Eight hundred white-haired veterans of the civil war paraded yesterday under faded and bullet-riddled flags in the Memorial Day procession along Riverside Drive from Seventy-fourth Street to Ninety-second Street. Because it was the fiftieth anniversary of the end of their days on the battlefield, because the Grand Army men had felt the vibration of patriotic feeling in the atmosphere, and because it was a perfect day, the soldiers of the civil war, in spite of the waste in their ranks which old age had made in recent years, turned out yesterday in greater number than they have at any Memorial Day procession in the preceding three years.
The weather brought out great crowds along the Drive and in other parts of the city where Memorial Day exercises of one kind or another were held. With the sky cloudless and the sun shining brilliantly, breezes from the Hudson River kept the marchers and the spectators cool and put life even into flags which shells and time had almost reduced to ribbons.
Probably more than 50,000 people had gathered along the line of march. As the crowd was larger it was also more enthusiastic than usual. The big demonstrations were, of course, for the game old men and the pathetic ruins of their colors. In spite of the fact that the majority of them had passed three score and ten and that many crippled by old wounds and age had to carry canes, they responded quickly to tactical orders from their commanders and as a body moved with the precision of a smooth-running war machine.
Receiving cheers and shouts of encouragement at every block, they were kept busy smiling and saluting. They passed thousands and thousands of American flags, as a large proportion of those in the crowd carried small ones. Flags were hung out of windows all along the Drive.
The flag display throughout the city yesterday, as well as along the line of march of the procession, was the greatest the city has seen since Spanish war days at least. Along many of the residence streets flags hung in clusters. Along Broadway, wherever there was a flagpole, there was a large flag out, while small ones by thousands flapped from windows and thousands of tiny ones stuck out of buttonholes.
Special cheers along the line of march were given for the twelve doughty old Zouaves who appeared in faded red baggy trousers with the characteristic jacket and tasseled fez. Also the crowds approved noisily of occasional ranks of veterans who appeared with swords drawn and the blades flashing brightly.