Evening Star Newspaper, September 20, 1936, Page 54

" F-2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C,” SEPTEMBER 20, 1936—PART FOUR. INSPIRE CITIZENS OF TODAY Proud Survivors of Grand Army, Which Had Heroic Record in Civil War, Again Revisit Scenes of Triumph Which Stirred Former Generation. By John Clagett Proctor. HE presence here of the Grand Army of the Republic this week and the historic review on Wednesday, September 23, of a few of the remaining soldiers of the once powerful Union Army will, no doubt, carry the minds of those who participate in this encampment, and the older residents of Washing- ton, back to that greatest of all grand reviews, which took place here on May 23 and 24, 1865, 71 years ago. Naturally, the march will not be so long as the one that took place at the close of the Civil War, for the step of the veterans of today is not so spry and elastic as it was when they had Jjust finished up the four long years of the greatest of American wars, long, long ago. Indeed, few of these men can possibly be under 80 years of age, and many of them even older, and just how many of them will| distance | actually march the short planned is uncertain, and the chances are that most of them will avail themselves of the opportunity of riding in automobiles. An idea of the physical condition of the members of this once numerous body may be had when it is known that within the Department of the Potomac, of which John M. Kline is commander, and which takes in the District of Columbia, there are but 14 remaining members, of which but 5 are said to be able to get out of doors. There are, however, equally as many ‘Union survivors of the Civil War liv- ing in Washington who are not now identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, which was organized April 6, 1866, though all, or nearly all, are former members. But, regardless of present affiliations, all veterans will be keenly interested in the con- vention, and in what will quite likely be the last parade of the Grand Army along Pennsylvania avenue, and, in- cidentally, those who march will find & much smoother and better roadway to walk upon than did the boys who marched along this notable thorough- fare in 1865. MAY 23 and 24, 1865, will never be forgotten as an epoch in the history of the Republic of the United States of America, when the veteran armies of the Union, in returning to their homes, particularly in the North and West, were so routed that they entered Washington and were marched along Pennsylvania avenue, to be reviewed from a stand in front of the White Houese by Andrew John- son, President of the United States; Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, | Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant, Gen. Han- cock, other gemerals who had led them to victory and distinguished | citizens. [Elsewhere along the Ave- | nue mapy other stands were erected | by the Government and private par- ties to accommodate the muititude of people who wished to see these veterans before they were disbanded and again entered peaceful pursuits. To appreciate what this grand re- view really meant to a heartsick but grateful people of a great Nation, one must be at least somewhat famil- jar with the Civil War, though the casualties sustained should, in them- selves, convey an idea of the intense anxiety and grief through which the people of the country must have gone during the four long years of bitter civil strife, and the joyous end of | which they were now celebrating. ‘The casualties in the Federal Army numbered 359,528; 110,072 men were killed in action or died of wounds and 249,458 died from disease, ac- cident or other causes. The Con- federate loss in killed and wounded during the war was about 95,000 men; that from disease, accident and other causes probably amounting to 164,000. Upward of 200000 men in all marched in the two days of the re- view. The first day, the Army of the Potomac, of about 80,000 men, in & dense 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 Poto- mac and who as commander of the Army had checked, at Gettysburg, Gen. Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania. SmIDAN. the whirlwind of battle, Was missing from the glorious Cavalry Corps, which he had awak- ened to its strength, and fashioned in the forge of war into the might- lest mounted force that ever drew saber. He had been rushed off to the Rio Grande, to throttle an exotic empire planted in Mexico by Napo- leon III. Sheridan was well spared, however, for ere long the Emperor was taken out and shot. In Sheridan's stead rode Gen. Wes- ley Merritt in front of the Cavalry. Gen. George A. Custer was also in the first day’s parade and gave an :;’:mple of his wonderful horseman- p. There are probably quite & number of people in Washington who still 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 par- ticipate in the oration, composed an immense chorus, led by their in- atructor, Joseph H. Danfel. “On the north end of the Capitol,” according to an account by J. Or- mond Wilson, “the scholars of the the debt we owe to Union soldiers.’ " “As the famous Gen. Custer ap- proached the boys stepped forward and, presented to him a large wreath of the choicest flowers, which he most gallantly and gracefully received and threw over his shoulder, when in- stantly his flery charger, apparently frightened, stretched forward his neck and, seeming to take the bit of the bridle in his teeth, furiously dashed down the hill and around into the Avenue out of sight, carrying his rider sitting firmly in the saddle, but bent forward, with his long and pro- fuse Saxon locks streaming back in the wind, while the school children looked on in amazement and deep concern. Their anxiety was soon re- lieved, however, by the welcome news that the horse did not get away from his rider, and then came the pleas- ant surprise that the ‘runaway’ was only a ruse to compliment the school children with a little exhibition of his horsemanship. “For six hours during the march, | without sign of weariness, the boys and girls presented their floral offerings, waved their flags, rent the air with | cheers, and at intervals a grand | chorus of 2,500 voices, under the lead |of Director Daniel, sang ‘The Star | Spangled Banner,’ ‘Battle Cry of Free- | dom,” ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” ‘Victory at Last’ and other pa- | triotic songs and hymns, all of which | were most gratefully received and | heartily acknowledged by officers and soldiers. From all sides the highest praises were showered upon that great | chorus of school children, and the sight of those grand armies, with their bronzed faces, soiled uniforms and | tattered flags, was to them an object | lesson in patriotism never to be for- | gotten.” Of course, you know what later be- fell the intrepid Custer. How he and his command were surrounded and | massacred by Sioux Indians on June 25, 1876, 30 or 40 miles below the iLime Big Horn, Mont. ‘O!« MAY 24, the second day of the i review, Gen. Willlam Tecumseh Sherman’s great army paraded up the | Avenue, led by the same men who had marched from Atlalnta to the sea and to victory. Beside him rode Gen. 0. O. Howard, known as the “Chris- | tian soldier,” and for whom Howard University was named. | Gen. John A. Logan, said to have | been the greatest volunteer general | of the Civil War, rode at the head of | the Army of Tennessee, and Frank P. | Blair, a brother to Postmaster General | Montgomery Blair of Lincoln's cabinet, commanded the 17th Corps. He was known as the soldier-politician and, with Nathaniel Lyon, is credited with | having saved Missouri to the Union. | Other general officers who led the various contingents in this notable review included Andrew A. Humphreys, | “Charley” Griffin, Horatio G. Wright, | who had saved Fort Stevens; John G. | Parke, Henry J. Hunt, Henry W. Slo- | cum, “Fighting Joe Mower,” “Pap” Thomas and Jefferson C. Davis. Naturally the poet was on hand to | give his version of the return of the victorious Union Army, and what Bret Harte has said is well worth repeating: “I read last night of the grand review In Washington's chiefest avenue— Two hundred thousand men in blue, I think they said was the number— Till I seemed to hear their trampling feet, The bugle blast and the drum’s quick beat, The clatter of hoofs in the stony street, The cheers of people who came to greet, | And the thousand details that to repeat Would only my verse encumber— Till I fell in a reverie, sad and sweet, And then to a fitful slumber. | “When, lo, in a vision I seemed to stand {In the lonely Capitol. On each hand Far stretched the portico, dim and grand, | Its columns ranged like & martial band Of sheeted specters, whom some command Had called to a last reviewing. E MARGARET 3. HARROVER, QLADIES® SEMINARY 1336-EYES T. NeWe And the streets of the city were white and bare; No footfall echoed across the square; But out of the misty midnight air I heard in the distance a trumpet blare, And the wandering night winds seemed to bear The sound of a far tattooing.” IN READING of this grand review in The Star, the writer came across an interesting description of Penn- sylvania avenue as it appeared upon that occasion. In part, it sald: “It was supposed to be paved with cobblestones, but so great had been the travel over it by Government wagons and teams, batteries of Artil- lery, etc., that in comparison with it today it was simply miserable. In muddy weather it was at times so cut up as to be almost impassable. Then the sidewalks were almost exclusively of brick, and in many places in bad order. The Capitol grounds were then surrounded by an iron railing set on a wall and having stone gateways. Some of this railing has since been util- ized to form the north boundary of the Smithsonian and Agricultural John Montgomery Kline, commander, Department of the Potomac, Gran Army of the Republic. ing houses of three stories. On umll’lre Insurance Co.'s marble building north side of this square were Pull- man’s Hotel and the United States Hotel, the Congressional Globe office and & number of restaurants, and at the corner of Four-and-a-half street, north side, the building now known grounds, and at the National Ceme- as the Odeon Hall, where the late tery, at Arlington, the gateways have been reset. “Commencing at First street, west, where the Peace Monument now stands, that portion of the south side of the Avenue occupied by Botanical Garden was much the same as now. | The circle in which the Peace Monu- | ment is located had not been made, | the west side of Pirst street and north side of the Avenue forming an acute angle. There was a three-story build- ing at the corner, where a restaurant was located, and westward several three-story bricks, mostly used as boarding houses and restaurants. About the center of the square were one or two old frame buildings and some vacant lots, and at the corner of Second street, where the waters of the Tiber were exposed, was a three-story brick, built originally for the publiz printing. “West of Second street to the corner of Third, the iron-front building of the Adams Express Co. was the principal one, and on the corner of Third strest was the St. Charles Hotel, then kept by Seth Lamb. At the northwest corner of Third street and the Avenue was the Washington House, conducted by Mrs. A. F. Beveridge, a three-story building, with the main entrance on the second floor, reached by stone steps, the lower story on the Avenue being occupied by stores. The site is at present Hotel Belvidere. On the south side was a frame structure, oc- cupied as a restaurant and hotel, and westward was the McDermott Coach Factory, the wood and coal yard of SHoes O 5CHOOL. ON "OPENING DAY AND HOW THE: GIANG -CHRISTENED *EM, ANDTHAT NEW DERBY - WITH ONLY THE "= = RIM LEFT TO WEAR HOME )) Yoo Woee W George L. Sheriff and a few board-| Joseph Shillington, bookseller and stationer, was located for many years. There were several hotels and res- | taurants westward on the square be- | tween Four-and-a-half and Sixth streets, and but little change has side except near Sixth. THE Center Market then was com- posed of long sheds extending the front was open, as was also the north side, the reservation not hav- ing been inclosed. On the north side of Market space, at Seventh street, was the Avenue House, a four-story brick building, occupying the site where the old Saks building is now located. As | now, business places, mostly dry goods, ilronted the space extending to Ninth | street, where Perry & Bro. conducted the dry goods business in a plain two- story brick. The Gunton property, on the northwest corner of Ninth street | and Pennsylvania avenue, an old-fash- | ioned two-story brick, was occupied for the drug business. Westward were some old-fashioned bricks of two and | three stories, nearly all of which have |been torn down or have been re- | modeled. “The most prominent building in the square was the iron hall building, erected originally as a place of amuse- ment and then occupied, in part, by Edward Droop. Near the corner of Tenth street the square was ended by II row of three-story bricks, that at the corner being used as the Lewis Johnson banking house. On the south side of the Avenue, where the Mutual THOSE WERE THE HAPPY DAYS! taken place in the buildings on either | from Seventh to Ninth streets, and now stands, were several old-fashioned brick houses.” THE oldest member of the Grand Army in the Department of the Potomac is John W. Braisdell, who re- sides near Baltimore, Md. He was Gen. Sherman’s veterans marching up Pennsylvania avenue during the grand review of the National Armies on May 24, 1865. born early in January, 1842. Next to him comes Eliasaph D. Godfrey, born January 30, 1842, and who is still quite active for his age, and gets about unassisted. He is the oldest member of the Association of the Oldest In- habitants of the District of Columbia and is an occasional visitor at its meetings. Mr. Godfrey's first visit to Wash- ington was in 1863, when he was brought up the Potomac River on a boat and carried into Stanton Hos- pital on a stretcher, a wounded, paroled prisoner of war. His wound Wwas a severe one, in the thigh, and he did not recover in time to go to the front again. In 1864 he obtained a detail for clerical duty in the War Department, looking after muster rolls, and in 1865 was discharged from the Army, but continued from that time on as & Government clerk. Mr. Godfrey, a few days ago, said he marched with the Boys in Blue in the Grand Review, and returned with them to the vicinity of the Bladens- burg road, where they remained until mustered out. After the close of the war he went to board with Mrs. Mary Jane Kirk- wood, widow of Dr. Wallace Kirk- wood, physician and pharmacist and founder of the Kirkwood House, where now stands the Raleigh Hotel. At this time Mrs. Kirkwood had four daughters, and Mr. Godfrey married one of them in 1866, and has been a resident of Washington ever since. He is a very fine old gentleman and (Continued on Sixth Page.) — IF YOU SPITON MY | SHOES AGIN,'M GONNRA REPORT You \ AOW * oo CHRISTENING THAT DERBY KTO MoLLyY KELLY, “SLAYS® / ‘WARNER \-/ “School Days of Yore.” - Sherman’s veterans crossing the Long Bridge over the Potomac, during the grand review at Washington, May 24, 1865, CIVIL WAR NEWS GENIUSES Maryland Monument at Cramptons Gap Recalls Daring Feat- of Men Whose Records Are Unequaled—Serving Under Two Flags—Story Written Over Son’s Dead Body. By Orrin A. Foster. ENRY M. STANLEY, Crosby 8. Noyes, John Hay, Whitelaw Reid, Henry Watterson, Ed- mund C. Stedman, Henry Vil- lard, Thomas W. Knox, Georges Clemenceau, Compte de Paris and many other men prominent in history in the nineteenth century, served as “cub” reporters. Their assignments included the story of the century—the day-by-day record of the Civil War, ‘while it was news, printed in the news- papers of their day and compiled into histories for permanent record. ‘The names of these men, together with 144 others who served with them, are recorded on a memorial arch erected to the memory of Civil War correspondents and artists in Cramp- tons Gap, between Burkittsville and | Gapland, Md. It is true that few of these names | are associated in the public mind with active newspaper writing, but all of the men mentioned served as war cor- respondents during the Civil War. The Nation had given no recogni- tion to these correspondents, as such, prior to 1896, when they, themselves, erected a monument and presented it to the Government. It is now main- tained by the Division of Public Monu- ments of the War Department. The funds for building the arch were fur- nished by the men whose deeds the memorial was to commemorate. ‘The monument is in the style of a Moorish arch, 40 feet wide, surmounted by three Roman arches, and is capped by a turret, the entire structure being 50 feet in height. It was built on land donated by George Alfred Town- send, one of the correspondents, who | in the late 80s built a palatial estale in Cramptons Gap. Many Washing- tonians enjoyed the hospitality of the ‘Townsends while they occupied the estate, which was called Gapland. NO MORE appropriate site for the memorial could have been se- lected than the spot, high up in Cramptons Gap, which had been an important strategical point in the campaign leading to the battles of Harpers Ferry, South Mountain and Antietam, 74 years ago this week. It was through Cramptons Gap that the Confederate Army found ready ac- cess to Harpers Ferry. The Gap pro- vided an important part of the Con- federate Army’s stubborn resistance to the advancing Federal troops under | Gen. Franklin. It was here that Mc- Laws held back the Union advance while Lee was hastily gathering his divided army after the discovery of his “lost” dispatches by Union troops. The —By Dick Mansfield site overlooks an area rich in his- torical associations. A review of the newspapers and | magazines printed in the Civil War | period reveals some of the greatest | descriptive stories ever printed. Little | | wonder, then, that the builders of the Cramptons Gap memorial arch carved thereon “the inscription: “To the Army correspondents and artists, 1861-1865, whose toils cheered the camps, thrilled the firesides, educated the provinces of rustics into a bright Nation of readers and gave incentive to nar- rate distant wars and explore dark lands.” 'HESE Civil War correspondents | shared hardships and dangers equaled only by the experiences of the | soldiers themselves Edmund C. Stedman actualiy rallied | the confused ranks of the demoralized | 5th Massachusetts Regiment, under | | fire at Bull Run, and was called “The | Newspaper Writer Who Restored a Regiment Its Colors.” Junius H. Browne and Albert D. Richardson were captured by Confed- erates and sent to Salisbury prison. ‘They escaped and made their way 400 miles to the Union lines, where they | filed the first death list from Salis- | | bury (2,000 names). The “Nameless Heroine” was their guide for the last | 80 miles. Henry M. Stanley enlisted in the Confederate Army at the begimning of the war. Captured by the Union Army at Pittsburgh Landing, he es- caped by swimming the river under fire. Some time later he volunteered into the Union Navy, thus actually serving under two flags. During a na- val engagement Stanley swam 500 yards under fire and attached & haw- ser to a Confederate steamer, which was thereby drawn out of the harbor and captured. Stanley was made an ensign. ‘William Swinton displeased Gens Burnside and Grant by his criticisrus while a correspondent for the New York Times, and was expelled from their camps. Samuel Wilkerson watched the progress of the Battle of Gettysburg from points of vantage. Visiting fleld hospitals for lists of killed anc wounded, he found the body of his own son, who had been a soldier in the ranks, and completed writing h dispatches over the lifeless form But Wilkerson's story of the Batt! of Gettysburg was one of the greates feats of descriptive writing evc printed in American newspapers. IT IS difficult to select outstanding names from such an {llustriou: group, but newspaper writers of Civil War days filled prominent places in the development of America. The Thomas W. Knox was seriously wounded during a battle. William | | F. G. Shanks was twice captured by | ‘Mornn's cavalry. Finley Anderson | | was wounded and thrown into a Texas | dungeon, but escaped and made his | way to® Virginia, where he witnessed |the battle at Spotsylvania Court | | House. J. Cook sat aloft on Admiral | Porter's flagship, notebook in hand, | while the fleet engaged in battle with | the forts at New Orleans. William E. Davis was captured by Confederates and sent to Salisbury, where he was given charge of minis- | tering to the sick, who numbered | | 3,000, out of a total of 10,000 prisoners confined within six acres of ground. | Edwin H. House and Edmund C. Stedman crawled into a tent to write their stories of the battle of Fred- | ericksburg. Finding some bottles to | hold their candles, they wrote their stories and rested a short time until | dawn. Daylight revealed that the bottles were partially filled with pow- der and the tent was full of ammu- nition. Joseph B. McCullough helped man the ironclad St. Louis, which ran the Confederate gantlet on the Missis- sippi. QQY, QEMEMQER WALKING Home - WITH TYHAY SHAY + Ipubllc is very familiar with the rec- rods of many of these men. The mention of others may bring back half-forgotten memories. It is im- possible to mention all these writers, but some names are very eclosely associated with our national develop- ment, J. M. Ashley was in Congress from 1859 to 1869, then moved to Montana, became Governor, and helped shape | the destinies of that territory. Adam Badean, an officer on Gen. Grant's staff, entered the State De- partment at the close of the war, was United States Minister at Brussels and Copenhagen, and Consul General at Havana, John Gross Barnard, who had been |& major in the Mexican War and superintendent at West Point, 1855-56, began as a correspondent in the Civil War, but was impressed into Army service and became chief engineer in charge of the defenses of Washington. H. L. Bentley, born in 1847, was with the Confederate army, probably one of the youngest correspondents in the field. Henry Van Ness Boynton engaged in newspaper work while serving as a major. He was brevetted a brigadier general for - distinguished service at Missionary Ridge. After the war Boynton became a noted author, and we find Francis A. Richardson, another war correspondent, saying to a Washington audience in 1892 “Rare! Rare! In Boynton's hand the sword and pen are equally mighty! His incisive style—the cutting to the marrow every subject he touched— made him famous.” John Albert Cockerill came of a Loudoun County, Va. family which moved to Ohio before the war. His father and four uncles served in the Union Army. John was in the band of the 24th Ohio Regiment, but be- came a correspondent for the Cincin- nati Enquirer, later becoming man- aging editor. In 1877 he was a special correspondent in Europe. Returning to America, he became editor of the ‘Washington Post, and was & corre- spondent in the Chinese-Japanese War in 1895. ‘William C.-Church, who had served as captain in the Army, established Creaer RAmeep ) An VORE AND Wl(e;N SOMETHING IN OUR /) YOUNG LIVES ON OPENING DAY, (Rememaer "THE CHOSEN FEW SELECYED Fo SucH covevTeo Costs? 00 You Rememser > ENSWERTO LAST w=eo$ &QOESTION, HOWAS \ T "THAT STARRED |l | FORYEARS \NA Poor o s/&N 2;'-\%0 sELL \ - 5 Nax-rwsgn(s e P the Army and Navy Journal in Wash- ington. In this enterprise he was joined by his brother, Francis P, Church, also a war correspondent. Whitelaw Reid served the Nation as a diplomat and in many ways, but when he was given a niche in the “Hall of Fame” it was on account of his literary genius. James Rankin Young was chief clerk of the Department of Justice and a member of ; W. Russell Young was editor of the Washington Chronicle and Librarian of Congress in 1897. James B. Sener was a correspondent with the federate Armies. He was from Fredericksburg, Va. after the war he became a practicing attorney in Virginia. Richard H. Sylvester was one of the founders of the Washington Post. Samuel Ward and John Ward, ington, D. C. His father, Harvey M. Watterson, was a Representative from Tennessee. Henry was an editorial writer on the Washington States at the outbreak of the war. He was with the Confederate Armies as s correspondent. After the war he es- tablished the Louisville Courier- Journal and devoted his lifetime to Confederate correspondent who gave (Continued on Sixth Page.) L