The Real Thing Superior to the Sham Battle
On the 25th of March, 1864, in honor of the President’s renewal of office, a grand review had been fixed at City Point, outside the capital.
Whatever the opinion of the old military, the volunteers gave the civilian commander “the soldiers’ vote.” In imitation of the French soldiers dubbing Bonaparte “the Little Corporal,” after his Italian victories, the Americans promoted Lincoln to be their “captain,” as Walt Whitman worded it, after his repeated reinstatement. He was rapturously greeted by “his boys in blue.” But the arrangements made at Washington in the undisturbed council were upset by General Lee. On that very morning he had attacked and taken Fort Stedman. To drive him out required a veritable action not terminating for several hours. Lincoln visited the scene of restoration after the carnage, and, on hearing regrets that the review—the chief recreation of the Washingtonians—he checked the light-souled attendants with:
“This victory is better than any review.”