Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-06-22
Correspondents of The New York Worid.l
REBEL VIEW OF the SITUATION.
More About s.vyhat they Think i'm
Richmond"

w,,y GENERAL LEE DID NOT OPPOSE GRANTS
MOVEMENT TO THE JAMES RIVER.
have learned some facts to-day which
| throw considerable light upon the question
whv General Lee did not attempt to inn
pede or prevent the march OF our army
| from the Chickahominy to the James river.
| IL will be seen from the3e facts that IL was
not through ignorance on his part OF
/ Grants movement: he was fully aware OF
the actual progress OF the movement rom
| dav to day. Nor was it owing to the weak
ness of his forces. The rebel losses in this
campaign, as | have ascertained from the
yery best authorities, have not exceeded
| twenty thousand men. General Lee, 1T
| must be remembered, has now Longstreet's
| entire corps with him, and has been REIN
| forced besides by troops from South Caro-
| lima and North Carolina, and from the West,
under General Beauregard, General Breck-
| inridge, General HOke and General Plcket.
| His actual effective force can be positively
shown to amount to fully one hundred
| and twenty-five thousand troops. Accord
| ing to what have learned to-day, there
was reason, and good one, why General
| lee held this large force in reserve, as it
were. and contented himself with merely
watching General Grants march across the
Peninsula.
II must be remembered that Gen. Grants
army to-day is only Just where it might
have been month ago, without a battle,
| without the loss of a man. No opposition
would have been made then, on the part OF
| General Lee, to movement OF Generai
| Grant which would have landed the Union
| army at Windmill Point. Why then should
| he have opposed it now? The road to Rich
mond by way of Bermuda Hundred and Pc
| tersburg was as open month ago as Grant
| finds it now. Beauregard's forces were
there then, it is true, but they would have
only acted as mere corps of observation,
| and would have retired to the defenses Of
the city proper on the approach OF q large
| force. as indeed they did do when serious
attempt was made by General Gilmore to
attack the outer line of the southern de-
fenses of Richmond, of which Fort Dar-
ling is one.
WY GEN. LEE OPPOSES GRANTS ADVANCE
| ONLY FROM THE NORTH AND EAST.
Every step of General Grants progress
toward Richmond from the north or east
has been marked by the stubborn and de-
cided resistance which General Lee has
made to that advance. Wherever General
Grant advanced, In whatever direction ne
| turned, he found himself confronted by the
full strength of the Confederate army
There were two lines Of conduct open to
1
opened the campaign. One was to retire
with his army to Richmond at once; the
other was to infiict as much loss upon the
Federal army as possible, to make the ad-
vance on Richmond cost us as many OF the
lives of our soldiers as possible. Grant
could have brought his army to the walls
of Richmond, by the proper route, without
It being in General Lees power to inlure
hair of his head, so to speak. But when i
was in his power to cripple him to the ex'
tent of eighty thousand of his soldiers
should he not do itp When Gen. Lee saw
that the Federal army was making Tor tnt
James river these considerations ceased tc
have any weight. A hostile army moving
on Richmond from the North will attack
that CITY either from the North or the East
II must be crippled before it reaches poin
from which it can attack the rebel capita
from the East, because 1t is feared that q
that point the defenses are Vulnerable. Bu
no such fear exists in regard to the defensel
ON the south side. If General Grant hat
forced the passage of the Chickahominy a
bottoms bridge, he would have found th'
whole strength of the rebel army waiting
at the Seven Pines to receive him. Their
the bloodiest battle of the war would hav
been fought. For there the ground is opei
and level, the soil is firm, and large masse
| OF rebel troops WOulu uaFO pSOh h"AAS" VI
our advancing columns.
GENERAL GRANTS HARD WORK JUST BEGUN
General Grant has avoided that blood.
conflict, but he has gone where he will hay
to engage in more than one battle, equal.
as sanguinary. 1t is observable that n
portion of the army, except Smiths corps
crossed the James river above the Apo
mattox. The four corps composing tn
army proper crossed dac0nsiderable distanc
below Harrison's Landing.
REBEL ACCOUNT OF THE MOVEMENT TO TIL
JAMES RIVER.
The account of General Grants move
ment TO the James river which prevails
Richmond states that it has been ascertain
ed that it was not General Grants desig
TO cross the river at all, or, at least, not ur
I'll he had attempted to reach the city D
the Central and New Market roads, leadin
into Richmond from the direction OF Ma
vern Hill. II is claimed by the rebe al
thorities that, after moving across tf
Chiekahominy, General Grant did not NOV
at once towards the James river, but eau
al n reconnaissance In force to be made froi
the Long Bridge toward the Quaker roai
and that a smart skirmish took place on Il
13th Of june near the point where Il
Charles City road intersects the Quak'
road. about a mile or two south OF q
white Oak bridge (over the White Ga
creelxl. They claim further that that r
connoissance disclosed TO Grant the "a
fhaf the rebel forces held not only Il
Quaker road, but also all the other roai
south AZ the White Oak swamp BY whit
4 pIrhr,o,d could be reached from the eoutl