Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1863-06-26
The Situation in Virginia.

The public must content itself to avail. in
patience the issue Of events in virginia, and
to remain in ignorance. Tor the most part, oi
the campaign till some decisive point is
reached. The town is filled with rumors.
which II is safe 10 dlsereiit in the absence Of
authentic intelligence. Even newspaper re.
ports must be received with hesitation until
such tune A. the Government sees fit t. open
tire Telegraph to AN UNRESTRICTED U.s., whi.h
in the prcsent juncturc Of affairs, il would he
manifestly ipFrud-nt u DO. 81 far rs it is
proper, and as our intelligence warrante, We
desire To keep the public informed Of the
progress OF events, both 10 satisfy the strong
desire for news, and to allay the public
anxiety.
The alarming rumors rife on Saturday.
here. ia Philadrlphil, and Baltimore, OF dis
aster 10 lockers army. were totally false -
Neither was it trae that there had been
fight and a partial defeat at Centreyiile, tho
the enemy had undoubtedly moved upon thai,
point. Lee and Ewell, at that time, i, was
supposed, and probably correctly. wcr, in
poss ss5n of Th2roughiare Gap Longs;reet
was threatening Slaeam in the vicinity Of
Leeshurg. and A. p. Hill had reached Dunn
tries on Friday night. The enemy thus
seemed 10 he advancing in three columns, his
center at Thorougharc Gap, and hi. ielt Al,
Leesburg, and his right at Damiries. The
position Of lockers forces VIC are not. Of
course, AZ liberty TO state, further than to
say that they were in such position as to
occupy the inner lines of the circle, and
ready to act on the offensive or defens iye, as
the exigencies OF the situation should re-
quire, whether to repel an advance in one d.
rection or to follow il in another. The sub.
sequent movements of the enemy. SO lar as
We are Informed Of them, render his purpose
even more incxplicable than before On Fri.
day and Saturday it looked MS il his object
was Washington, and H0oker's position was
such as TO repel such an advance Whether
this difficulty in the way has caused Lee to
change his Ian Of the campaign, or whether
Washington has not, at any time, been his
object. it is idle even TO conjecture. We have
reason now, however, to believe he has
changed It's direction. Where Lee himself
was, a. cur latest dates. seems not to have
been known, but Ewell, ho was ut Thor
oughtare Gap, and Longstreet, who was in
the neighborhood of Lecsburg, according to
our latest accounts, has joined their forces
and were near Winchester. Lee may have
been with them, for Thcroughiare Gap we
believe TO have been abandoned and t. be
now held by large force from Hooker $
army. Whether the aim of the rebels is
simply 70 get into the Shenandoah Valley, OF
whether he still purpJ ses to cross the Upper
Potomac and invade Maryland and Pennsyl.
vania, Is subject of conf ecture. though if
the latter were his purpose it seems proba-
bic that he would have carried it out week
ago. That the whole army has not gone in
that direction is certain. There was more
fighting at Aldie on Saturday or Sunday,
and it was this, perhaps, which gave rise to
the report OF q battle at Centreville. There
is, at any rate, every reason to suppose that
up To the latest dates Hooker Was in COM
mand OF the situation, aud so far has the ad
vantage, while Lee seems baffied if he had
proposed to do anything more than to change
the field OF operations to the Shenandoah
Valley. sull, it is proper to say that the
data We have, at this moment, On which to
base any positive opinion, are very meagre
-Tribuae.