A Contest Without A Parallel

The fighting in Virginia during the past week is destined to form one of the most memorable incidents in the history of human warfare. The world never saw anything like it. All other conflicts seem tame and flat beside it. It stands out in dreadful prominence, unique unprecedented, unparalleled.

Most of the great battles of history have been comparatively short duration. Even those upon the issue of which the fate of empires has turned, have been decided within the compass of a single day. The battle of Austerlitz was fought and finished between sunrise and sunset. The battle of Waterloo commenced at 11 o’clock in the forenoon and closed before dark. The battle of Marengo was an afternoon job. The battle of Solferino embraced only sixteen hours between the firing of the first gun and the route of the Austrians.

But here we have two days of almost continuous fighting! A respectable sized battle on Wednesday afternoon; fighting all day Thursday; fighting Friday until midnight; fighting lightly Saturday morning, and fiercely Saturday night; fighting desperately the greater part of Sunday; fighting by driblets Monday, and the bloodiest battle of the war on Tuesday! And yet no decisive victory achieved; and, so far at least, as we are concerned, no signs of flagging. Our brave fellows still enthusiastic – still eager for the fray – still determined to press on until the foe has been finally routed or destroyed. Was such courage, such pluck, such unflagging resolve, such constancy of purpose ever witnessed since the world began?

The, as regards the losses: the most sanguinary conflicts that history records fall short, with one or two exceptions, of the terrible aggregate of results of the bloody work of the past few days. At Solferino the French lost 12,000, the Sardinians 5,000, and the Austrians 20,000. At Marengo, the total loss on both sides did not exceed 14,[000]. At Waterloo the aggrate loss on [both] sides did not exceed 35,000, but in [this] series of battles which have been raging [in] Virginia during the few days past our loss is reported at over 30,000 while [that] of the enemy is estimated even larger. [ ] can recall only one instance in modern w[ar] where the losses were so heavy. At the battle of Leipzig the French had 60,000 a[nd] the Allies 50,000 men placed hors du combat; but then all Europe was engaged and had a three days’ tussle of it. [Albany Evening Journal.

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, June 4, 1864