Good news: I have located a copy of Eric’s biography of Dahlgren, which comes highly rated. I look forward to reading about the raid and the incident with Robinson and seeing if my impression is correct “in this case, at least.” Maybe it won’t be. I don’t want to dismiss any possibility out of hand.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion, in this case at least, that the Confederates valued law and life more highly than the Yankees.

“Not hardly”. Let’s keep in mind that there were folks in the CSA who considered using yellow fever and smallpox as weapons at various points. There was the November, 1864 attempt to burn down NYC. And that’s entirely aside from the racist killing of surrendering/surrendered black troops. Everybody knows about the Crater and Fort Pillow, but there were other incidents, as well. Poison Spring is one example. In his 2013 book Richmond Must Fall, Hampton Newsome uncovered evidence that following a clash on October 27, 1864 at Nine Mile Road outside Petersburg, Gary’s Rebel cavalry murdered several POW’s from the 1st U.S.C.T. I’m not sure how any of this shows “valuing law and life”. It shows the exact opposite. The murders of POWs were worse than the conduct which earned General Yamashita a noose after WWII.
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Hi Tom,

Dahlgren’s summary execution of Robinson for apparent incompetence (and perhaps the suspicion of sabotage, too?) is no more representative of “the Union” than Henry Wirz’s maltreatment of Union prisoners at Andersonville was representative of the South.

These were acts of individuals that are not necessarily representative of the culture or political policies of their countries. In these cases, I don’t think that they are.

Dahlgren, as commander of a raid into enemy territory, had extraordinary authority – suggesting that his excessive use of that authority is representative of a lack of appreciation for life on the part of the North doesn’t seem correct.

Best Regards,
Dan

Tom Jones, Charlottesville