"The remaining prisoners replaced the bricks at the fireplace, and the guards began their morning routine, unaware that 109 escaped Union officers were making their way toward the Federal lines." Keeping the escape secret from the Confederate guards until the last possible moment gave the evading inmates what they needed most: time. After the morning roll call came up over a hundred short, the Confederates counted frantically several more times to ensure that the Yankees weren't pulling a trick. Such "tricks" had occurred on many occasions when men slipped in and out of the counting lines; this "repeating" was a mild prank often used to frustrate the Confederates at roll call, much to the glee of the Union prisoners. On the morning of February 10, the Confederates realized that this was no trick. By this time, the first prisoners had been loose for nearly twelve hours. Frenzy broke out among the Confederates: "Messengers and dispatches were soon flying in all directions, and all the horse, foot, and dragoons of Richmond were in pursuit of the fugitives before noon." Despite the mobilization of Richmond, almost 17 hours passed before the Confederates could respond. This no doubt added greatly to the window of opportunity that helped 59 men reach Union lines. The "Richmond Enquirer" of February 11, 1864 expressed such a sentiment: "It is feared that [the fugitives] have gotten rather too much the start of the pursuers to admit anything like the recapture of them all." Of the 109 escapees, 48 were recaptured, and 2 drowned in the nearby James River. Though Union Commander George B. McClellan received little more than defeat in the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, his men received something more. For those who would break out of Libby prison, the time spent studying maps and hoofing ground in Virginia familiarized them with the enemy terrain. Such intelligence was of weighty benefit for the prisoners forging their way back to the Federal lines two years later. The "Richmond Enquirer" reported, "It is supposed that the direction taken by them all – if, indeed all have left the city – was towards the Peninsula..." Lieutenant Moran, who escaped late in the night, wrote, "I had served with McClellan in the Peninsula campaign of 1862, I knew the country well from my frequent inspection of war maps, and the friendly north star gave me my bearings." Just as slaves had been following the North Star to envisioned freedom, it also guided escaped Union prisoners from Libby in 1864.