May 24, 1865---The Grand Review of The Army of The Tennessee

MAY 24, 1865:           

The Grand Review of The Army of The Tennessee:

On the second day of the Grand Review, General William Tecumseh Sherman leads 65,000 of his men down Pennsylvania Avenue. Along with the soldiers of his command, Sherman has asked tens of thousands of his “support troops” --- the mostly black “Pioneers” who corduroyed the roads through South Carolina, sutlers, and Freedmen and their families --- to participate. He later calls the parade, with some hyperbole, "the happiest and most satisfactory moment of my life." More satisfying, perhaps, was his blunt refusal to shake hands with Stanton and Johnson when called to the Reviewing stand. He saluted the flag instead, to the joy of the crowds. The newspapers subsequently remarked on his egalitarian patriotism.