“If successful, it will be the grandest thing on record; and if it fails many of us will ‘go up’” Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, U.S. Army
Col. Ulric Dahlgren
With these words written to his father, Ulric Dahlgren set out on what would become known as the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid. It was hoped that the Raid would free the Union prisoners being held in Richmond at Belle Isle and Libby Prisons and that they in turn would then help to overthrow the Confederate government and bring about an end to the Civil War. In sad reality, the Raid was ultimately a grand failure that brought about little more than the destruction of a few buildings, the introduction of the infamous “Dahlgren Papers” and the death of one of its leaders, Dahlgren himself.
“The home of my married sister in Goochland County…and the neighborhood thereabouts was less changed than almost anyplace in the Confederacy.” Ellen Wise Mayo
Goochland at the time of the raid was largely unaffected by the war. This was about to change as February, 1864 drew to a close. With the cold rain, sleet and snows of a Virginia winter would come the soldiers of the Union Army leaving changes to the landscape that are visible still.
Brigadier General H. Judson Kilpatrick
The plan for the raid is attributed to Brigadier General H. Judson Kilpatrick, known as “Kill-Cavalry” due to his daring and reckless ways. Kilpatrick hoped to succeed where others had failed. The raid was going to be a two-pronged attack. Kilpatrick would attack from the north and Dahlgren would come up from the south. With the support and blessing of President Lincoln and secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, on February 28th, Kilpatrick and Dahlgren with 3,500 men set off from Stevensburg, Virginia.
On February 29th, Dahlgren and his detachment of 500 men split off from Kilpatrick’s force and headed west towards Frederick Hall hoping to destroy the rail lines feeding Richmond to cripple the Confederate capital.
“The rail road was torn up about one mile from Frederick Hall and we then proceeded on our march. A heavy storm prevailed during Monday night. The rain fell in torrents and rendered the road almost impassable.” Louis Boudrye, Chaplain, Fifth New York Cavalry
After a long, cold march through unfamiliar countryside, Dahlgren and his detachment made their way from Louisa into Goochland. On March 1st, they traveled down present day Cardwell Road and passed Bowles Store, turned and headed for Hebron Church and finally into the area known at the time as Dover Mills. The weather conditions (snow, sleet and rain) gave the inhabitants of Goochland time to prepare for the arrival of the soldiers.
Dover Mills, on the James River and Kanawha Canal, Virginia, Harper’s Weekly, 1865
Next week, Part II, the Raid on Dover Mills!
Quotes from Part I were taken from “Memoir of Ulric Dahlgren” by Rear Admiral Dahlgren, 1872, Historic Records of the Fifth New York Cavalry by Rev. Louis N. Boudrye, 1865 and “A War-Time Aurora Borealis” by Ellen Wise Mayo featured in the Goochland County Historical Society’s Magazine, Volume 22
Contributed by James Richmond of the Goochland County Historical Society
Goochland History 
One Response to “Dahlgren’s Raid – Part I: The Raid Begins”