Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/187

 The Dahlgren Raid. 179

THE DAHLGREN RAID

A Paper read by request before R. E. Lee Camp, No. i, C. V., March gth, 1906.

By Comrade RICHARD G. CROUCH, M. IX, who is also a Member and Surgeon of Qeo. E. Pickett Camp, C, V.

[Our valued friend, from days ante-bellum, is a highly esteemed citizen and successful practitioner of this city. Being a gentleman of means, he delights in benefactions to the needy and those in dis- tress. Upon intimation to him of such wants, relief is immediately extended. His quiet charities, unknown to the public, have been to a multitude of grateful recipients.

Company H (originally called "Lee's Rangers") gth Virginia Cavalry, in which he served gallantly, had as its first Captain, Wm. H. F. Lee, subsequently Major- General, and familiarly known as "Rooney Lee."

A brother of the editor, H. C. Brock, a member of the faculty of Hampden-Sidney College, who was severely wounded at Stony Creek, Dinwiddie County, in 1864, with many valued friends, served also in this noted Company. ED.]

Commander, Comrades, Friends :

This raid has been written up so often, that I am reduced to a small margin from which to draw. Perhaps no incidental narrative of the war between the States created so great a stir as the Dahl- gren Raid.

On the 4th of February, 1906, Reverend John Pollard, D. D., spoke in deserved praise of Lieutenant James Pollard, our officer and friend, which gave me great pleasure; not only on this occasion, but all others, when he led us into battle, proved himself a perfect Paladin of courage and ability.

The spring of 1864 was a time of terror and a season of agony to the 30,000 unfortunate men, women and children who were forced to remain in the Confederate capital awaiting the issue of the great- est civil conflict ever known in the history of the Anglo-Saxon race.

The battle of Gettysburg had been fought, and Lee had been