Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-06-04
tt,om tho Riobmopd Examiner, May %.

Whlp GRANT w AhdhOFoE
ttrom the Richmond Examiner, MayS8.l
Grant has definitely declined battle at
Hanover Junction. Perhaps we should
saw that his army has saved him the trouble
of declining it. 1t is certain that both ar
mics are once more moving. TWO stories
have lately prevailed of the direction In
which Grant is going. One account repre-
sented large body of Yankees at Negro
Foot, in the upper part OF Hanover, put IL
has not been confirmed and Is unhkeiyL
The more probable statement Is, that Grant
put fortifications along his line before the
Junction TO prevent an attack from General
Lee, and then returning to the northern
bank of the North Anna, passed down the
Pamunkey to Hanovertown, q few miles
above the Piping Tree, the point to which
boats can come. Here he is said to have
crossed the river with the greater part OF
his force.
! Hanovertown is 16 miles from Richmond.
If Grant has really landed there, he may De
said to have already reached the destination
predicted for him since his check at
Spottsylvania-the York and the peninsula;
His next base will be the Pamunkey and
York, the White House and West Point.
Then his whole campaign up to this mo-
ment has been defeat, its plan failure,
and he is compelled to adopt the derided
scheme of Mcclellan instead of it. lie
might have come to West Point in days
sailing from Washington. He might have
set down his army there without having
one hair on the head of any one man in it
disturbed; and he might have brought Lee
from the line of the Rapidan to the Chich-
ahominy and our Notifications without
wasting cartridge on him. But neither
N la CTx, ,a,,tx
Clellan's plan. 1t had been tried, and had
failed; beside, it was McClellans. SO they
imagined another, after their own hearts.
They would attack Lee at Mine Run, far
from his base, and destroy him there.
Failing in this, they would fight him till
his army was wrecked, and then push the
fragments before them clean down to Rich
mond. They would then approach the city,
not from the river, but from Hanover juno
bookkeeping the Central and fredericksburg
railroads always in their possession, supply
ing themselves thereby, to position on the
north of the city. Here they believed their
army could not be tianked, as McClellan's
was, by some jackson coming out of the
West through the gates of Gordonsville.
But their plan failed on the 18th of May.
On that day, the question, whether they
could beat Lee in the field and put him into
disastrous retreat, was forever settled.
Twice within eight days Grant endeavored
to renew the assault without the ability to
bring up his columns.
Unable to remove the obstacle on the
threshold of his proposed campaign, moth
ing was left but to abandon it and make
his way down the Valley ofthe Rappahan-
mock to the head waters of the York-a
monstrous circuit to reach q point where he
might have landed on the 1sU of May, had
l.. hxy Ia via fntin
over Pemberton and Bragg. Once, it is
true, he turned aside to Hanover Junction,
but found only repetition of Spottsylva-
mia Courthouse in readiness there.
Now, we suppose, we may have another
decisive battle of Cold Harbor unless Gen.
Grant has become so much enamOred with
the left flank that he will continue it from
the York to the James, and form junction
with Butler. If he does so, we may have a
long summer day. Perhaps he will dig
parallels, and come to the city with the
zig-Zag. Perhaps he thinks himself back
at Vicksburg. 1t is true, we believe, that
the officer who surrendered Vicksburgh has
lately been placed, with modest title, in
high command; it is also true that the
Fourth of July is not afar off; but Lee and
Beauregard are also close at hand, and
Richmond will never be circumyallated.
LATEST WAR NEWS.
[From the Examiner, 2sth.
There is littlenews to be given this MORN
ing from Gen. Lees army, in addition to
that contained in the letter of our special
correspondent, and the dispatches which
appear under the telcgraphic head. The
position is pretty well stated in them. 1t
appears to be known, at least that both ar
mics are moving. Grant is reported to have
crossed the Pamunkey at HanOvertown,
and to be moving down, probably for the
point known as Piping Tree, in New-Kent
county, some fifteen or sixteen miles from
Richmond. OF the movements of Lee it
would not be prudent to speak; but the
reader may be well assured that he has his
eye upon his adversary, and will be pre-
pared for him whenever and wherever he
may show himself. Lee has never yet been
surprised or outgeneraled, and it is not like
ly that he will be in this instance. ts
So far the armies have only been maneu-
vering, but the battle will likely come off in
a few days. Parties down from Ashland
yesterday say that there had been some Sc
we're skirmishing and brisk cannonading on
night before last, but at the time of their
leaving, yesterday, all was quiet-the enc
my having disappeared.
Deserters from Grants army say that he
does not intend to fight, but is going to lay
siege to the city and try the spade and
shovel as he did with Pemberton at Vicks-
burg. They report great dissatisfaction
among their men, and say that all are leav-
ing whose term of enlistment has expired.
This is confirmed by what we see in the
Northern papers, in which the return of
several regin ents is mentioned.
From the southside we have nothing new
this morning. All remains quiet, with the
same as it has been for several days past.
The enemy is still under cover of his in
trenchments and gunboats, and from the
accounts in the Northern papers, which we
publish elsewhere, it is not very probable
he will try Beauregard's steel voluntarily
again. 1t is clear from their own accounts
that Buffers army has been most roughly
handled, and his men are in a state of great
discomfort. From such an army we have
nothing to fear.
There is nothing additional from the Pen
insula. The Yankees are still reported to
be lurking in the vicinity of the White
House, but we hear nothing new of their
operations.
FROM NORTH GEORGIA.
ATLANTA, May N.-Our advance came up
with the enemy at New Hope, four miles
east of Dallas, at noon Wednesday. Hoods
CORPS was first in the fight, parts of two di-
visions, Stevenson's and Hindman's, only
were engaged. We had but one line of bat
tie, which the enemy charged twice, and
were handsomely repulsed. ae
A private note from General J0hnston's
boodnuo a ,fat.c n cunr rico vastardaV sava that