Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-17
Tho struggle for Richmond.

lmO Struggle Tor hAhCnhnOhus
Our news, up to this writing, is not SC
sensational as for the past several days, but
quite important. The smoke of the last OF
the series of great battles fought during the
past two weeks is clearing away, and we
are able to more clearly see the situation"
GRANT is yet two-and-a-half miles north of
Spottsylvania Court House, says the tele-
graph, and LEE is still on the Po River
GRANT has lost thirty-five thousand men,
instead of sixty-five thousand, as first re-
not been routed and is not rushing pell-mell
OH Richmond, but is quietly preparing for
further stubborn resistance to the march of
our gallant army.
No observing and rejecting reader will
need to be told that thus far General GRANT
has had before him from the time of the
crossing of the Rapidan. two weeks ago
this evening, a most difficult and critical
work. The usual desperation and vehem-
ence in action have been displayed by the
Confederates during the whole time, and
there have been moments when triumph
seemed to be actually lowering over their
banners. The slaughter they have inflicted
upon our columns is immense. This fact
and the determined perseverance of the
enemy were enough to produce apprehen-
sion in the mind of any opposing comman-
der, but we are rejoiced to know that not
all the frightful carnage our army has suf-
fered, nor all the defiant endurance exhibi-
ted by the rebels, has discouraged either
troops or officers of the Union side, who
appear to have been animated throughout
by an inspiring and sustaining faith in their
ability to achieve ultimate victory.
There are many who did not need the evil
dences of the past two weeks to prove that
Federal campaign in Virginia against the
picked and trained troops of the South must
be one Of vast labor, hard fighting, and the
accumulation Of grand military resources.
Those who have persisted from the early
days Of the war that LEES army was COM
paratively insignifcant that it made great
show Of strength while really weak; that
its defenses were mere shells fortified with
Quaker guns; and that all which could be
needed to capture Richmond was the will
to do 1t, and the resolution to march imme-
diately upon the works. ought by this
time to have discovered their eggregious
and dangerous error. Whatever success
has been gained by General GRANT in
the present campaign in Virginia has
been won by keeping in view the stupend-
Gus strength of the enemy, and by the ex-
ercising Of that caution and prudence,
which in the minds of certain impatient
people, had somehow come to be regarded
as synonymous with procrastination and
treachery.i However despicable the cause
IN which LEES army are kept together, it
Is certain that as military force they are
by no means to be despised, and GRANT has
done well before beginning his offensive
movements to collect and concentrate the
largest army ever before aggregated on one
field in America. By this sign he conquers,
II, In the DEGREES of fate, success shall ever
attend our struggling volunteers in the Old
Dominion. 4tE
If the public are correctly informed Cen
eral LEE has with him now about all the
troops he can get before falling back and
reinforcing himself with the garrison of
Richmond. Not SO with GRANT. Troops
are constantly going forward from the
North and from Washington to take the
place Of the fallen, and there are several
quarters yet remaining from which other
reinforcements may be drawn without any,
or, If any, temporary detriment. 1t is un-
wise to prophesy, when the verifcation or
confutation Of the event itselfmay bealmost
coincident with the prediction, yet we must
at least say that the skies look bright and |
the prospects promise well. General GRANT,
himself does not expect speedy end to
this bloody and brave struggle, as is evident |
from his dispatch to Secretary STANTON:
q i propose fighting it out If It takes all |
summer" Let us possess ourselves in pa
tience with the assurance that our army is
well nigh invineible and that it is lead by
a courageous and skillful cbieftain. The
triumph may not be yet, but it is none the
less certain to come.
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