object was, for the second time, utterly
frustrated; and again he turned to the left--still dogged and
obstinate--still seeking to flank Lee.

On the 14th, Grant was again repulsed so sharply that his advance
withdrew; and then the "greatest strategist since Napoleon" struck out
still for his cherished left; and, leaving "the open door," passed down
the Valley of the Rappahannock.

Lee's calm sagacity foresaw the enemy's course, and on the 23d Grant
met him face to face, in a strong position near the North Anna.
Blundering upon Lee's lines, throwing his men blindly against works
that were proved invincible, he was heavily repulsed in two
attacks--with aggregate loss amounting to a bloody battle. Failing in
the second attack (on the 25th) Grant swung off--still to the left--and
crossing the Pamunkey two days later, took up strong position near Cold
Harbor on the last day of May.

Lee also moved down to face Grant, throwing his works up on a slight
curve extending from Atlee's, on the Central Railroad, across the old
Cold Harbor field--averaging some nine miles from Richmond. Our general
was satisfied with the results of the campaign thus far; the army was
buoyant and confident, and the people were more reliant than they had
been since Grant had crossed the Rapidan. They felt that the nearness
of his army to Richmond in no sense argued its entrance into her
coveted defenses; and memories of Seven Pines, and of that other Cold
Harbor, arose to comfort them.

In the North, great was the jubilee. It was asserted that Grant could
now crush Lee and capture his stronghold at a single blow; that the
present position was only the result of his splendid strategy and
matchless daring; and the vapid boast, "I will fight it out on this
line if it takes all summer"--actually uttered while he was blindly
groping his way, by the left, to the Pamunkey!--was swallowed whole by
the credulous masses of the North. They actually believed that Grant's
position was one of choice, not of necessity; and that Lee's movement
to cover Richmond from his erratic advance--though it ever presented an
unbroken front to him, and frequently drove him back with heavy
loss--was still a retreat!

Both sides can look now calmly and critically at this campaign--seemingly
without a fixed plan, and really so hideously costly in blood. When
Grant crossed the Rapidan, he could have had no other intention than to
sweep Lee from his front; and either by a crus