Doodles Exhibit Personality of Union Colonel
by Coral Silver, M.A. student, Department of Art & Music Histories, and SCRC Public Services graduate student
This small scrap of paper, roughly the size of a notecard, contains a few mysteries. On one side, the name Ulric Dahlgren written in different styles covers the page surrounded by tiny, unlabeled dollar amounts. On the other side are three numbered doodles of scenes involving horses playing, fighting, chasing and pulling carriages. Some of the horses’ bodies have become holes in the paper, indicating that they may have been drawn in highly acidic iron gall ink.
Fragment showing Ulric Dahlgren’s signatures.
Reverse of fragment showing drawings of horses.
The fragment comes from the papers of John A. Dahlgren, a prominent naval officer appointed by President Abraham Lincoln and the inventor of two guns which gave the Union Navy the advantage during the American Civil War.
John A. Dahlgren’s son and the assumed author and artist behind this artifact, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, is memorialized as a leader of the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid which took place from February 28th to March 3rd of 1864. While still recovering from the amputation of one of his legs, Ulric planned to infiltrate Richmond and free captives from two separate prisons. He was killed during an ambush by the Confederates and his body was taken to Richmond and put on display for the public. Later, he was buried in a pauper’s grave. He was only 21 years old at the time of his death.
The life of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren is alluring to historians of the Civil War due to rumors of a plan he had to kill Confederate president Jefferson Davis. This is supported by reports of papers found on his body at the time of his death. His body was later exhumed and reburied due to orders from Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union informant and spy living in Richmond who risked her entire operation to do so.
This scrap may illuminate a young Ulric’s desire to perfect his professional image in the practicing of his signature. It may unveil the artistic side of an officer tragically lost. Without knowing the context surrounding the monetary figures or the drawings, one cannot be sure, but it certainly brings to light a different side to this important historical figure.
Sources:
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/kilpatrick-dahlgren-raid/