Any who have studied the history of the War Between the States aka the War of Northern Aggression have probably heard of the infamous Dahlgren Papers. The Dahlgren Papers were a set of orders found on the body of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren after he was killed in Judson (Kill-Cavalry) Kilpatrick’s bungled attempt at a raid on Richmond, Virginia in 1864. This was supposedly a raid to attempt to free federal prisoners of war. One writer said it was a “Moe, Larry, and Curly kind of caper.”
Whatever it was, Lincoln personally authorized it. The idea of a raid on the enemy’s capitol in wartime is not a particularly alarming one. Jubal Early tried it on Washington in 1864 and almost pulled it off. Had he a bigger force than he had he might have gotten away with it. However, Jubal Early did not have in his coat pocket a set of orders instructing him to murder Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet “on the spot.” Ulric Dahlgren had such a set of orders in his possession, and therein lies the Yankee dilemma (and worldview). Continue reading