Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/516

 The Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid Against Richmond. 515

which we have all heard, and yet which no one has fully recorded. It remains for some eloquent pen, guided by the feeling heart of some unprejudiced eye-witness, to tell the tale of that night of horrors. Four hundred decades have rolled away since the sack of Troy, and yet the veriest school-boy of to-day is as familiar with the thrilling experiences ol the faithful ^neas and his devoted comrades, as were the breathless audiences of the " Blind old bard of Clio's rocky isle." Twenty years only have elapsed since our own fair city fell by as foul a strategem as that of the Greek horse, and was subjected to a pillage and fire equally unrestrained and outrageous. Yet the chil- dren ask in vain for the story of our wrongs and sufferings. In those very capitol ground?, where such drunken orgies were enacted in the name of Liberty, they see the sleepless sentinel leaning upon his marble musket and keeping silent watch over the busy city, which has risen from the flames, adorned with new beauty, inspired with new energies. But have they been taught to love and honor the cause which he represents, and which went down in flame and smoke to a deathless immortality, grander than Ilium's and worthier of a more glorious song?

Who shall be the Homer of the Southern Confederacy ?

CLARA DARGAN MACLEAN. Paris, Texas.

The Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid Against Richmond. Compiled by ]. WM. JONES.

We have several times expressed our purpose to publish a full account of this celebrated raid, together with incontrovertible proofs that the infamous "Dahlgren Papers" were not (as charged by Northern writers) a "Rebel forgery?' but were actually found on the person of Colonel Dahlgren. We have delayed this publication from time to time for various reasons, chief among which was a de- sire to secure a paper prepared for Hon. A. H. Stephens by the late Rev. R. H. Bagby, D. D., who stood within a few feet Dahlgren when he was shot.

But we have determined to delay our task no longer, b the facts in our records, not to stir up bitter memories, but to vin cate the truth of history and to refute the slander against the ( federate authorities that they forged these papers in order to blacken