September 4, 1863,
Washington City, District of Columbia.

The Federal City remains an armed camp.  Legions of tents surround the public buildings, and martial bands continue to serenade the innumerable regiments, brigades, and divisions which linger in the capital.  General Meade’s recent victory at Gettysburg has buoyed the morale of the Army, inspiring ceaselessly buzzing rumors of an early end to the War, transforming Capitol Hill and the various Division headquarters into veritable hornets’ nests of excitement.  The clearer heads among the shoulder boards do not forget, of course, that conjecture and reality remain separate worlds, and that the wounded Confederate grizzly remains a grizzly yet.

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