The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-07-18
An Anecting Review Of the
Late Battles.

l/8tc O0eVACCt
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial.
JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA,
Tuesday Evening, July let, 1862.
Oh! friends, could you realize the attic.
lions of the past five days, you could almost
shed tears of blood. Said noble and gal,
liant soldier, whose visage was wan, whose
voice was tremulOus with inexpressible
own precious blood-the crimson drops
were trickling from his wound even then
ooh my friend, it is horrible! horrible
to see this proud army so wretchedly pressed
upon every side, destruction threatening
wherever we turn scarce q hope of extri-
cation save that which is born of despair. 1t
is horrible "-and the devoted soldier who
had faced the foe all day and far into the
night which had passed, turned into the
forest to hide his manly grief. Had you
seen bis worn and haggard warriors
plunged YEARLY on the soil around him,
begrimed with smoke, and some of them
stained with blood, and had you known
that an hour later those brave men al
ready exhausted and stifened with long
fighting and weary marching, would be
summoned again to deadly combat, you,
too, would have echoed my noble friend.
With all his WEAKNESS and all bis deep
distress of mind, bis sword was fash
ing defiance again at the breast of the
foe before the sun rode highest in the
empyrean. Oh, the gloomy countenances
and anxious hearts of those dark days
Would to God such days had passed away
forever. Oh my countrymen, you cannot
comprehend the tolls and trials of your de-
voted soldiers during those days of MURDER
ously unequal combat-conflict not simply
with superior masses of disciplined sodiery
but contention against insiduous thirst,
craving appetite, enfeebiing heat, overpow-
ering fatigue-and after fighting and
marching and privations by day, and suffer-
ing by night, ard fighting by days succeed
ing nights of fighting and harrassing vigils,
against fresh forces hurled upon them in
overpowering masses, till exhausted nature
almost sunk beneath such fearful vista
tions, to be pressed to the imminent verge
of despair, was almost too much for human
nature to endure. Oh, what glorious spi~
rit of devotion to country that inspires men
to conquer such distress! l tell you, peo-
pie, the soldiers of your army have won title
to Immortality. Whatever fate betide
them, their chiidren's children may proudly
boast, "Our fathers were OF the Army Of
the Potomac"
The soil of Virginia is now sacred. 1t
is bathed with the reddest blood of this
broad land. Every rood of it, from Upper
Chickabomipy to the base of Malvern Hill,
is crimsoned with the blood Of your brave
brethren. The dark forests-ftting canno.
py for such wo!rl sacrifce-echo with the
walls of wounded and dying men. There is
bloody corpse in every copse and manged
soldiers in every thicket OF that ensanguned
field. Side by side they lie and die--triendly
with the misguided foe whom they so lately
fought. God only Knows how many of the
weary ones, plunged headlopg into the shade
of those gloomy pines for a brief respite
from the pressure of wars iron heel, who
lie there now to sleep the sleep that knows
no waking. But while l write these lines
the foe presses hard. Our soldiers turn their
breasts to the steel. Their backs are upon
the river. Oh God shall they not stand
where they now fight sternly aud so we'll.
There is record of sorrow-it is soft
ened, too, by great pride,-to be made how
your brethren watched and pressed the enc.
my for months and how their leader begged
and was not relieved--tor power to con-
quer how day after day they fought and
bled-can you forget Fair Oaks and the
weeks of watching and fighting in view of
the spires of Richmond ?--how they fought
and conquered on Wednesday last how
they foug ht and won on Thursday how
they resisted and beat back the grert surg
ing tide of the foe On Friday, but at least,
after deeds of hercism they were compelled
to yield to overwhelming power and how
on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tues
day they marched and suffered, ani
fought, as if every soldier had the soul of
a hero in his frame, until at last when
natures energies almost exhaust counseled
with their fears they still stood staggering
but unconquerable, and met the summons to
fight as if it were privilege to be enjoyed.
These were scenes to move the strongest
heart. But oh how cruel, friends, that such
brave souls should be pressed almost to the
very brink of ruin. They stood up still
with want pressing them, with fatigue
crushing them, and of every summons to
the field they followed the old flag with
cheers, like the songs Of God. There was
moral heroism displayed by those worn
men that will make our history's pages shine
with splendid lustre.
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial.
HOME, Saturday. July 8, 1862.
In the record OF my last seven days with
the army OF the Potomac some interesting
facts were necessarily omitted, and come
were not presented with sufficient distipc.
tiyeness. shall mirgle them together with
some additional particulars end opinions,
which hope will enable readers to under
stand the situation more perfectly.
The enemy must have been morally salts
fed of the real condition of things, but from
the fact that they did not pursue their de-
structive enterprise to the dreadful climax,
justifes the inference now that they were
too cruelty punished to avail themselves Of
advantages in their favor which were the
fruits of their own vehement energy. As it
seems that they gave our desperate army
more than days respite, it must rejoice