Beschreibung:

CSA Mapmaker Albert Campbell's personal photocopy of papers related to the so-called "Dahlgren Affair." 2pp, 8 x 10 in., ca 1864. In late February 1864, Union Brigadier General H. Judson Kilpatrick made plans to launch a daring raid on the Confederate capital of Richmond, ostensibly to assault the city and free Union prisoners. Union Colonel Ulric Dahlgren joined in the raid, but was ultimately killed before any assault could be launched. According to the Confederates, papers found on Dahlgren's body after the failed raid detailed plans to burn the city of Richmond and assassinate Jefferson Davis. The Confederates hastily published accounts of the raid and the planned assassination in Richmond papers, inciting Southern outrage. Meanwhile, Union leaders discounted the papers found on Dahlgren's body as unsanctioned orders while the Northern public became outraged at the supposed mistreatment of Dahlgren's corpse. While historians disagree on the existence of a Northern assassination plot, the "Dalhgren Affair" became a highly controversial episode in an already bitterly divisive war. This document, a photo copy of the supposed original Dahlgren orders, belonged to Confederate mapmaker Albert Campbell (1826-1899). Orders include, "The men must keep together & well in hand & once in the City it must be destroyed & Jeff Davis & Cabinets killed." Provenance: Descended in the Family of Confederate Mapmaker Albert Campbell Condition: A transcription accompanies the copy which is faint and difficult to read in some places.