vent, full of faith, that He would bless the righteous

cause.

Official bulletins were given to the public of the results of the different days' operations as they slowly became known. And on Tuesday morning all hearts were thrilled with joy by the following official announcement from the President:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, May 9, 1864.

To the Friends of Union and Liberty:

Enough is known of army operations, within the last five days, to claim our special gratitude to God. While what remains undone demands our most sincere prayers to and reliance upon Him (without whom all effort is vain), I recommend that all patriots at their homes, in their places of public worship, and wherever they may be, unite in common thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Accompanying this recommendation were published bulletins of the results up to Saturday, the retiring of the rebels from General Grant's front, and the march of our army towards Spottsylvania. The news spread great joy everywhere, and that night a crowd of several thousand people marched to the White House to serenade the President, who, being called for, came out and spoke as follows:

FELLOW-CITIZENS :-I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of this call, though I apprehend it is owing more to the good news received to-day from the army, than to a desire to see me. I am indeed very grateful to the brave men who have been struggling with the enemy in the field, to their noble commanders who have directed them, and especially to our Maker. Our commanders are following up their victo ries resolutely and successfully. I think, without knowing the particu lars of the plans of General Grant, that what has been accomplished is of more importance than at first appears. 1 believe, I know (and am especially grateful to know) that General Grant has not been jostled in his purposes, that he has made all his points, and to-day he is on his line as he purposed before he moved his armies. I will volunteer to say that I ain very glad at what has happened, but there is a great deal still to be done. While we are grateful to all the brave men and officers for the events of the past few days, we should, above all, be very grateful to Almighty God, who gives us victory.

There is enough yet before us requiring all loyal men and patriots to

perform their share of the labor and follow the example of the modest General at the head of our armies, and sink all personal consideration for the sake of the country. I commend you to keep yourselves in the same tranquil mood that is characteristic of that brave and loyal man. I have said more than I expected when I came before you. Repeating my thanks for this call, I bid you good-by.

one.

While the movement of the Army of the Potomac was the chief point of interest, it was not the only On Wednesday, May 4th, General Butler having put his troops on board a fleet of transports, made a rapid move up the James River and occupied City Point and Bermuda Hundred, on both sides of the Appomattox River, across which pontoons were thrown-while General Kautz, at the head of a strong force of cavalry, left Suffolk upon a raid on the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad-which he succeeded in cutting by destroying some bridges. General Butler also succeeded in cutting the railroad between Petersburg and Richmond, so as to prevent for a time the sending of re-enforcements to General Lee from the forces that were south of Richmond under Beauregard.

General Grant, meantime, had not been content with merely pounding against Lee's front with men and with guns, of which he was now able to employ more than in the battles of the Wilderness. He also dispatched his cavalry under General Sheridan round the right flank of the rebels, on the 10th of May, which, reaching the railroads, made an immense destruction of supplies prepared for Lee's army, and of locomotives and cars for their transportation, and which, on the 11th, routed the rebel cavalry under General Stuart, at Yellow Tavern, in which engagement Stuart was killed; and, pressing on yet nearer Richmond and over the first line of the works around the city, turned off to the east, and crossing the Chickahominy, reached Fortress Monroe with little loss, having inflicted great damage on the enemy.

The 10th and 11th of May were days of hard fighting for the Army of the Potomac, of heavy losses and partial successes for both sides, and of attacks met and re

pulsed, with the employment of all the resources of both armies; and the dispatches which General Grant sent to Washington on the night of the 11th summed up the results as follows:

We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater. We have taken over five thousand prisoners in battle, while he has taken from us but few, except stragglers. I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.

The early light of the next morning brought results yet more in our favor; for with the break of day, Hancock, now on our right, fell like a thunderbolt upon the rebel intrenchments, and stormed over them, capturing several thousand prisoners, including two generals, together with thirty or forty cannon, only eighteen of which, however, he was able to hold. For Lee, stung to the quick by this deadly blow, gathered all his forces to retake the position, and five desperate charges upon it during the day covered the ground with dead and wounded, until, when the battle was over, nearly a thousand rebel dead lay within an acre or two of ground in front of the works. The utmost exertions of the rebels were in vain, however, and they sullenly withdrew to another position. A storm now set in and enforced quiet on both armies for several days. During this time General Butler moved forward towards Fort Darling, but on the 16th day of May he met with a heavy blow from the rebels, who took advantage of a fog to make a successful attack, driving him from the railroad and forcing him to return to his lines at Bermuda Hundred. General Sigel, too, who had marched down the Shenandoah Valley, was met by a superior force under General Imbden, and driven back with a loss of five guns. General Kautz, however, with his cavalry, having returned from his first successful raid, set out upon a second one towards the Danville road, which he also succeeded in injuring to some extent.

The Government strained every nerve to send forward

re-enforcements to General Grant, and on the 18th the fighting in front of Spottsylvania was renewed. On the 19th the rebels inflicted a heavy loss upon our right by making an unexpected attack, in which some of our newly arrived regiments suffered severely. This was an attempt of the rebels to cut our communications, but they failed entirely in doing so.

They had, however, by this time thrown up intrenchments of so formidable a character that General Grant determined again to make a flanking movement by the left.

The movement was at once perceived by General Lee, and when our forces arrived at the North Anna river, the rebels were already there. They were not, however, able to prevent our forces from crossing the river, and inflicting a severe blow upon the enemy in the crossing. After crossing, however, the main body of Lee's army was discovered to have taken so strong a position between the North and South Anna rivers, that General Grant again deemed it wise not to make a direct attack, but to repeat his flanking movement.

mac.

The army was accordingly withdrawn without loss from Lee's front on the night of Thursday, May 26th, and, moving again by the left, crossed the Pamunkey, but was again confronted by the rebel army, which, after some severe fighting, again made a stand at Coal Harbor. While here, one corps of General Butler's army, under General Smith, was transferred to the Army of the PotoThus re-enforced, a violent but unsuccessful attack was made upon the rebel intrenchments on the 3d of June, and, after heavy losses, the attack was abandoned. Repeated efforts, however, on the part of the rebels, to turn our left, and to break up the communication which had been formed with the White House, on the Pamunkey river, also failed as signally. And both armies thus remained for several days, watching each other sleeplessly, and each preferring to receive rather than to make an attack.

Other co-operative movements went on during all this

time. In Western Virginia, General Averill had made quite a successful raid upon the railroads. In the Shenandoah Valley, where General Hunter had taken command in place of General Sigel, our forces won a brilliant victory at Piedmont over the rebels under Generals Jones and Imboden, the former of whom was killed. Hunter captured one thousand five hundred prisoners and three guns; and, forming a junction with Crook and Averill, pushed on towards Lynchburg, which however he was unable to reach. An unsuccessful attack was made by General Butler's forces upon Petersburg on the 10th of June.

On the 12th of June, General Grant, having become convinced that nothing could be gained by a direct attack upon General Lee, followed up his plan of aiming to strike Lee's southern communications by leaving his front and again marching by the left to the James river, which he crossed upon a pontoon bridge below City Point, and immediately moved forward to the attack upon Petersburg. Again, however, General Lee, having the inside lines to move upon, was a few hours in advance of our troops, and, while several forts were taken on the outer lines of defences, with thirteen cannon and some prisoners, in which the colored troops especially distinguished themselves, the inner lines were found to be too strong, and our army settled itself down to the siege of Petersburg.

General Sherman's movement upon Atlanta was made at the same time as that of the Army of the Potomac. His army was superior in numbers to that which was opposed to it, but the rocky heights which were held by General Johnston were so strong that General Sherman did not waste its strength by attacking them in front, but by a series of masterly flank movements he compelled the rebel army to retreat successively from Buzzard's Roost, from Dalton, and from Resaca, at which latter place there were, however, two days of heavy fighting on the 14th and 15th of May, resulting in the capture of both guns and prisoners by our troops, the retreat of Johnston across