Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/545

 544 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Be over the Pamunkey at daybreak feed and water, and then cross the Rappahannock at night, (Tuesday night), when they must be on the lookout.

Spies should be sent on Friday morning early, and be ready to cut.

AUTHENTICITY OF THE DAHLGREN PAPERS.

The publication of the " Dahlgren Papers" excited, of course, the deepest indignation on the part of the Confederates, and the atrocious sentiments and purposes they revealed were denounced in no measured terms by the Confederate press. The answer of the Northern papers was a charge that the papers were "forged by the Rebels" and that no such documents were found on the person of Colonel Dahlgren. That this charge should be made by a partisan press amid the bitter passions of the war is not to be wondered at.

But Rear-Admiral Dahlgren, in a memoir of his son, published in 1872, distinctly and emphatically reiterates it, and gives what he deems conclusive proof of his charge.

We are willing that the whole case should go into our records and be judged by the future historian, and we cheerfully quote as follows all that Rear- Admiral Dahlgren says bearing on the question of the authenticity of these papers. We quote from an article written by Mrs. Dahlgren, but have verified the quotations by reference to the book [pp. 226, 227, 228, 229, 233, 234, 235] now before us.

He says :

"After the news had reached Richmond that Colonel Dahlgren had fallen, and that the handful of men with him had been dispersed or captured, it was bruited about that the purpose of the expedition was solely to destroy Richmond, and to slay the chief of the rebel- lion. The publication of orders asserted to have been found on the person of Colonel Dahlgren followed in a few days, and on Mon- day the body of the gallant youth was disinterred and brought to Richmond where it was exposed to public view at the depot of the York River railroad. Nothing better was permitted to the precious remains, than a common pine box, the coarse shirt and pantaloons of a rebel soldier, with an ordinary camp blanket for a shroud. When the gaze of the tiger-horde had been sated the body disap- peared from public view. It was doomed to concealment in some nameless spot, and it was denied to the repeated requests of his