Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft.

Washington Wednesday May 24^th 1865

Yesterday and today have been “great days” in Washington. The great Military Review closed this afternoon. The Civil Offices of the Gov^t have all been closed during the two days, and but little else has been done in the City but looking at Soldiers marching through the Avenue. The Army of the Potomac, Gen^l Meade. The Army of Tennessee and of Georgia, Gen^l Sherman, were reviewed. Yesterday the Army of the Potomac, and today Sherman^s, the whole numbering about One hundred and Sixty thousand. It took Six hours Each day for them to March by. In front of the White House a Stand was erected (covered) for the Prest and Members of the Cabinet, Gen^ls of the Army (a few only) and the Diplomatic Corps. I succeeded (with Mr John Sherry of S[ag]. H[arbor].) in getting very near the Stand and had a good view of those on it who attracted particular attention. The President sat near the middle of the front seat with the Sec’y of War and Gen^l Grant on his on his [sic] right hand. On the other side of him sat Gen^l Mead, Slocum & Sherman, the latter at the end of the seat. His Army was passing and He only Stood up and rc^d the Salute of the officers. Yesterday Gen^l Grant rc^d the Salute of the Army of the Potomac. While we were there today, there was quite an intervil of time betwen the passing of one Division and another. At such a time the crowd would rush up before the Stand, filling the Street by thousands, and would call for some of the Gen^ls, or for the “Mr Stanton,” or “President Johnson.” (Many of the Spectators did not know which was which as they sat). When one was called he would rise up and bow and the crowd would cheer. I presume that not one half of the Soldiers now in the Service were at this Review. One whole Corps (the 6^th) of the Army of the Potomac are Still on duty in Virginia. Other Corps were not here. Gen^l Sherman and Mr Stanton (the Sec’y of War) are not on good terms as was proved today on the “Stand” of the great Review. When Gen^l Sherman came upon the Stand (before the troops had begun to pass) The President and the other Gen^ls and the Secretaries who were present greeted him very cordialy, each steping forward and shaking hands with him. Mr Stanton offered his hand the same as the rest and Gen^l Sherman slightly bowed and refused to take it. The trouble grew out of the terms which Sherman agreed to in the case of the proposed surrender of Gen^l Johnson in North Carolina. But the Grand Review will long be remembered as the most magnificent spectacle of the kind ever witnessed on the continent. Standing at the Treasury one could see near a mile and a quarter (to the Capitol Gate). This space through the Av^e was filled for Six hours each day with a moving mass of men with polished gun and gleaming bayonet and all the other branches of the Service. First came (yesterday) fifteen thousand Cavalry in a dense mass, the officers (mostly) on Splendid horses (Gen^l Custer on a wild unmanagable one) but generaly the officers and the Staffs rode horses which had been trained to the Service, but there was a great deal of prancing and dashing to and fro of officers on the Avenue. The Sidewalks, the Doors, and windows and the House tops were crowded with spectators who were cheering constantly as some favorite officer or Reg^t was passing but more than all when some of the “Colors” blackened and tattered and hanging in shreds from the Staff was held aloft by the proud color bearers. The Artillery of each Division followed in the rear. In Shermans Army (today) hundreds of negroes with axes and shovels on their shoulders marched after each Corp^s. In the rear of all came the “Bummers” or foragers, without any pretension to order but gave on[e] something of an idea of a Caravan of the Desert, only there were no Camels. They were black and white.  – Many mounted, mostly on mules, some on Jacks, and a few on poneys. Others walking, leading their mules which were loaded down with every conceivable thing in the way of baggage or cooking utensil. Huge bags and Bundles tied on and across the back of the beast. (I wondered whether the contents of some of those bags might not have once graced some of the palatial Mansion[s] at the south, or even the persons of some of the fair dames of the “Palmetto State.” Besides this kind of loading there were living specimens of the country which the Army had passed through in the form of cats and dogs, Coons, opposums, fighting Cocks and other fowls, all perched on the backs of the mules (or rather on the bags and bundles). Then the frying pans, the kettles, the buckets, and tin dishes garnished the sides hanging nearly to the ground. These were the camp followers, the “Bummers,” and numbered hundreds. Some females rode in the Review yesterday and today who I was told had been “through the War.” Some officers and soldiers wives and some “Daughters of the Regiment,” who had followed their Brothers or Fathers or husbands, and shared their dangers, taking care of the wounded, and nursing the sick. One of this Class I am acquainted with, but she left the Army of the Potomac some three months ago, Miss Clara Barton of Worcester Mass. She has been known and called the “Angel of the Battlefield.” She was in Fredericksburgh during the terrible “Burnside Battle” there having crossed the River on the Pontoon Bridge while the Rebels were shelling it. She was there again last summer when the City was filled with our wounded from the Battle fields of the “Wilderness.” She afterwards went with the Army to Petersburgh and administered to the wounded in the field Hospitals being frequently under fire in carrying relief to the Wounded on the field. I am told that she seemed on such occasions totaly insensible to danger. She is highly educated and refined, and few ladies ar[e] as inteligent as She is.