accident and
other causes probably amounted to
164,OO0
No wonder this review was an event
long looked forward to, and hoped for
by the Union Army in many a weary
march and hard-fought battle. and
when it came joy was unbounded, and
the great parade was more like a grand
panoramic spectacle than a review of
troops.
100000 in Parade.
Upward of 100000 men in all marched
In the two days of the review
The first day, the Army Of the Poto-
1f oLo in, IonSo
column which filled the wide avenue
from curb to curb, marched by from
early morn to late at night. At its head
rode Gen. George Gordon Meade, who
was in every battle but two fought by
the Army of the Potomac and who as
commander of the Army had checked,
at Gettysburg, Gen. Lees invasion OF
Pennsylvania.
Sheridan, the whirlwind of the battle,
was missing from the glorious Cavalry
Corps, which he had awakened to its
strength and fashioned in the forge OF
war into the mlghtiest mounted force
that ever drew saber. He had been
rrNhed of to the Rio Grande, to throttle
an exotic empire planted in Mexico by
Napoleon III. Sheridan was well spared,
however, for ere long the Emperor was
taken out and shot.
In Sheridans stead rode Gen. Wesley
Merritt, in front of the cavalry. Gen.
George A. Custer was also in the first
days parade and gave an example OF
his wonderful horsemanship. There may
be few people in washington who st1ll
remember this notable event, for the
public school children of the city not
only took part in the exercises on the
sidelines, but had the thrill OF their
lives in seeing Gen. Custer ride his
horse in cowboy fashion. The children
were in the place assigned them on the
northern portico of the Capitol and all
down the grassy slope Of the part in
front, extending to the line of march.
These children, who were to partici-
pate in the ovation, composed an i'm
mense chorus. led by their instructor,
Joseph H. Daniel.
"On the north end of the Capitol"
according to an account by j. Ormond
Wilson, "the scholars of the intermediate
and grammar schools took their places,
the boys on the hill and the girls on
the Capitol slopes. The girls were dressed
in white; the boys wore white pants and
blue jackets. AS the veterans passed by