Some days afterwards one or two other
corps; and then, still afterwards, a good part of Sherman's immense
army, brought up from Charleston, Savannah, &c.
WESTERN SOLDIERS
_May 26-7_.--The streets, the public buildings and grounds of
Washington, still swarm with soldiers from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Missouri, Iowa, and all the Western States. I am continually meeting
and talking with them. They often speak to me first, and always show
great sociability, and glad to have a good interchange of chat. These
Western soldiers are more slow in their movements, and in their
intellectual quality also; have no extreme alertness. They are larger
in size, have a more serious physiognomy, are continually looking
at you as they pass in the street. They are largely animal, and
handsomely so. During the war I have been at times with the
Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Corps. I always feel
drawn toward the men, and like their personal contact when we are
crowded close together, as frequently these days in the street-cars.
They all think the world of General Sherman; call him "old Bill," or
sometimes "uncle Billy."
A SOLDIER ON LINCOLN
_May 28_.--As I sat by the bedside of a sick Michigan soldier in
hospital to-day, a convalescent from the adjoining bed rose and came
to me, and presently we began talking. He was a middleaged man,
belonged to the 2d Virginia regiment, but lived in Racine, Ohio, and
had a family there. He spoke of President Lincoln, and said: "The
war is over, and many are lost.
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