Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1891 — MARCH OF G. A. R. MEN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MARCH OF G. A. R. MEN.

FULLY FORTY THOUSAND VETERANS IN LINE. Grand Army Men from AH Sections of the Union Parade at Detroit—Profuse Decorative Displays—Scenes and Incidents of a Great Day.

pHAT was a magi' nifient turnout of Grand Army veterans in the grand parade at Detroit i A sapper touched I a light to a big cangnon in the park, and f as the reverberations echoed over the' City of the Straits a Amounted troop wheeled around the corner of Woodward avenue and into the It was followed by a

mighty procession, miles and miles of It. On came the old posts and the old familiar banners of Blair of St Louis, Thomas of Chicago, Lytle of Cincinnati, McCoy of Columbus —yes, all the post 9 from ocean to ocean, from Minnesota to Louisiana; there were the old tattered, ragged battle flags with their bullet-torn staffs; there weao national flags with forty-four stars, and bands and bugle corps; there were life and drum corps of

young boys, and there were fife and drum corps of old, grizzly fellows who served as musicians during the war of the rebellion; there were the same old stirring patriotic. The procession wended Its waythrough streets, it seemed, with countless thousands. Yet,

Notwithstanding the qocldinq. vast throng that lined the principal highways along a route that covered many miles, there was no confusion, no disorder, no trouble of any kind. “An

Ideal day, an Ideal parade, an ideal concourse. ”

i‘ * • ! GOD BLESS THE VETERANS WHO i FOUGHT TO KEEP OUR COUNTRY UNITED. » » Such was the Inscription in letters two feet high' that greeted the eyes of

Commander-in- chief Veazey as he gave the word for the head of the column to move from the rendezvous The Commander- in-chief was surrounded by his staff and a special detail of 100 Massachusetts veteran s mounted on magnificently caparisoned steeds. Two hundred Michigan

veterans In black frock suits, black slouch hats and white bow ties, acted as rear escort to the staff.

The next place of honor had been assiened to the veterans from Illinois, and as Post No. 1, of Rockford, with its big banner, came into view a salvo of cheers went from block to block Department Commander Horace S. Clark, with Adjutant General P. L. McKinnie and James J. Healy, as chief of staff, led the way on horseback. Picturesque was the appearance presented by George H. Thomas Po3t, of Chicago, each man of which carried a tH-colored umbrella. They walked twelve abreast, from curb to curb, the umbrellas completely obscuring the identity of those that carried them from the people that looked down from above. Ex-Sheriff Matson marched solitary and alone in front of Ulysses S. Grant Post, and those that knew him pointed him out to openmouthed spectators as the man who swung the anarchists into eternity. Still another •' feature of the Illinois Division was Phil Sheridan Post, while America Post, 70(1, in black relief uniform, presented an appearance that was rewarded by libera! applause. That veteran of international fame, Lucius Fairchild, wearing lightly his sixty years and with his* empty sleeve, marched in the front rank of the Wisconsin division. Vice to cmandor Weissert walked alongside the General. The spectators did not need to be told that the boys were from the Badger State, for Wolcott Post, which led the lino, carried baldheaded old Abe, its mascot in the sixties, high In triumph, while alongside of the stuffed remains of the famous eagle was a big badger that once held high carnival In the woods around Green Bay. A young girl, typifying the Indian, with a costume of Stars and stripes and carrying a liberty capon a pole, led Robert Chi\as Post. The Wisconsin contingent was large and made a creditable shoeing, as did the third section, composed of comrades from the Keystone Sta'e. Preceding this department were two miaiaturp gun carriages drawn by white ponies and driven by two little boys. The Phadei-

phla and Pittsburg posts turned out la large numbers And the sight of the tattered battle-flags that they carried frequently drove the spectators Into a frenzy of'enthusiasm. The Allegheny School Band, composed largely of little fellows who had but recently gat into knickerbockers, was another feature of the division that came in for general recognition. In the fourth division the boys from Ohio turned out over ten thousand strong. In many of the posts every man carried a flag. About every post from Hamilton County was represented, and the famous Old Guard of Dayton, the Memorial Post of Cleveland, and Logan Post of the same city marched In force. In Hie second rank of tho Memorial old Comrade Ferrier, whose right leg was shot off from the hip at Gettysburg, hobbled along on crutches, and a colored brother who lost his nose in the Wilderness and the center of whose face was swathed in a linen bandage, kept him company. Lawrence Post, of Columbus, accompanied itself with a score of good - looking and well - formed yonng girls in military relief caps, white bodices, and blue skirts, who marched along like sthooled veterans, looking neither to tho right nor to the left in appreciation of the greeting that kept their cheeits tinted with the hot blood. West Post, of Columbus, sang a medley of popular songs from one end of the route to the other. Another ministeria'-looking post was Toledo, No. 100, while as a set off the volunteers of the same city came out in white helmets and waving miniature flags. In the Akron Post a huge frame ( of buckeyes, garlanded with flowers, was borne on tbe shoulders of four graybeards and many other of- the posts displayed the buckeye in numerous devices. There were forty-seven divisions in the parade, and it took just two and a third hours for tho first four to pass a given spot. Estimates of men who galloped along the line and through tho formation streets after the columr had moved placed the men in line all the way from thirty-five to fifty thousand. Every division was replete with interesting features. At the head of the Indiana delegation, Wallace Foster, Secretary of tho Silent

Army of Deaf Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, carried an Immense banner with the inscription, “Teach patriotism In the public schools.” The only colored member of the National Council of Administration of the Grand Army, Jas.' L. Fuller, marched ahead of Dahlgren Post, of Norfolk, Va. In the Michigan division the Sault Ste. Marie Post carried umbrellas emblematic of Lake Superior and the city of the Soo. When the head of the column had passed the grand stand Commander Veazey relinquished command to Vice Commander Weissert and took his place upon the reviewing stand. The procession taken “by and large,” as the sailors say, was a great success. It compared favorably with those of other years. True, the old comrades don’t march as well as they did twenty years ago. Their joints are more rheumatic, and their limp more pronounced. Their boys occasionally march with them in the line now, “just to keep pap from stumbling.” But they march just the same, and they march bravely, too, with their comrades and their old battle flags. They pass in review and salute their Commander-in-chief. No man with a spark of patriotism in hie breast can see one of these parades without enthusing and howling himself hoarse.

The sight of the fag and its defenders la enough to arouse the American breast Detroit never saw such a sight before, »nd never will again. Before the city i selected as the location of another encampment thousands of the Grand Anmy will have passed away. The average age of the members of the order is said to be 56 years; but a short time and they will have left the stage of life. The Sons of Veterans will to some extenf take the places of their fathers, but noli fully. The old fellows did the fighting. When a man runs away it is usually from one of two motives: he is either running, away with a woman or running away from one. A woman can say mere with a few tears than a man can express in a book , . . ‘ --- ...

Campus Martius.

PASSING THROUGH THE WOODWARD AVENUE ARCH.

ADJUTANT GENERAL.

INSPECTOR GENERAL BURST.

ARCH ON JEFFERSON AVENUE.