Dahlgren's Cavalry Raid

In February 1864, Union officer Col. Ulric Dahlgren joined Brig. Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick in a raid on Richmond intended to free Federal prisoners of war. Their plan called for Kilpatrick's men to attack the city's northern defenses while Dahlgren led his men through Goochland County, crossed the James River, and entered the city from the south. A local African American, Martin Robinson, escorted the troopers to a nearby ford, but the water was too high to cross. Suspecting trickery, Dahlgren hanged him near here on 1 March, then attacked the city from the west. After being defeated, he rode east in search of Kilpatrick and was killed the next day in King and Queen County.

Virginia · United States