29th Annual Student Research Conference
The Dahlgren Affair: Authentic Terror Plot or Overwrought Misunderstanding?
Derrick J. Stone
Dr. David Robinson and Dr. Jeff Gall, Faculty Mentors
This research examines aspects of espionage and terrorism during the final years of the American Civil War. In March 1864, Union commander Ulric Dahlgren was killed while riding with a cavalry company to Richmond. On his person was a series of letters that allegedly contained orders to assassinate Jefferson Davis. Later coined the Dahlgren Affair, this discovery sparked a retaliatory campaign of terror and espionage from the Confederacy. Although the US government vigorously denied ever approving such orders, interest in this terror conspiracy quickly withered in both the economically exhausted Confederacy and the victorious but battered Union. Historians have since debated both the authenticity of these letters and their impact on the war between the North and South.
Keywords: Ulric Dahlgren, American Civil War, espionage, terrorism , Jefferson Davis
Topic(s):History Senior Seminar
History
American Studies
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: -5
Location: MG 2090
Time: 10:30