The Dahlgren Affair: The History of the Civil War's Most Controversial Cavalry Raid
ISBN: 9781522862703
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the raid written by participants on both sides *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents “Judson Kilpatrick, Ulric Dahlgren, and their probable patron Edwin Stanton set out to engineer the death of the Confederacy's president; the legacy spawned out of the utter failure of their effort may have included the death of their own president." – Stephen Sears, Civil War historian Failing to secure the capture of any major northern cities, or the recognition of Great Britain or France, or the complete destruction of any northern armies, the Confederacy's last chance to survive the Civil War was the election of 1864. Democrats had been pushing an anti-war stance or at least a stance calling for a negotiated peace for years, so the South hoped that if a Democrat defeated President Lincoln, or if anti-war Democrats could retake the Congress, the North might negotiate peace with the South. In the election of 1862, anti-war Democrats made some gains in Congress and won the governorship of the State of New York. Confederates were therefore hopeful that trend would continue to the election of 1864. It’s now often forgotten that Lincoln’s reelection was far from a foregone conclusion, and the fighting in 1864 would be desperate in both the East and West. The Overland Campaign that Ulysses S. Grant launched against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia would be an extremely costly stalemate, so Lincoln’s fate may have rested in the hands of William Tecumseh Sherman, whose successful Atlanta campaign shortly before the election may have been the decider. As controversial as the Overland Campaign and the March to the Sea were, however, the most controversial event of that year took place before either campaign.