Ulric Dahlgren
Ulric Dahlgren | |
---|---|
Born | Bucks County, Pennsylvania, US | April 3, 1842
Died | March 2, 1864 near Stevensville, Virginia | (aged 21)
Buried | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Allegiance | United States of America Union |
Service/ | United States Navy |
Years of service | 1861–1862 (Union Navy) 1862–1864 (Union Army) |
Rank | Colonel |
Battles/wars | |
Relations | John A. Dahlgren (father) Charles G. Dahlgren (uncle) |
Ulric Dahlgren (April 3, 1842 – March 2, 1864) was a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was the son of Union Navy Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren and nephew to Confederate Brigadier General Charles G. Dahlgren.
He fought in several key battles in the
Confederate forces found documents on Dahlgren with orders to free Union prisoners from
Early life
Dahlgren was born on April 3, 1842, in
The family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1843 and then to Washington, D.C. in 1848.
American Civil War
Dahlgren entered military service in March 1861, and on July 24, 1861, joined the
In May 1862, he was sent to
He fought at the
Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid
After recovering from his injury, Dahlgren met Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick on February 23, 1864, at a party and was invited to participate in an operation to attack Richmond, Virginia; rescue Union prisoners from Belle Isle and damage Confederate infrastructure.[12] The operation is also known as the Battle of Walkerton.[13]
On February 28, Kilpatrick and Dahlgren left from Stevensburg, Virginia. Kilpatrick was to attack Richmond from the North with 3,500 men and Dahlgren from the South with 500 men. Snow, sleet and rain from an unexpected winter storm slowed the attack.[14] Dahlgren's forces were led to a ford on the James River near Dover Mills by an African-American guide, Martin Robinson. The troops were not able to cross due to high water from recent rains. Dahlgren believed he had been tricked by the guide and had him hanged in retaliation.[12]
Dahlgren redirected his troops to attack Richmond from the East. They heard the sound of battle and rushed to support Kilpatrick but ran directly into a
Dahlgren affair
Dahlgren's body was searched by a 13-year-old boy, William Littlepage. He was searching for valuables but found a packet of papers that he gave to his teacher Edward Halbach.
Dahlgren was originally interred where he was shot.[18] An outraged mob disinterred his body and placed it on display at the York River Railroad depot in Richmond.[19] Dahlgren's wooden leg was displayed in a store window and his finger was cut off to remove a ring.[18] These reports of the mistreatment of Dahlgren's corpse inflamed Northern public opinion.[20]
Union newspapers claimed the orders were a forgery and Dahlgren's father strongly denied his son would be involved in such a scandal. Union Major General George Meade had to personally assure Confederate General Robert E. Lee that the orders were not sanctioned by the Union Army.[21] The controversy may have contributed to John Wilkes Booth's decision to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln a year later.[22]
It was never determined if the orders were written by Dahlgren, Kilpatrick, Edwin M. Stanton or President Lincoln. The papers misspelled Dahlgren's name which casts doubt that they were written by him. After the war, the papers of the Confederate Government were relocated to Washington, D.C. The Dahlgren papers were personally requested by Stanton and have not been seen since.[14]
Burial
After the public display of his corpse, Dahlgren was interred in an unmarked grave at Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond.[18] His father petitioned to have Ulric's body returned for burial in Philadelphia. He made four trips to Fort Monroe to try to arrange an agreement and even contacted the Confederate Commissioner of Exchange to formally request the return of Ulric's remains.[23] The Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew used her connections in Richmond to secretly exhume his remains and reinter them at a farm 10 miles outside of Richmond[24] to prevent further desecration of his body.[18] Dahlgren was eventually interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[25]
Citations
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, p. 11.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, pp. 11–13.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, p. 20.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, p. 27.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, pp. 42–43.
- ^ a b c d e Powell, William Henry (1893). Officers of the Army and Navy (volunteer) who Served in the Civil War, Volume 1. Philadelphia: L.R. Hamersly & Co. p. 64. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, p. 59.
- ^ Schultz 1998, p. 95.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, pp. 168–170.
- ^ Brock, R.A. (1909). Southern Historical Society Papers, Volumes 37-38. Richmond, Virginia: Southern Historical Society. p. 352. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ a b c "Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid". www.encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ISBN 9780688170240. Retrieved 9 March 2021.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ a b c d e McNeer, John. "Dahlgren's 1864 Raid on Richmond Generates an Ongoing Controversy". www.historyarch.com. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ Ashe, Samuel A'Court (1925). History of North Carolina. Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company. p. 877. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "The Dahlgren Affair". www.historynaked.com. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ Rhodes 1920, p. 514.
- ^ a b c d Suhr, Robert. "The Dahlgren Affair: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid on Richmond". www.warfarehistorynetwork.com. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, p. 227.
- ^ "Van Lew, Elizabeth L. (1818-1900)". www.encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ Rhodes 1920, p. 515.
- ^ Wittenberg, Eric J. "Ulric Dahlgren in the Gettysburg Campaign". Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ Schultz 1998, p. 190.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, pp. 274–275.
- ^ Dahlgren 1872, p. 287.
Sources
- Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard and Madeleine Vinton (1872). Memoir of Ulric Dahlgren. By His Father, Rear-Admiral Dahlgren. J.B. Lippincott & Co.
- Rhodes, James Ford (1920). History of the United States from The Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. The MacMillan Company.
- Schultz, Duane (1998). The Dahlgren Affair: Terror and Conspiracy in the Civil War. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04662-1.