New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-22

From the Mobile Advertiser and Register.

tfFol the ho6ite Advertiser and Register .&4s
Some of our ders may remember the efforts.
made by,a portion Of the Northern press to prove
that the papers found upon the person Of Colonel
Dahlgren, of the federal army, after his death,
containing evidence Of designs Of Incredible
atrocity with regard to RichIoild The COME
capital in case he had succeeded in taking it, were
mere fofgefies, and also that his remains had been
sulrepetitiOusly removed, after burial by the
order'o connivance of the Confederate aithori-s
ties, or by some; other Confederate aEenEy
Z Mr.. Foote, in his eWariof the Rebellfun,' has
made a statement, which without assertirig these
accusations leaves it to be inferred that tiey have
at least some show Of probability. This has called
forth communication from Captain Garnett
Andrews, of Mississippi, which appears in the last
number Of the g Crescent Monthly" and which
etiectually daposes of both these allegations.
Capt. Andrews was, at the time of the DahIgren
raid-WhIch occurred about the lst of February,
lS64-an officer Of the staff of Major Gen. EIzey,
then commanding the department Of Richmond,,
and, as he says, had peculiar advantages for OBJ
serving all of its Occurrences and the events that
tollOwed.ii 5 stass @iisA5#L'H a 4
The general facts have been repeatedly pub
lished We, therefore, copy only the latter part
Of the article Of Capt. Andrews, He says: ~.
The Dahlgren papers were genuine. If fcti-
tious, the fact could have been easily proved by
| those concerned to remove the stain from his =
reputation. great many photographs or 1itho-
graphic copies of the original were struck of at
the time,., numbers of which must be yet extant.
Why are they not searched for and the handWrft-
ing disproved by disinterested witnesses, in way
/ to silence all dispute? al haH 1r
/ But if netin his own hand, as alleged by his
friends, how came the paper on his body I? IL was
found there, and he irresponsible for its presence
until the real author can be shDWn-espeeialY
when it was well known thatadutants and military
clerks do most of commanding officers writing,
| very frequently fromhis dictaton. Many soldiers
and citizens, who were present at the death and
saw the corpse examined and the papers taken
fromit, are doubtless stl residents Of the neigh
borhoodaud could give evidence of the truth Of
i the case. The officers who actors in the
4 affair, from Lieutenant Pollard to the accom-
plished general who commanded, are gentlemen
whose honor Is above reproach. Nor was there
| time to perfect such an ingenious forgery, as
Dahlgren was killed late ia the evening, and some
| thirty miles from Richmond, and Lieut.. Pollard,
after riding all night, presented the paper in All
| its startling reality early the next morning, sim
ultaneously with the first announcement of the
1 authors death.
The stories once circulated in regard to the dis
position made Of the dead officers remains but
afterwards completely refuted strengthened the
4 CONCLUSION tnat the effort Of tile N0rter press to
brand The document as a 9 base rebel fabTicati0n -
is nothing bat the last refuge Of shan1e-a false
| mood, Soon after the unfortunate occurrence
/ orders were given by Mr.. Davis to have the body
| eHhumed anu restored to the friends OF the de-
ceased, ~ consequences Of an application made by
! some Of them to that effect; doubtless the very
| letter OF Gen. Dahlgien mentioned by Mr. Foote.
| II u was then that It's removal from the grave was
/ first discovered; ard measures were Immediately
taken, by Mr. DaVis's direction, to investigate the
mystery The writer of this article was detailed,
| 70 make thorough investigation and report in
| the matter, and after eXhausug every means of
| information ascertained the following facts:
| Title corpse in charge of Lient Atkinson was
| buried in his presence among the Federal graves
| IN OaEwnod Gemetery by the sexton and four re-
| liable soldiers. The interInent was managed Sc
cretly, and the grave left unmarked, to prevent
| any possibility Of its being outraged-stch meas-
ures being thought prudent, though hardly neees-
sary, as the people were known TO be deeply in
licensed upon learning the character OF the dead
mans designs against them. Each of the few in
dIyiduals who were known to be cognizant Of the
place OF burial, was strictly examined in private
and II appeared that none of them took part in
| advised, or knew of the removal, It was how
ever stated in the evidence, that passengers on
the Mgh road near by were sometimes in sight
while they were discharging this duty ana that q
party OF soldiers, returning from the funeral of a
comrade IN distant portion of the grounds passed
by during the same time.
1T was the conjecture of many that some of
! these, or the people on the highway discovered
| the nature of Col. Atknsons operations noticed
the spot, and disclosed the circumstance to 9th
els either foes or friends to the deceased or his
cause cause, ana mat IN the former case the body had
been taken up to crafty a shocking spirit Of re-
Vange, or, IN the latter, to convey it to secure
place TO be preserved for the proper claimants.
Inc second supposton was in part correct. The
| pubhc well remembers that yery soon after the
close of the war certain Union men Of Richmond
| published statement clearing up the mystery,
| ~ Is SAID that negro man employed about
lne grounds noticing something unusual in the
cautious movements of Col. Atkinson and sbis
party, concealed himself and watched them
marking the grave upon their withdrawal
i Yhe facts coming through him to the knowledge
Of These Union sympathizers, they, suspecting the
truth dug up the remains at night and reiuterred
. them somewhere in Hanover county There they
rested until delivered to the Dahgren family after
peace was restored to the country.
Until this disclosure was made the world per-
sistenlly believed that The Confederate authorities
had given way to ,beastly ferocity, and would
regard their earnest denial as nothing buta down
rgnt lie. Let it now be more careful in doubling
| that the papers were authentic. rzar.f Sd
$ GARRETT ANDREWS, JR+