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by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
UNION RAID ON RICHMOND ENDS IN DISASTER
On Feb. 28, 1864, a raiding party set out for Richmond, Virginia, under the joint command of Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick and Col. Ulric Dahlgren. Acting on information regarding horrendous prison conditions in the Confederate capital, the raiders planned to liberate prisoners, damage Richmond’s infrastructure, and disseminate Union propaganda.
Between January–February 1864, Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew provided intelligence to Union commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler regarding the status of prisoners held in Richmond. Van Lew’s intelligence painted a dismal picture of conditions at Libby Prison, which housed Union officers, and Belle Isle Prison, housing enlisted men. In response, Butler launched an unsuccessful raid against the Confederate capital in early February to free the prisoners and potentially kidnap Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Despite Butler’s failure, President Abraham Lincoln remained committed to liberating the prisons after receiving further reports from recently released prisoners. He also desired to distribute his proclamation granting full pardons to Confederates who returned to the Union. Lincoln thus selected two men to lead another raid on Richmond. The first was General Kilpatrick, unaffectionately nicknamed “Kill-Cavalry” for the high casualty rates suffered under his command and who was in desperate need of a victory to bolster his reputation. Lincoln also selected Colonel Dahlgren, a family friend and, at the age of twenty-one, the youngest full colonel in either army.
The raiders set out on Feb. 28, 1864. The plan called for Kilpatrick and about 3,500 cavalrymen to approach Richmond from the north, while Dahlgren’s smaller force of between 400-500 troops would liberate the prisoners and enter Richmond from the south. Likely in an effort to gather intelligence from the Confederate capital, a detachment from the Bureau of Military Information (BMI) headed by Capt. John McEntee was attached to Dahlgren’s command. Bad weather significantly hindered the raiders’ approach to Richmond, and Dahlgren’s men became lost while attempting to cross the James River. Dahlgren blamed the BMI’s African American guide, Martin Robinson, who Dahlgren suspected of intentional sabotage and ordered hanged before looking for a new way into Richmond.
Upon approaching the city on the afternoon of Mar. 1, Kilpatrick found Dahlgren had not yet arrived. His cavalry soon engaged the Confederate Home Guard, but Dahlgren’s late arrival made it impossible to provide support without significant casualties. Both parties were forced to retreat on Mar. 2. Dahlgren’s men were swiftly ambushed, and the young colonel and several others killed in the withdrawal. Over one hundred more were taken prisoner, including all but one of McEntee’s agents. Dahlgren was later buried in an unmarked grave, which Van Lew eventually located and had his remains secretly returned to his family.
The raid may have faded into obscurity, had it not been for a curious set of papers discovered on Dahlgren’s body by a Confederate teenager. These letters included orders for the freed prisoners to “burn the hateful city; and do not allow the Rebel leader Davis and his traitorous crew to escape.” Another set of instructions ordered that “once in the city it must be destroyed and Jeff Davis and Cabinet killed.” A separate notebook bearing Dahlgren’s name and rank contained the phrase: “Jeff Davis and Cabinet must be killed on the spot.” Captain McEntee and John Babcock, the BMI’s chief interrogator, later verified the letters’ contents as corresponding with their understanding of the raid’s objectives.
The authenticity of the letters, as well as debate over who gave the orders to kill President Davis, have been the subject of much speculation over the last century and a half. Regardless of their origins, the South believed them, and the Dahlgren Papers were later used as justification for the assassination of President Lincoln on Apr. 15, 1865.
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| Date Taken: | 02.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.21.2025 14:01 |
| Story ID: | 491249 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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