Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1864-05-20
TIE GREAT CONTEST.

The nghting is not yet over, Lees army
Is still on this side Of the North Anna River,
and evidently intends riskiRg another battle
before retreatine farther. -. . ..u..s .... ....
Heavy rains have rendered the roads all
but impossible, and our forces had not, at
four last adyices, r.snmed offensive opera.
lions. GrsHt is being heavily .reirforccd,-
1t is stated to The full amount of his losses,
and will speedily advance on The enemy.
Another terrible battle is almost certain TO
take place. We,awai, the result with ankle.
~, and yet when we, remember the glorious
sosui. Of the recent eiglr. days fight, we
cannot but ieeve that Grant will lead the
battle Scared veterans of the Army Of the
Potomac 10 aew victories. The enemy is
lighting with desperation and an obstnacy
worthy of . better cause. Lees force has
been under estimated. lie cannot have less
than one hundred and seventy Eve Thousand
men, and he-is ey no. means conquered yet.
So far Grant has displayed mastery general
ship, united .witf indomhablc pluck and vice
Ike tenacity. lie is soins to Richmand or
sacrifice bis entire army in the attempt
1ad lis This very ball deg grit of his from
which we ausur final success. On the sec.
'ont day CT the series Of fights, no doubt we
had the worst Of it, and had The course been
pursued that has heretofore been adopted,
our army would have fell back across the
.Rapidan, and that weuld have been the end
OF the campaign. But not so with Grant
he made no effort to keep open his lines Of
gctroat, and when Lee threw his left wing
around 10 obtain possession Of the fords,
thinking Grant would fall back to hold them,
the latter surprised the rebel general by
marching away from them, throwing his
whole force on the rebel right, doubling it up
like fan, endaDgering Lees communica.
tons and obliging him,to retreat, shattered
and broken. SO, slighta thing it was that
changed the fortunes OF the day, and gave
us the advantage that we have ever since
steadily maintained. We call this strategy
of high order. 1t is the opinion of man
that Lee will not retreat to Richmond at all,
but rather seek to escape via Lynchburg- -
Ben. Butler is operating south Of Richmond
with 10000 men. Fort Darling, the only
defence Of the city from river attack. is be.
ing besicged, aad we,hope socn to be able to
announce its. downfall This fertilization ont
Q. the the distractions in the river car
be speedily removed, and then there is moth
Ing to hinder our monitor feet from going
up to the city, analevelingi it with The ground.
It is again stated, with plausihLi,y, that
Grant shielding off is not so much on &C
count Of the mud, as TO give Butler time to
>takc Richmond, seize the defenscs of the
citye and when that is done Grant will again
advance on Lee. En- this case, Ice would be
Obliged to take to the open country, and
leave the rebel capital to its fate. OF course,
all This is the interest speculation. Grant
wraps his plans in impcnetrab!c mystery,
and even tho correspondents that accompany
the army DO not venture to say what the
next move is to be,--for they do not know. |
B 1t this they all seem to be Convinced Of,
and that's. that We are going to have Rich
mo,t! Hat takes all summer. OF course there
are all sorts Of rumors aAoat, but it is not
wise to place eng dependence on them So
far every thing has been managed with con-
summate ability, nc: a mistake TIA. is appa-
rent. has been made, and we sec no reason
why future operations should not be even
move successful than the rast. Heretofore
we have fought the enemy a. disadvantage. |
Now we have driven them from their strong.
ly eltrenehed positions, have safely passed |
:oGch The Wilderness" in which they
Ecped to entrap and defeat Us, and now have I
an open country to maneuvre in, where ar
'i!iery-caa be brought into use. The eight
days OF continuous battle which has already
tahcr. place, probably never had its equal for
hard, bloody, determined fighting, and yet
we haTa uniformly been Successful. God |
grant that the past is forernnner of the fu. |
:ure. In another place We give "a reliable
suu,-na-y OF the news made up from, our
daily tclegraphic reports. /
TnE Y. Y. R5rall, which concocts Il new
Presidential ticket every three days, has the
following rs its latest For President Gen. !!
s;faft; for Vice President. Gen. Fremont !