Grand Review of the Armies The Grand Review of the Armies was a military procession and celebration in Washington , D . C . , on May 23 and May 24 , 1865 , following the close of the American Civil War . Elements of the Union Army paraded through the streets of the capital to receive accolades from the crowds and reviewing politicians , officials , and prominent citizens , including the President of the United States , Andrew Johnson . History . On May 10 , Johnson had declared that the rebellion and armed resistance was virtually at an end , and had made plans with government authorities for a formal review to honor the troops . One of his side goals was to change the mood of the capital , which was still in mourning following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln the month before at Ford ' s Theater . Three of the leading Federal armies were close enough to participate in the procession . The Army of the Tennessee arrived via train . The Army of Georgia , also under the command of William T . Sherman , had just completed its Carolinas Campaign and had accepted the surrender of the largest remaining Confederate army , that of Joseph E . Johnston . It arrived from North Carolina in mid - May and camped around the capital city in various locations , across the Potomac River from the Army of the Potomac , fresh off its victories over Robert E . Lee in Virginia . It had arrived in Washington on May 12 . Officers in the three armies who had not seen each other for some time ( in some cases since before the war ) communed and renewed acquaintances , while at times , the common infantrymen engaged in verbal sparring ( and sometimes fisticuffs ) in the town ' s taverns and bars over which army was superior . Sherman , concerned that his Westerners would not present as polished an image as the eastern army , drilled his forces and insisted that uniforms be cleaned , buttons and brass shined , and that bayonets glistened . At 9 : 00 a . m . on a bright sunny May 23 , a signal gun fired a single shot and Maj . Gen . George Gordon Meade , the victor of Gettysburg , led the estimated 80 , 000 men of Army of the Potomac down the streets of Washington from Capitol Hill down Pennsylvania Avenue past crowds that numbered into the thousands . The infantry marched with 12 men across the road , followed by the divisional and corps artillery , then an array of cavalry regiments that stretched for another seven miles . The mood was one of gaiety and celebration , and the crowds and soldiers frequently engaged in singing patriotic songs as the procession of victorious soldiers snaked its way towards the reviewing stand in front of the White House , where President Johnson , general - in - chief Ulysses S . Grant , senior military leaders , the Cabinet , and leading government officials awaited . At the head of his troops , Meade dismounted when he arrived at the reviewing stand and joined the dignitaries to salute his men , who passed for over six hours . On the following day at 10 : 00 a . m . , Sherman led the 65 , 000 men of the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia , with an uncharacteristic semblance of military precision , past the admiring celebrities , most of which had never seen him before . For six hours under bright sunshine , the men who had marched through Georgia and those who had defeated John Bell Hood ' s army in Tennessee now paraded in front of joyous throngs lining the sidewalks . People peered from windows and rooftops for their first glimpse of this western army . Unlike Meade ' s army , which had more military precision , Sherman ' s Georgia force was trailed by a vast crowd of people who had accompanied the army up from Savannah — freed blacks , laborers , adventurers , scavengers , etc . At the very end was a vast herd of cattle and other livestock that had been taken from Carolina farms . Within a week after the celebrations , the two armies were disbanded and many of the volunteer regiments and batteries were sent home to be mustered out of the army . Although there would be further guerrilla actions ( particularly with respect to armed criminal factions , such as the James - Younger Gang ) and racial violence in the South ( including the rise of the Ku Klux Klan ) , military conflict between the North and the South had ended . The disbandment of the Union armies and the return home of fathers , brothers , and sons signaled to the population at large that they could begin their return to a normal life and that the end had come for the American Civil War .