umberland Gap, would, ere this, have been in the hands of
the enemy. Lynchburg, Virginia, would have been moved upon
at once. This would have given them possession of the Valley
of Virginia, and Stonewall Jackson could have been attacked
in the rear. They would have possession of the railroad
leading to Charlottesville and Orange Court House, as well
as the South Side Railroad leading to Petersburg and
Richmond. They might have been able to unite with
McClellan's forces, and attack Jo. Johnston's army, front
and flank. It is not by any means improbable that our army
in Virginia would have been defeated, captured, or driven
out of the State this week.

Then reinforcements from all the Eastern and Southeast
portion of the country would have been cut off from
Beauregard. The enemy have Huntsville now, and with all
these designs accomplished, his army would have been
effectually flanked. The mind and heart shrink appalled at
the awful consequences that would have followed the success
of this one act. When Fuller, Murphy, and Cain started from
Big Shanty _on foot, to capture that fugitive engine_, they
were involuntarily laughed at by the crowd, serious as the
matter was--and to most observers it was indeed most
ludicrous; but _that footrace saved us_, and prevented the
consummation of these tremendous consequences.

One fact we must not omit to mention, is the valuable
assistance rendered by Peter Bracken, the engineer on the
down freight train which Fuller and Murphy turned back. He
ran his engine fifty and a half miles--two of them backing
the whole freight train up to Adairsville--made twelve
stops, coupled to the two cars which the fugitives had
dropped, and switched them off on sidings--all this, _in one
hour and five minutes_.

We doubt if the victory of Manasses or Corinth were worth as
much to us as the frustration of this grand _coup d' etat_.
It is not by any means certain that the annihilation of
Beauregard's whole army at Corinth would be so fatal a blow
to us as would have been the burning of the bridges at that
time and by these men.

When we learned by a private telegraph dispatch, a few days
ago, that the Yankees had taken Huntsville, we attached no
great importance to it. We regarded it merely as a dashi