Samuel Magaw to Joseph Hooker, February 3, 1863

Maj. Gen. JOSEPH HOOKER, Commanding Army of the Potomac:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the lst. Every exertion will be made to prevent the crossing of the Rappahannock referred to therein. The difficulty is this, the contrabandists haul their small boats during the day into marshes and thickets, where we cannot get at them, and they are used at night.

Two light batteries and a 20-pounder Parrott, with perhaps two or three regiments of cavalry and infantry, are (or were) opposite a farm called Oaken Brow, some 3 miles below Port Royal. I lost 3 men in December in a skirmish with them.

If the enemy have not placed torpedoes or infernal machines in the Rappahannock, they have not displayed their usual activity. I have heard they had placed them, but am not sure. They have sawed off the buoys at several points on the river, and surveyed Layton’s and Saunders’ for a battery, nearly opposite Leedstown.

In relation to deserters on the Potomac, the only way they can be stopped is to break up the small boats on the river, which I will do if you desire it.

If you have leisure,-I can come up to headquarters at a few hours’ notice.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,