Headquarters Armt Of Potomac
February 24, '64
. . . I went yesterday to a review of the 2d Corps gotten up
in honor of Governor Sprague. It was some seven or eight miles away, near
Stevensburg, so that it was quite a ride even to get there. General Meade,
though he had been out till three in the morning at the ball, started at
eleven, with the whole Staff, including General Pleasonton and his aides,
the which made a dusty cavalcade. First we went to the Corps Headquarters,
where we were confronted by the apparition of two young ladies in
extemporaneous riding habits, mounted on frowsy cavalry horses and prepared to
accompany. General Meade greeted them with politeness, for they were some
relations of somebody, and we set forth. The review was on a large flat
(usually very wet, but now quite dry, yet rather rough for the purpose) and
consisted of the Corps and Kilpatrick's division of cavalry. When they were all
ready, we rode down the lines, to my great terror, for I thought the womenkind,
of whom there were half a dozen, would break their necks; for there were two or
three ditches, and we went at a canter higglety-pigglety. However, by the best
of luck they all got along safe and we took our place to see the troops march
past. We made a funny crowd: there were the aforesaid ladies, sundry of whom
kept chattering like magpies; then the Hon. Senator Wilkinson of Minnesota, in
a suit of faded black and a second-hand felt that some officer had lent him.
The Honorable rode bravely about, with a seat not laid down in any of the
textbooks, and kept up a lively and appropriate conversation at the most
serious parts of the ceremony. “Wall, Miss Blunt, how do you git along? Do you
think you will stan' it out?” To which Miss Blunt would reply in shrill tones: “Wall,
I feel kinder tired, but I guess I 'll hold on, and ride clear round, if I can.”
And, to do her justice, she did hold on, and I thought, as aforesaid, she would
break her neck. Then there was his Excellency, the Vice-President, certainly
one of the most ordinary-looking men that ever obtained the suffrages of his
fellow citizens. Also little Governor Sprague, a cleanly party, who looked very
well except that there is something rather too sharp about his face. Likewise
were there many womenkind in ambulances discreetly looking on. The cavalry came
first, headed by the valiant Kilpatrick, whom it is hard to look at without
laughing. The gay cavaliers themselves presented their usual combination of
Gypsy and Don Cossack. Then followed the artillery and the infantry. Among the
latter there was a good deal of difference; some of the regiments being all one
could wish, such as the Massachusetts 20th, with Abbot at its head; while
others were inferior and marched badly. Thereafter Kill-cavalry (as scoffers
call him) gave us a charge of the 500, which was entertaining enough, but
rather mobby in style. And so home, where we did arrive quite late; the tough
old General none the worse.
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 75-6
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