Eric

Lincoln was a hands on politician and I am sure he knew all about the plan to burn and kill, as did his staff and generals.
Gasp! Gasp! Not possible! –you say. Well, go to your history books and read about Lincoln’s disregard for the writ of habeas corpus; which as a result, caused alot of clanking jail doors and almost caused the incarceration of the Maryland state legislature; had it not been for the intervention of General Scot. What’s the point? The point is:
if one can disregard the rule of law, one can certainly approve of the Dalhgren affair to include the murder of Jefferson Davis and the burning of Richmond.

It is entirely possible. It’s possible that Dahlgren added them later, although I doubt it. I tend to think it’s possible he was cowboying and told nobody.

Eric

There are lots of things that lead me to my conclusion.

There’s the passage from Marsena Patrick that Mike Peters cites. There’s a confirmation by a trooper who rode with Dahlgren. Most importantly, Virgil Carrington Jones had the photos of the documents checked out by a handwriting analyst before his book _Eight Hours Before Richmond_ was published in 1959, and the handwriting analyst, who had lots of examples of Dahlgren’s writing to compare it to (all of his letters to his father are in the Library of Congress), wrote that it was a match.

Eric

Meade also wrote to his wife that he hated hanging Ully Dahlgren out to dry but that he felt he had to do so for the good of the service.

Eric

Eric, what are your reasons for believing the papers are genuine? Did the handwriting match Dahlgren’s? Does the wording sound like other things he wrote? This is fascinating stuff.