Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-17

maze the fitzpatrick RAID on h
he saw 1t, but he offers what
seems to me a deflnitive con-
tribution to the continuing
controversy which has grown
around the objects of the
raid. His book is called:
EIGHT HOURS BEFORE
RICHMOND Holt; $3.50.
To Richmond
On February %, 1864, more
than a year before the war
ended, Brig. Gen. Judson Kill
patrick led 1884 cavalrymen,
eight guns and a few wagons
and ambulances, out of the
winter quarters of the Army
of the Potomac in a care
fully yelled raid on Rich
mond. It was shortly before
Gen. Grant was to take over
as supreme commander, and
Gen. George G. Meade. VIC
tor at Gettysburg, was still
In command.
But Gen. Meade had OPP
posed the raid, so had Mai.
Gen. Alfred Pleasanton,
Meade's chief of cavalry.
Why then was it carried out?
Because the spectacular Gen.
Fitzpatrick had gone over the
heads Of his superiors and
presented the plan directly
to President Lincoln in
Washington. And the Presi-
dent approved.
Col. Dahlgren
Fitzpatrick som t lines
called, irreverently. Kilcaval-
ry-took as second in COM
mand young Col. Ulrich
Dahlgren, who had lost a leg
at Gettysburg, but, like a lot
of others in those doughty
days. kept on fighting. 1t was
around Col. Dahlgren that
the controversy over what the
Yankee cavalrymen were
supposed to do when they
entered Richmond has ragged
among historians and Civil
War bluffs for almost a Gen.
fury.
First, though, it should be
explained what happened to
the raid. Fitzpatrick split his
force, leading one detach-
ment and sending Dahlgren
with another: they were to
enter Richmond from diver
gent directions.
The wilderness
Lees Confederates were
massed before Meade's army
south of Culpeper and be-
fore what then was called
the Wilderness. The dwin-
ding Southern army could
not spare substantial forces
to guard Richmond, and it
was garrisoned only by home
guards and part-time soldiers
who were arsenal workers
and government clerks. Had
Fitzpatrick known it, when he
led his men into the suburbs
of the Confederate capital,
in the sleet of a freezing
dawn, he could easily have
captured Richmond. But
Dahlgren did not appear. as
scheduled, and the overcau-
tious Fitzpatrick, bluffed by
firing from home guards and
misinformed by spies and
scouts, thought a large force
opposed him. and he re-
treated. The raid was a fail
ure.
Its ostensible object, as set
forth by Gems. Meade and
4 Pleasanton, was to release the
Union prisoners held in Libby
and Belle Isle prisons. But
Col. Dahlgren, ambushed by
a small Confederate force.
was killed. Papers taken from
his body stated that another
object was to burn the city
and kill President Jefferson
Davis and his cabinet ION
the spot"
Orders Authentic
The North charged that
this portion of the orders had
been altered with a forged
/ Interpolation after the young
colonel'S body was found, to
make the enemy appear ruth
less killers and to enlist the
sympathy of England and
France. The South thought
the orders genuine.
Mr.. Jones did some original
research and concluded the
orders were authentic - the
work of Fitzpatrick. Gen.
Meade denied any such orders
had been issued, and there
was never any contention
that they came from WASH
ington. The clincher, in Mr..
Jones opinion, came with the