Dahlgren's ride into Fredericksburg.
This incident is scarcely of sufficient importance to demand a place in our papers, except as an illustration of how “history” is manufactured and a small affair magnified into a brilliant achievement by a sensational press.In the Memoir of Ulric Dahlgren, by his father, Rear Admiral Dahlgren, there is quoted from the account of a newspaper correspondent the following vivid sketch of the affair:
I am sitting in Colonel Ashboth's tent, at General Sigel's headquarters, listening to a plain statement of what occurred, narrated by a modest, unassuming sergeant. I will give it briefly.General Burnside had requested that a cavalry reconnoissance of Fredericksburg should be made. General Sigel selected his body-guard, commanded by Captain Dahlgren, with fifty-seven of the First Indiana cavalry. It was no light task to ride forty miles, keep the movement concealed from the enemy, cross the river and dash through the town, especially as it was known that the Rebels occupied it in force. It was an enterprise calculated to dampen the ardor of most men, but which was hailed almost as a holiday excursion by the Indianians. They left Gainesville Saturday morning, took a circuitous route, rode till night, rested awhile, and then, under the light of the full moon, rode rapidly over the worn-out fields of the Old Dominion, through by-roads, intending to dash into the town at daybreak. They arrived opposite the place at dawn, and found to their chagrin that one element in their calculation had been omitted — the tide.
The bridge had been burned when we evacuated the place last summer, and they had nothing to do but wait till the water ebbed. Concealing themselves in the woods, they waited impatiently. Meanwhile, two of the Indianians rode along the river bank below the town to the ferry. They hailed the ferryman, who was on the opposite shore, representing themselves to be Rebel officers. The ferryman pulled to the northern bank, and was detained till he gave information of the Rebel force, which he said numbered eight companies, five or six hundred men all told.
The tide ebbed, and Captain Dahlgren left his hiding place with his fifty-seven Indianians. They crossed the river in single file at a slow walk, the bottom being exceedingly rocky. Reaching the opposite shore, he started at a slow trot towards the town, hoping to take the enemy by surprise. But his advance had been discovered. The enemy was partly in saddle. There was a hurrying to and fro, mounting of steeds, confusion, and fright among the people. The Rebel cavalry were in every street. Captain Dahlgren resolved to fall upon them like a thunderbolt. Increasing his trot to a gallop, the fifty-seven dauntless men dashed into the town,
