On this day in Arlington history, November 20, 1861: President Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet reviewed 70,000 Union troops at Bailey’s Crossroads.
After the Union defeat in July at the First Battle of Bull Run, President Lincoln appointed Major General George B. McClellan as commander of the demoralized army. McClellan spent the rest of the year developing and training a larger and more disciplined force than the men who were routed at Manassas. Called the Army of the Potomac, McClellan proudly staged a Grand Review of approximately 70,000 soldiers along Leesburg Pike (Route 7) in Fairfax County between Munson’s Hill and Bailey’s Crossroads.
At the start of the ceremony, 15 artillery batteries fired a salute and then McClellan, along with President Lincoln, his Secretary of War and Secretary of State—all on horseback, rode along the line and were met with continuous and enthusiastic cheers from the soldiers. President Lincoln and much of his cabinet attended the 10-hour long event. Members of Congress, foreign embassy officials, newspaper correspondents and distinguished citizens of the District also attended as did between 20,000 and 30,000 civilians. All along the parade route, spectators filled the trees, covering rooftops, and swarmed every spot to see the military display. McClellan wanted his army to see and feel its own size and strength and impress a national and international audience with it. And he did. A newspaper headline described the event as being “brilliant beyond description.”
Among the distinguished guests was Julia Ward Howe who was so inspired by the thousands of infantrymen, 20 artillery batteries, 7,000 cavalrymen that she wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
This Grand Review showed that the army and many Union-minded civilians in the area had regained some of the optimism they had lost after the rout at Manassas four months earlier.
