May 24, 1865
On May 4 Lieutenant General Richard Taylor surrendered all Confederate forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and eastern Louisiana. Jefferson Davis was captured by Union cavalry near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, ending his hopes of reaching Texas. With the war almost over, the Union celebrated its victory by staging a Grand Review of the Armies in Washington on May 23 and 24. Over the course of two days about 150,000 men from the Army of the Potomac and the Armies of the Tennessee and Georgia marched along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House. At the start of the procession they passed a large banner hung across the northwest corner of the Capitol that read: “The Only National Debt We Can Never Pay, Is The Debt We Owe To The Victorious Soldiers.” Tens of thousands of citizens watched and cheered. “God Bless them all,” wrote Benjamin Brown French, the commissioner of public buildings for the District of Columbia, “I saw them depart for the war, and my eyes moistened with grief, as I thought how many of them would never return! I have seen many of them come back—brave veterans who have fought and bled to defend the liberties for which their fathers fought so well, and my eyes moistened with joy to think that they were on their way home.” The New York Herald had become one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the country under its founding editor James Gordon Bennett. Although the Herald had criticized Lincoln for much of his administration, the newspaper had remained neutral in the 1864 election. On May 24 the Herald hailed the triumph of the Union armies and commented on the international significance of their victory.
Yesterday the magnificent review at Washington began. The vast army of two hundred thousand American soldiers commenced to pass before the President and the Lieutenant General. The scenes and incidents will be found fully described in our news columns. Washington was of course crowded with strangers from all parts of the Union, and their cheers expressed to the brave veterans the gratitude which the country feels toward them for its preservation. There have been many grand military displays in the past; but never before has there been one as grand as this. The number of soldiers in line is immense. Neither Napoleon nor Wellington ever saw so many veterans in one army at one time. When Napoleon reviewed his army of two hundred thousand men, at the opening of his first Russian campaign, many of his soldiers were young conscripts, fresh from the farm and the counter. The great Russian army, reviewed by the Duke of Wellington after the capitulation of Paris in 1814, numbered only one hundred and sixty thousand. But our army—which is, in fact but part of our force, since the commands of Thomas, Schofield, Curtis, Ord, Canby, Foster and others are not represented—is composed entirely of veterans, and is quite two hundred thousand strong.
It is not mere numbers, however, which make this display at Washington so grand. The immensity of the numbers has its effect, because we have never seen anything like it in this country before. General Grant gives us a faint idea of this immensity when he says that it will take this army two days to cross the Long Bridge. McClellan’s reviews were small compared to this, and the long processions which we get up here in the metropolis in honor of distinguished visitors sink into insignificance. But this review is a review of triumph. The troops which file before the thousands of spectators at Washington are not going into a war, and are not preparing for battle. They have come out of the war triumphant, and all their battles are over. Leading them we see Peace and Victory hand in hand. The gallant conquerors of many a hard fought field are going home to share the blessings they have won for the nation. They are not only heroes, but they are the heroes of the sublimest conflict in all history. They have been battling for that great principle of democracy for which so many valiant martyrs in former times have fallen in vain, and they have secured the perpetuity of that Union upon which the hopes of all oppressed of all climes and countries depend. They are the champions of free governments throughout the world. The applause which greets them comes not from the Washington crowds alone, nor from the millions of their fellow citizens in all the States; but we can hear it ringing across the Atlantic, echoed alike from the Alps and the Andes, and swelled by the majestic chorus of republican voices from Mexico to Denmark. From one end of the world to the other the people thank our soldiers for having conquered in the people’s cause.
Two hundred thousand American soldiers are marching on through Washington to-day. Every regiment, brigade and division has its proud record, which spectators eagerly recall. Those fine fellows fought at Antietam, and those at Atlanta. Here are the men who held Lee in a vice, and yonder come Sherman’s legions, who passed like a sword through the vitals of the rebellion. We leave to our correspondents the grateful task of noting the achievements of the troops in line, and pause to ask ourselves where their march is to end? They are going home; but will they stay there long? With one-quarter of the number Scott captured Mexico. With one-half of that tremendous army Canada would be ours. With such a body of veterans our generals could humble the pride of combined Europe. Where will their grand march end? This is a question which no one can answer now. One thing is, nevertheless, sure. These thousands of soldiers may fight no more; their remaining years may be passed in quiet usefulness, at their homes; one by one they may pass away, honored and beloved by all, like the patriots of the Revolution; scattered far and wide, their bodies may rest sweetly beneath the flowers and the grasses; but all this while their souls and those of their slain comrades will be marching on. On—till thrones shake and crumble at the sound of their coming, and are crushed beneath their steady tramp. On—till the people everywhere rise and demand their liberties with invincible voices. On—till no despot tyrannizes over his fellow men, and no aristocracy lords it over the down-trodden masses. On—till every nation is a republic, and every man a freeman. On—till the soldiers of Grant, Sherman and Sheridan have saved the world as they have saved the Union. On, and on, and on!