As rapidly as possible Union volunteer regiments were disbanded,
and soon the mighty host of 1,000,000 men was reduced to a peace
footing of only 25,000. Before the great army melted away into
the greater body of citizens its soldiers enjoyed one final
triumph--a march through the capital of the nation, undisturbed
by death or danger, under the eyes of their highest commanders
and the representatives of the people whose country they had
saved. Those who witnessed the solemn yet joyous pageant will
never forget it; and pray that their children may never see its
like. For two days this formidable host marched the long stretch
of Pennsylvania Avenue, starting from the shadow of the Capitol
and filling the wide street as far as Georgetown, its serried
ranks moving with the easy yet rapid pace of veterans in cadence
step. As a mere spectacle this march of the mightiest host the
continent has ever seen was grand and imposing, but it was not as
a spectacle alone that it affected the beholder. It was no
holiday parade. It was an army of citizens on their way home
after a long and terrible war. Their clothes were worn, and
pierced with bullets, their banners had been torn with shot and
shell, and lashed in the winds of many battles. The very drums
and fifes had called out the troops to night alarms, and sounded
the onset on historic fields.
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