War News.
Of real news there is little or none.
Of rumors there are more than would fill a newspaper.
There was one yesterday, the origin of which we could not ascertain, that excited a very lively interest.
It was of a victory achieved by
General Lee over the enemy.--The rumor at first maintained a currency on the reputed authority of the War Department.
Upon applying there we found that there was no truth whatever in it. The Department had received no information of the kind.
At last accounts that have reached us
Gen. Lee was with a part of the force under his command not far from
Huttonsville, in Randolph county.
The enemy, or part of the force under
Rosencrantz, was between him and that town, the distance between the camps of the opposing forces being eight or ten miles. Up to that time
Gen. Lee had moved steadily, and the enemy had been receding before him after he had passed a defensible point on the line between
Pocahontas and
Randolph.
It will be remembered that
Rosencrantz endeavored to get possession of that point when he heard the approach of our army; but
Gen. Lee got ahead of him and occupied it but a little while before he could reach it.
A correspondent, under date of the 21st, reports that the second division of
Gen. Lee's army was then on the
Greenbrier River, a the foot of
Cheat Mountain.
On that mountain the enemy was well fortified.
Cheat Mountain is on the east of the road that leads northwardly from
Pocahontas to
Huttonsville and thence to
Beverly.
A part of the
Federal army is on that road retreating from
Lee, and another part is on
Cheat Mountain, as aforesaid.
The rumor above may be one of those remarkable rumors which have been known to precede, from twelve to twenty-four hours, the authentic news of a victory.
There was a rumor here of the victory at
Bethel some hours before reliable information came.--There was no authority for the rumor; it could not be traced, yet in a few hours it was converted into truth and reality.
We hope it may turn out so in the rumor about
General Lee's victory.
There is a brief correction of the
Federal telegraph about a skirmish at
Hawk's Nest, copied into our paper from the
Enquirer. Dr. Phillips, who makes this statement, says that
Gen. Wise was present and directed his small force.
