Maysville weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1864-1866, 1864-07-21


r nearly all the time in the screen of dens
S forest. In thebattles in front of Spottsyl
D vania the sConfederates had the same and
greater advantages; they were posted or
f hills, covered with timber; the Federals hat
, to advance across clear ground. exposed tt
the sweep of batteries firing point blank int
their masses. Grant attacked on the 10th
! and fighting continued every day until the
18th; the only result favorable to the
Federal was the assault of the latter on the
11th, with Thousand prisoners, the advant
age which was nsutralized imm ediately by
! the recapture Of the ground lost; and the
! surprise of the right on Thursday morning
under cover of dente fog, which cost the
Confederates between two and three thou
sand men, and eighteen guns. The ground
lost necessitated a concentration, which i'm.
mediately took place. Having successfully
resisted every attempt to force his position.
and secured his trains, on the 10Th, Lee,
under cover of furious assault on Grants
right. withdrew across the Pc, aud retired
! to North Ann. Here he again halted, and
gave battle; for three days Grant hurled his
forces upon him to be rolled back with terri.
BILE slaughter; then he sickened of his
pledge "to fight it out on this line If ittakes
all summer" Hitherto Lee had succeeded
in keeping open his communication south
and west, and Grant saw that if he was to
succeed in planting himsslfto the north of
Riohm oud, and thus cutting Lee off from it,
! he must fight with the legs instead of the
arms of his soldiers He had been obliged
| by the loss of the Germ ania Ford road to
abandon his base at Culpepper and establish
| it at Fredericksburg; his failure at Spottsyl.
vania threw him back from this on Port
! Royal; and now he determined to cut loose
from it, and try race for Richmond by
Hanover Town, with new base at White
| White House above the confluence of the
| Pamunkey with York River. He moved
rapidly to the south Least but the enemy
had the shorter line, and when he turned
west and attempted to reach the north of
| Richmond ia this direction. he found Lee in
| front Of him ready to give battle. In the
meantime Smith has been detached with
the Eighteenth Corps from Butler's COM
mand, and sent by water down the James,
aud up the York River, to White House to
re-enforcs Grant, and the supplies of the
! army followed. s=-sss
There was severe fighting in the neigh
borhood of Bethesda Ch prch, until the 30th,
with the general result that all the efforts of
the Federals to force their way to the north
of Richmond by Meehaniosville were de-
feated;and Grant again began moving south
east to find more vulnerable point, fight
ing again at Coal Harbcr on the 3lst, aud
on the 1st and I'd of June, with no better
success, the Federal army having now
reached Gaines Mill its line of battle cross
ing the ground occupied by Stonewall lack
son when he crumpled up Mcclellan. On
the 3rd of June the Confederates made a
furious attack on the Federal right aud CEN
ter, the result of which was the withdrawal
Of Grants army to smes River on the 14th,
aud the Abandonment of the White House.
The withdrawal was managed with much
skill, the -Confederates not pursuing, but
guarding the bridge over the Chickahomiuy
east of Richmond, and massing their forces
on the left bank of the James, covering the
city from the southeast in anticipation that
Grant would make for Malvern Hill with
the design of reaching Richm ond from that
quarter. Had he done so. he would have
exposed himself to blow which could
hardly have failed to DO fatal. But the
Federal commander had no stomach for an
othsr fight with Lee on ground of that Gen
eral choosing, aud hopsd to secure by sur
prise in another field the success which had
eluded him on this. The object Of the
Campaign, a Judgement il force north of
Richmond, was given up for an attempt
from the south Troops were moved rapid
ly across James River, and as soon as land
ed, marched at once on Petersburg, only
garrisoned by few companies of mi litia.-
Before the point of attack was developed,
aud Lee could send reinforoenents, the out.
err line of deteuces was carried, with 1S guns,
IA of which were recaptured the Same day,
but much of the ground lost was rot recov-
cred simultaneously with this attack, But
Ter sailed out of his intrenchments, seized
and begun destroying the railway between
Petersburg aud Richmond, but was inter
rupted in his work, defeated and driven
back with heavy loss. Ga the morning of
the 10th Petersburg was in the greatest
danger; when the sun went down it was
safe. Beauregard was there with all army,
and Lee was on the right bank of the James,
his left resting on Fort Darling, and his
right on the Appomattox, his guns COM
maudiug the right. flank of the Federal ad-
yances before Petersburg. .s-e. aeel
The attempt to take Petsrburg by assault
have beeu repulse d with great slaughter;
the Federals admitted up to Wednesday last
a loss of ten thousand men: their actual loss
is probably double that numbsr; aud if this
! covers it, it is the first time tn ey have come
so near the truth. OF recent operations
before tie city we know nothing more than
| that they have eliminated in disaster after
disaster, the latest being the repulse Of an
| advance by the left toward the Richmond
] ana Weiuon hSH"aS WIN iOss' S0ootutoS
to their own accounts, of ive guns and 1000
prisoners, and the apparent abandonment
of the siege. ~
| A new series of operations is announced
! on the left bank of the James River, the
only point yet untried, and by some deem
ed the weakest; but there is little reason to
suppose that the enterprise. of Reducing
! Richmond from this quarter will be more
| successful than those that preceded it.
| So far, we repeat, the campaisned has
failed at all points; the Federal armies have
bseu hurled. to certain slaughter with q