llevieiu at WasJvmgtoii. 21 



place near Washington, and great numbers of New York peo- 

 ple were anxious to witness such rare show. I was as eager 

 and enthusiastic as the rest, and arrived with a numerous com- 

 pany of ladies and gentlemen in Washington. 



That city was not yet what it is now. It is called ' The city 

 of magnificent distances,' and with very good reason. It was 

 laid out for a million of inhabitants, but had, however, only 

 about eighty thousand, though this number was then more than 

 doubled by a floating population. The city, notwithstanding 

 some splentlid public buildings, most of them still in construc- 

 tion, like the Capitol, resembled a very big village, and Penn- 

 sylvania Avenue, the- principal street, which is wider than the 

 Linden in Berlin, was still in possession of pigs and cattle, 

 which during the night slept on the sidewalks, even near Lafay- 

 ette Square, opposite the White House, ' Father Abraham's ' 

 residence. The tramway was not laid until much later, and 

 along the street there still rolled a most primitive omnibus. 



Military enthusiasm was paramount in Washington. The 

 ladies, of course, were not left untouched by the prevailing 

 epidemic ; in fact, they were more excited than the men, and 

 not being permitted to enlist themselves they did their utmost 

 to encourage the nascent heroes. Civilians had then little 

 chance with them. Apollo himself would have passed unno- 

 ticed if he did not wear shoulder-straps. He who has not 

 witnessed this military fever will scarcely believe it. All laws 

 of society seemed suspended, and what in peaceable times 

 would have been considered very improper and shocking was 

 then the order of the day. Both sexes seemed to have changed 

 places. 



The review had an immense success, though it was, in fact, 

 A pitiful affair — as I am enabled to judge now after having seen 

 Prussian Uhlans and Hussars. The Union cavalry that 

 time were w^orse than useless. The poor fellows did not know 

 whether their horses or their swords were mure in their way, 

 and I saw them fall from their saddles even at a walking pace. 

 Of all these deficiencies we were not aware. I was quite 

 bewildered by the perfectly new spectacle, for I was as favour- 

 ably disposed towards the uniform as other ladies. 



To visit the camps around Washington was then the fashion, 

 and one day after the review our party set out for such an ex- 

 cursion. The camo of the Gennan Division was at that 



