August 28, 1900 – For five hours “in ranks twelve
deep, the white-haired veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic passed in
their last grand parade . . . Never again can they meet in such numbers. They are growing gray haired and aged, and
gradually death is mustering them out.
But yesterday they marched 23,000 strong through the down-town streets
of Chicago . . .” [Chicago Daily Tribune, August 29, 1900] Beginning at 10:00 a.m. the veterans of the
Union Army march down Michigan Avenue until 3:45 p.m. Commanding General of the Army Nelson A.
Miles, upon reviewing the ranks, says, “It was a parade which all Europe, with
all its armies combined, could not duplicate.
It was a spectacle which perhaps no American shall witness again.” Although the 23,000 attendees make up only a
small portion of the 2,880,000 men who fought, the encampment of the Grand Army
of the Republic taxes the city’s resources.
Trains bring 195,000 people to six different railroad stations. Elevated and surface line trains handle 725,000
passengers on the night of August 28, and 140,000 people arrive in the city on
the day before the parade, putting a huge strain on hotels.
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