Death of Col. Dahlgren

OB-6

Union cavalry under Col. Ulric Dahlgren approached Richmond from the west on 1 March 1864 in a raid designed by Brig. Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick to free Federal prisoners of war. Repulsed five miles from Capitol Square, Dahlgren's column rode to King and Queen County in search of Kilpatrick. On the night of 2 March, after resting briefly nearby, Dahlgren moved east toward this intersection, where Confederate soldiers and home guards opened fire, killing Dahlgren. Papers found on his body described plans—the origins of which are uncertain—to burn Richmond and assassinate Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet.

Department of Historic Resources, 2015

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Consultations with Bob Krick and John Salmon Duane Schultz, The Dahlgren Affair: Terror and Conspiracy in the Civil War (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998). Eric J. Wittenberg, Like a Meteor Blazing Brightly: The Short but Controversial Life of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren (Edinborough Press, 2009). Peter Luebke, “Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid,” Encyclopedia Virginia Stephen W. Sears, “The Dahlgren Papers Revisited,” http://www.historynet.com/jefferson-davis Virgil Carrington Jones, Eight Hours Before Richmond (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1957).