Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-10-06
Rebel News and nniniar1s.

THE FINAL STRUGGLE At HAND.
The final struggle for the possession o
Richmond and Of Virginia is now near. Thi:
war draws to a close If Richmond is held
by the South till the first of November, i
VIII be ours torevermore for the North vii
never throw another huge army into the
abyss where so many lie: and the war vii
conclude, beyond a doubt, with the indepeud
ence OF the Southern States Events have
made this city, in itself insignificant. tAe
| keystone OF the arch Probably the last i'm.
mense effort for its destruction which the
enemy Is about to make would not be attempt
cd had not Atlanta fallen from the hands o!
Hood. But Sherman's triumph cCmpels
Hrant tomatcn 1t or sink into insignifcanCe
According to their well settled custom, the
enemy proclaims the intention. Grant him
self, IN public speech made during hi,
late journey, has notified his country that
whereas Sherman has scOtched the tail in
| Georgia, he was on his way to crush the head
OF the rebellion in Virginia" What is OF
more Importance, he has brought I'D the
james titty-fVe thousand new troops It is
| true that they will hardly do more than make
up the depletion Of the last two months. 1t
IS also trRe that they are troops Of the very
heaheat descrption--the substitutes, the
| crlmped Ievles, the refuse Of the Yankee
| W,
| IN mass, except to be employed immediately
The blow must be struck within the next
three weeks, or it cannot be struck at all.
Even success would be useless for the cleo
ton, unless obtained in the coming month.
| but II IS useless to enumerate the proofs of
the proposition WHICH no intelligent observer
can treat as doubtful, that the final struggle
| 1or lrglnla IS about to be made below Pc
tefsburg and perhaps, too, in the Valley
Only one fear clouds the rejecting mind. 1t
Is not the fear that our Generals will be
found unequal TO their duty, or that our ar
mics are insufficient. 1t is a fear arising
| from memories Of the past conduct of our
central military authority on every such
| crisis. just when the scale trembes. lust
| when the tiger is about TO spring. lust when
! the enemys columns are about to emerge
from the mist, that has hitherto been found
their chosen moment to disintergrate our
own force, and to attempt insignificant con-
| quests a hundred miles away Loncstreet
was sent to threaten Knoxville, while Grant
was about to bound on Lookout Mountain:
an army was distinguishing itself before "Lit.
tie Washington" while Butler was landing at
! bermuda Hundred Breckenridge was order
| ed out Of the Valley while Hunter was enter
| ing it. Recollections like these crowd upon
the mind and painfully Cypress it now. These
| species OF strategy, so often occurring, is the
sole Tear of the army and the country at this
| moment. But surely at this time at least,
we tremble before shadows. Some pe1S0naqes
| IN history hare been styled worse titan the IN
~ntalght because they acre 2teachable, but their
| existence may be doubted. By such stern
lessons as the Confederate authorities have
| received, they must have learned at least
this much-that troops must be concentrated
III a country at stake, not sent out of it.
M'CLELLAN's PROSPECTS.
a long article on this subject states that,
Notwithstanding the dissatisfaction caused at
first by MCCLELLAN's letter of acceptance, the
Northern Democrats are uniting, and there
will be little or no division IN their ranks. 1t
continues:
Whatever may be the advantages as regards
the attainment of office, of SO ambiguous
procedure as that Of the Chicago Convention
in nominating two candidates 0ppar6nty of
| ogtday different principles, and one OF whom at
least has been palmed off on the sincere
peace men by deXterouS piece of charIa-
| tanism, it is unfortunate for the true inter
ests Of peace that policy Of directness and
good faith was not adopted IN place of one
traught with future trouble and uncertainty
Had an unmistakable and decided peace can
didate been selected, his defeat, if it had re-
vealed the fact of a powerful party disposed
to peace, would not only have had a potent
immediate effect, but would have tended
| speedily to increase the desire for peace
among the people Il fer Confederate gicto-
yteS oC0md hare Tp0oed public sentiment. Lin
coin, himself, thoroughly committed as he is
to the prosecution of the war, might not have
been deaf to the outspoken demand Of grow
ing sentiment. The harlequin President
might have yaulted into the ring in the new
character Of an advocate of peace, and finding
as little difficulty in violating his pledges and
eating his words as he has heretofore done,
might have entertained the audience with a
series of clownish je5t8 on the subject of
peace, as entertaining at least as those he is
accustomed to make on the h0rrid realities of
war
The question of the day having been blink
ed by the opposition to Lincoln, it is profile
NAUTICAL whether their success or that Of the
present incumbent is most favorable to the
interests of humanity All sorts of crude
theories as to possible revolution in case the
Democratic party, are ventilated They
scarcely merit serious consideration. Tie
only vita1 question at presentis whoSe success IS
least likely to prone an usSuynaotab1e barrier to
peace. Linc0lu'S election nor acould5e looked
upon By himself as an 0pprOvM Of his cause,
would seem to spring from satisfaction with
the military position, and would strengthen
his determination. His election itself has
been urged as military measure of no small
Importance. 1t has been asserted by his
friends that it would at once drive the South
to despair.
The election of Mcclellan, on the other hand,
at least opens the rag to ateW con1b1aatjonS.-
Pacjencja q barqiap," says the Spanish PROV
eth. "Patience and shuttle the cards" Il
neg deal mag perhaps prove Propitjo"s, but the
ord certain h9unps are the Confederate ann e.
FROM THE SHENANDOAH.
! There is no news, official or private, from
the Valley There are plenty of Yankee lies
| regarding the late battle in that quarter, some
of which we publish in another column for
! the amusement of our readers. The Yankees
still claim three thousand prisoners, which
we are confident will cover our whole loss III
killed, wounded and missing. They admit a
loss of two thousand on their side-which fig
ure being multiplied by four will give the cor
rect number. Their repeated assertion that
our defeat was g complete rout" is of a
piece with their other statements on the
same subject. We predict that when all the
facts of this battle come to be known, it will
stand out as the best fight and the most orderly
retreat that Gen. Early has euer made. We
will say no more at present, it not beng erpe-
dent to publish all the facts.
The Yankee press say Early will not make
a stand north Of Staunton. He made stand
at Strasburg, seyenty-four miles north of
Staunton,% and the Yankee army does not
approach him.
1t is much more probable that instead OF