ing two of our number into the cellar, we succeeded in
removing enough of the stone foundation to allow the escape of one man
at a time through the aperture. Our arrangements were hastened by the
assignment of a particular day on which we were to be transferred from
our prison, and conveyed to Richmond. Though we should have been glad to
enter the city under some circumstances, we did not feel very desirous
of going as prisoners of war.

"On the night selected we waited impatiently till midnight. Then, as
silently as possible, we removed the planking, and afterwards the
stones of the basement wall, and crept through one by one. All this was
effected so noiselessly that we were all out without creating any alarm.
We could hear the measured tramp of the sentinel, as he paced up and
down in front of the empty prison. We pictured to ourselves his surprise
when he discovered, the next morning, that we escaped under his nose
without his knowing it!

"I need not dwell upon the next twenty-four hours. The utmost vigilance
was required to elude the rebel pickets. At last, after nearly twenty
hours, during which we had nothing to eat, we walked into camp,
exhausted with hunger and fatigue, to the great joy of our comrades from
whom we had been absent a fortnight.

"On receiving information of the manner in which we had been captured,
our commanding officer at once despatched me with a detachment of men to
arrest Mrs. Roberts and her daughter. Her surprise and dismay at seeing
me whom she supposed safe in Richmond were intense. She is still under
arrest.

"I suppose our campaign will open as soon as the roads are dried up. The
mud in Virginia is much more formidable than at the North, and presents
an insuperable, perhaps I should say an unfathomable, obstacle to active
operations. I hope General Grant will succeed in taking Vicksburg. The
loss of that important stronghold would be a great blow to the rebels.

"You ask me, in your last letter, whether I see much of the contrabands.
I have talked with a considerable number. One, a very intelligent
fellow, had been very much trusted by his master, and had accompanied
him to various parts of the South. I asked him the question: 'Is it
true that there are a considerable number of slaves who would prefer to
remain in their present condition to becoming free?'

"'Nebber see any such niggers, massa,' he answered, shaking his head
decisively. 'We all want to be free. My old massa tre