Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-06-09


received by the steamship Europa, caused
. profound sensation throughout England,
and the people were astounded at the mag
initude of the losses. The probable result
Of the bloody combat was eagerly canvass
ed on all sides.
The Times says:
Grant has fully justified his reputation
for uncomfortable tenacity. 1t be has not
achieved absolute victory be has bid for II
more desperately, aud approached it more
nearly than any OF his predecessors. It ia
true the intelligence from the field Of bat
tie reached US through Federal sources,
and ts perhaps colored somewhat favorabIy
for the North. Il is hard to discern the
inclination of the balance, SO evenly do the
scales appear to be weighed. LincoIn's
proclamation and Stantou's bulletin speaks
OF the Federal success in terms so qualified
as to express anything rather than conf.
dence, while the premium on gold, which
was 10 when General Grant began his
march and which fell to GO at one period,
has risen to II; it was ISL at the departure
OF the mail. The successive retiremeuts
Of the Confederate commander were but so
many indicious and preconcerted opera
lions OF the campaign. In none of these
movements was there the slightest confu-
sion or the evidence of inferiorily. The
whole road to Richmond, be 1t remember
ed, Is series of positions which have long
been studied and strengthened by the Con-
tederates, terminating in q capital fortified
by all the defences which modern art could
devise, through period of three years
Lee, If he falls back, 10 only falling back
from one strong position to another, till he
finds himself in the strongest post of all.
Grant, if he falls back ever SO little, gives
up the game, while if he persists in ad .
vaucing, he discovers harder work than
ever before him at the end of each days
march, and separates himself from his sup
plies in the same proportion" 80.
Prom the London Times, May IS.
The details of the great battles in Amer
lea are calculated rather to enhance than
diminish the sensation with which the tel.
egrams were received. There has been no
exaggeration, no overstrained description
Of the conflicts or the carnage. If, indeed,
it be recollected that even the long reports
of furious fighting, which We yesterday
published, still leave Eve days of sanguina-
~ action unaccounted for, ii must be allow
ed that war has never come before MS 10 a
shape so appalling. Perhaps the Ameri-
cans may be proud Of the pre-. emiuence, but
they have cerEinly fought more desperately,
for longer time, and with more dreadful
slaughter than any nation before them. 1t
would not be impossible to match the re.
suits of any one days battle with stories
from the wars of the Old World but never,
we should think, in the history of man,
were five such battles as these compressed
into six successive days. 1t is hard to
conceive how nature could have supported
the exhaustion and the strain.
We have been told that. after a single
days hard fighting the Iassitude aud re.
action in even a victorious army are such
that any fresh force might snatch its lAur-
els from III whereas here are two armies
holly engaged in the work of slaughter
from the morning of Thursday till the
night of Tuesday with scarcely the inter
misslon:ot an hour. % every day except
on Saturday there was q pitched battle,
contested with the utmost fury; and even
SATURDAY WAS devoted TO marching and
lighting on the march. Nor we're these
Prodigious operations divided among i'm
mense numbers brought into action by
torays. Neither army numbered apparently
ever one hundred thousand men, and of
these every man seemed 10 have been en-.
gagged in every battle. Indeed we are ex-
Pressly told that the Federal "reserves"
were brought mp on the first day.
The desperate ierocity of the fighting
may be Inferred from tue fact now report.
ed that the'slaughter was produced with.
out The aid OF artillery. No rltled guns or
murderous shells did execution nmoug
crowded masses. The great battle of Fri.
day, which is said to have cost the Fed.
erals alone upward of 10000 meu, was
hand-Io. hand fight. TIE ConEederates
we're posted 10 the we'll known woods in
The vicinity of Charlottesville, where
Hooker once received so bloody repuIse.
aud so dense was the thicket that cannon
could not come into play. Regiment
against regiment, and man against man.
The combaVants fred aud hacked at each
other in this tangled wilderness TIL night
closed IN; and an intercepted report from
Gen. Lee actually tells as that, on his side,
tue heaViestlo ss was in men killed outright.
and That he had comparatively few wounded.
II this be correct version of the dispatch
It gives more impressive idea of the CON.
htct than any other of the iucidents -.
ported. II Is clear, indeed, that wh4tever
may be said of the composition of The
Northern armies. and of their inferioritv
10 this respect to the patriot leRious of the
SOUTH they have fought in this campaign
with VAlor as obstinate Ms that. of their
euenleS' NO mere indifferent or disAffect-
ed mereenaries could have been led from
from battle like that of the Wilderness
70 three more such battles at Spottsylva-
mia. Be the impulse what it NAV: the
Federals are fighting 10 stern reality, and
with spirit as resOlute as that Of their
adversaries. 80
Except that Gen. Lee more than once
surprised the Federels with a sudden At
tack in mass, and that his positions were
always occupied with admirable skin, there
appears to have been little display of STRAIT.
egg. On Thursday Lee attacked, aud with
result which at one moment looked yerv
like success. On Friday Grant attacked.
and Lee repulsed him. On Sunday and
Monday Grant attacked again, with no bet.
ter result; on Tuesday Lee appears to have
been the assailant. But in all tbese
oatties there was more fighting than ma.
nd