May 10.
Capt. Rogers performed a deed on the 8th ins't for which he will always rejoice. The causeway at the Ferry extends out into the river within about 150 yards of the one on the opposite shore. There is no spot on the river so thoroughly picketed by both parties, yet he went across at noon in a little "dug-out" and brought over two men who beckoned from the rebel causeway. They were fugitive slaves, who had walked a hundred miles from the interior and had not been discovered by the rebels. They are intelligent fellows and take on liberty as if naturally fitted for it. There was no occasion to suppose that these men were not sent down there to decoy one to destruction, and I regard the crossing in the face of an enemy, who, according to all rules of war, should have been hidden behind the bushes, as an exceedingly daring thing to do. Had I been present, as was the Colonel, I should have protested against it. As usual I find myself the most cautious man in the regiment. Now that it is done I am profoundly thankful but there was not more than one chance in two hundred for him to escape death or capture.
The rebels told us at picket that Gen. Hooker was "driving everything before him" but I confess to a "heap" of incredulity which I hope will vanish before official dispatches.
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