On the 12th of September, General Reynolds, commanding the Federal brigade on Cheat Mountain, was attacked by General Lee of the Secession army, with a force computed at 9,000 men. The Cheat Mountain Pass lies between the valley of the South branch of the Potomac river and those of Elk and Gauley rivers, tributaries of the Great Kanawha. The first position held by General Reynolds was at the foot of the mountain, but subsequently two fortifications had been erected on the summit of two adjacent spurs, seven miles apart by a bridle path, which were called Cheat Summit and Elk Water. General Reynolds’s headquarters was at Elk Water, while Colonel Kimball of the Fourteenth Indiana, held a subordinate command at Cheat Summit. The enemy was well informed of the position and strength of these defences, but had no desire to attack General Reynolds in either of his strongholds. Their leader had hopes, however, of escaping the vigilance of the Federal commanders by making a detour and marching on beyond, and was engaged in this enterprise when he met with unexpected reverses. The two Federal posts were in constant communication by a telegraphic line, and pickets guarded every avenue of approach. On the 12th, the enemy, five thousand strong, with eight pieces of artillery, under command of General R. E. Lee, advanced on this position by the Huntersville Pike. Our advanced pickets—portions of the Fifteenth Indiana and Sixth Ohio—gradually fell back to our main picket station; two companies of the Seventeenth Indiana, under Colonel Hascall, checking the enemy’s advance at the Point Mountain Turnpike, and then falling back on the regiment which occupied a very advanced position on our right front, and which was now ordered in. The enemy threw into the woods on our left front three regiments, who made their way to the right and rear of Cheat Mountain, took a position on the road leading to Huttonville, broke the telegraph wire, and cut off our communication with Colonel Kimball’s Fourteenth Indiana Cavalry on Cheat Summit. At the same time an equal force of the enemy advanced by the Staunton Pike on the front of Cheat Mountain, and threw two regiments to the right and rear of the mountain, thus uniting with his other column. They advanced towards the pass, in order to get to the rear of Elkwater, when three companies of the Thirteenth Indiana, and one from the Fourteenth, met them. The encounter resulted in the rout and retreat of the enemy.