Ulric Dahlgren

Ulric Dahlgren

Col. Ulric Dahlgren (seen here as a captain)
Born April 3, 1842
Died March 2, 1864 (aged 21)
(near Stevensville), King and Queen County, Virginia
Buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia
Allegiance United States United States of America
Union
Service/branch Union Army
Years of service 1861 - 1864
Rank Colonel
Wars American Civil War
Relations Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren (father)

Ulric Dahlgren (April 3, 1842 March 2, 1864) served as a Union Army colonel. He was in command of an unsuccessful 1864 raid on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, and was killed in the raid. The major consequence of the failed raid was the Dahlgren Affair after incriminating documents were discovered on Dahlgren's corpse.

Early life

Dahlgren was born April 3, 1842, to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren and Mary Clement Bunker.[1]

Ulric Dahlgren

American Civil War

Papers found on Dahlgren's corpse shortly after his death contained orders for an assassination plot against Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The discovery and publication of the Dahlgren Papers sparked controversy in the South. The disrespectful display of Dahlgren's corpse in Richmond inflamed Northern public opinion, until the intervention of Elizabeth Van Lew enabled its burial, at considerable risk to the Union spy network she ran in the Confederate capital. The papers may have contributed to John Wilkes Booth's decision to assassinate U.S. President Abraham Lincoln a year later.[2]

See also

References

  1. Dahlgren p. 11
  2. Wittenberg, Eric J. "Ulric Dahlgren in the Gettysburg Campaign". Retrieved 2009-02-16.

External links