Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 26.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

‘ [253] to overtake him, and as the cavalry did not move without us, it was impossible for them to overtake him. The moon was shining brightly, making any kind of movement for ourselves or the enemy as easy as in the day light.’ Fitz John Porter regrets, ‘That when General Cook did pursue he should have tied his legs with the infantry command.’ About day light we reached the Chickahominy. Stuart had expected to ford it, but is was overflowing. He did not appear in the slightest degree disappointed or discouraged. He was just as bouyant with hope and joy as when he left Royall's camp. Fortunately he had two guides—Christian and Frayser—who knew all the roads and crossings on the river. Christian knew of a bridge, or where there had been a bridge, a mile lower down, and the column was headed for it. But the bridge was gone and nothing left but the piles in the water. He was again lucky in having two men—Burke and Hagan—who knew something about bridge-building. Near bye were the relics of an old warehouse, out of which they immediately began to build a bridge. It seemed to spring up by magic like the enchanted palace in the Arabian Nights. It was not such a bridge as Ceasar threw over the Rhine, whose strength increased with pressure upon it, but it was good enough for our purpose. While the work was going on Stuart was lying down on the bank of the river in the gayest humor I ever saw. He did not seemed oppressed with any care. During the night I had foraged among the sutlers and brought off a lot of their stores. Out of these I spread a feast. While we were waiting for the bridge no enemy appeared. At last, about 2 o'clock, when all had passed over, and the bridge fired, Rush's lancers came up on a hill and took a look at us as we disappeared from view. General Emory received news of the crossing eight miles off, at Baltimore Store.