Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-14
RAITIMoRE. Nav 10.

Movements on the south Side of the
James.River.
.,--.,--,.... BALTIMORE, May 10.
send to you herewith preliminary ac-
count of the recent military events in Vir-
| ginia, derived from Southern sources.
THE BATTLES ON THE RAPIDAN MERELY
PRELIMINARY.
Twill send to you in asday or two,sa full
account of the recent military operations
of the confederates in Virginia, both on the
Rapidan and elsewhere. At present, the
materials for such an account have not
reached here. The roar of the three days
battle has not yet died away. The smoke
of the conflict still hangs heavily over the
bloody field. All that | can send to you to-
day is few detached facts, not without i'm
portance in themselves, and not without
their value in aiding your readers to COM
prehend fully the actual situation. For you
need not to be told that the administration
| is sendeavoring to suppress important facts in
relation to events thathave transpired. No
more reliance can be placed now upon the
assurance made by the Secretary of War to
General Dix, that "It is designed to with
hold nothing from the public" than the as
surance formerly made by that official after
Hooker had been defeated at Chancellors-
and would speedily resume the offensive"
All that has yet taken place in Virginia,
terrible and sanguinary as the battles of the
5th and 9th of May were, is only the COM
mencement of the great contest for the
possession of Richmond. Fiercely contes-
ted as those battles were, they are not the
great battle that General Lee will fight be-
tween the Rapidan and the rebel capital.
The battles of the 9Th and 9th, desperate as
kI,a1r sn1n a,,1 h,,k Nl<
preliminary skirmishes to atsupreme con-
flict to which the rebel leaders have been
looking forward for so long time.
GREAT ADVANTAGE OF THE NUMERICAL sU-
PERIORTrY OF GENERAL GRANT.
The key to all of General Lees movements
in this campaign will be found in my letter
of April 2S. 1t is therein stated there will
be battle on the Rapidan, but it will not
be the great BATTLE" / am already in pos
session of facts enough to show that this Is
the case, as stated below. At the same time,
the enormous number of troops at the
command of General Grant has made Cen
-eral Lees task much more difficult one
than he expected, and has caused him to
modify somewhat his original plans. This
modification, however, does not involve
any radical change in those plans, which,
it is understood will yet be carried out.
The great disproportion in the size of the
Union and the rebel armies made it neces-
sary for General Lee so to maneuver his
troops as to bring on the actions that have
been fought, in such positions, and under
such conditions, that his advantage of posi-
tion should counterbalance the disprOpor-
tion of numbers, and that great loss should
be inflicted on the Union troops, while the
rebel troops suffered comparatively but
little. Another object that General Lee had
in viz m n nf 10
and 9Th preliminary and secondary in i'm
portance as they were) so tiercely contested
as to draw out the whole strength of the
Union forces, including even our reserves.
Both of these objects the rebels claim have
been fully accomplished.
sIGEL's MOVEMENT IN THE SHENANDOAH
VALLEY OF NO CONSEQUENCE TO GEN. LEE.
The presence of the troops under Gen.
Sigel, Gen. Kelly, and Gen. in the
Shenandoah valley, gave Gen. Lee no un-
easiness whatever. He ascertained the facts
i'm regard to that movement by means of
reconnaissance along the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad, which was made, as you will
remember, about a week or ten days ago,
by a squadron of Imboden's cavalry. He
learned at that time, it is said, that all the
troops under the officers above named were
to be kept stationed below Winchester and
Strasburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, in
order to prevent him from turning Grants
right flank, and that the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad, if guarded at ALL must be
guarded by raw recruits. These facts gave
him no uneasiness, because the time was
not yet come for him to turn Grants left
flank; and because, when he was ready and
determined to do so, these thirty thousand
Union troops (more or less) would not pre-
vent his doing it.
GEN. LEES UNEASINESS ABOUT THE MOVE
MENT ON THE PENINSULA.
But what did cause him some uneasiness,
was General Grants movements by way of
the peninsula. If this movement had been
really directed by General Butler, it would
have given Lee no concern at all. But the
rebel general understands that Buffers con-
nection with it is only nominal, and that it
is a political trick on the part of the Presi-
dent, insisted OH by the latter, so as not to
offend Buffers radical and powerful friends
at Washington, that keeps Butler nominal
ly at the head of the movement. General
Lee is fully convinced that the whole move
ment on the peninsula is part of General
Grants grand plan of the campaign against
Richmond, and that it is directed solely by
him, and executed solely by Gen. Smith,
And that is why he was uneasy about it.
Indeed, it caused him great deal more un-
easiness than the overland movement of
Meade's army. The latter he knew he could
foil and defeat. But the movement on the
peninsula, if it should be made on the left
bank of the James river, and made in suf-
ficient force, might render it necessary for
him either to oppose it with his whole force,
or at least would render it necessary for
him to detach such portion of his army
from the line of the Rapidan as would great
ly, perhaps fatally, weaken him there. If
on the other hand, it should be made on the
right bank of the James river, he knew that
General Beauregard could hold it in check,
and prevent it from endangering the safety
of Richmond in the slightest degree, and
this, tov, although General Beauregard's
forces were far inferior in number to those
under Generals Smith, Gilmore, and Butler.
l will merely add here that events have
shown that on this point the rebel general
reasoned correctly.
WHY GEN. LEE ATTACKED MEADE's ARMY.
+ General Meade's army crossed the Rapi-
dan, near Germania ford, on the 4th. GEN
eral Grants purposes on the peninsula were
entirely undeveloped. A strong Union
force had been landed at West Point, and
another strong body of troops was at York.
town, while still third body was moving
on Williamsburg. The whole, or great
part of the Union fiotilla was collected in
the York river. All these facts were known