AUGUST 12th.—Hot and dry. At 3 P.M. rained about three minutes. We are burning up.
There is no war news. A rumor in the street says Atlanta has fallen. I don’t believe it. Yesterday Gen. Hood said no important change had occurred, etc.
I saw a soldier to-day from Gen. Early’s army near Martinsburg, and the indications were that it was on the eve of crossing the Potomac. He left it day before yesterday, 10th inst. He says Kershaw’s division was at Culpepper C. H., 50 miles from Early.
Detachments of troops are daily passing through the city, northward. All is quiet below on the James River. Grant’s campaign against Richmond is confessedly a failure.