L. P. Brockett, The camp, the battlefield, and the hospital: or, lights and shadows of the great rebellion

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[281] he was attacked with chills, and so deceived this excellent medical gentleman that he gave him medicine for the disease. He next passed down into the room occupied by the commissary, shaved his beard and darkened his eyebrows and hair, thus disguising himself perfectly. Captain Porter did not then endeavor to pass out of the gate, but waited until three o'clock in the afternoon, which was the hour designated for roll-call. At this time he went into the middle room of the prison, and, roll-call being over, went down with the guard. Captain Porter then waited until the guard went into the building, and while a new one was being placed on duty, passed Post No. 1, down Carey street, in which Libby Prison is situated. Having got outside of the city limits, he suddenly stumbled against a battery, and, seeing a negro in the vicinity, asked the name of the battery, and was told it was No. 4. Passed out along the Nine Mile road, and, coming to a wood, stayed there over night, and returned to Richmond next morning, in order to await a more favorable opportunity for reaching the Union lines. In Richmond, Captain Porter now remained nine days without suspicion, during which time he passed around the entire fortifications of the city.

At the end of that time he procured a passport from a rebel officer, and, in company with a family of Irish refugees, started for the Army of the Potomac. Arriving at Cat Tail Church, in Hanover county, the party were suddenly surrounded by rebel cavalry. Captain Porter's passport was rigorously examined, and his person robbed of one hundred dollars Confederate money, the rebels leaving him fifty in his possession. Two days after, having reached the Rappahannock, the river was crossed