The Last Time 'Insurgents' Got This Close to US Capitol-- Part 2: This Close to a Win Back in '64

 Confederate general Jubal Early commanded the 2nd Corps of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia which fought under a square flag of the rectangular one so often flown today (the Confederate Naval Ensign).

At the time of the attack, the chances of the Confederacy were greatly in decline and it was hoped this sudden feint might convince Union to send troops from the Petersburg, Virginia, front to defend the capital.

As soon as the target of this Confederate attack was known to Grant, he sent some 17,000 troops to the capital's defense.  In the meantime, back in D.C., Union officers started scrounging up as many troops as they could from the wounded soldiers recovering and government clerks, essentially anyone who could carry a weapon.  They were sent out to man the defenses.

Early ordered his leading division of troops to immediately begin an attack on Fort Stevens.  At one point, Confederates did find a gap in the Union defenses that could have been a huge turnaround in the battle.  Had they been able to exploit it  they would have had a direct route to the Washington Navy Yard, the U.S. Treasury as well as a myriad of  warehouses with food, medicine and ordnance.

However, Early's troops had been on the march for quite awhile and were too exhausted to make good on the break.

--Old Secesh

The Strange Tale of Col. Dahlgren's Prosthetic Leg-- Part 1: Served Union and Confederate

From Civil War Talk.

We may not know for sure what happened to Col. Ulric Dahlgren's real leg, but more is known about his prosthetic one.

When Confederate Captain John Newton Ballard of Mosby's Raiders lost his leg in battle in 1863, he quickly acquired a second hand artificial leg and got back to action.  However, at Halltown, Virginia, his horse collided with that of a Union cavalryman and his artificial leg was crushed.  This probably made him the only Civil War soldier to lose the same leg twice.

However, he was about to have some luck  In March 1864, Union Col. Ulric Dahlgren was killed near Richmond leading a cavalry raid.  He too had lost a leg in action in 1863 (and we know about it being buried in the Washington Navy Yard).

Dahlgren's body was found by a 13-year-old Confederate, who took the wooden leg as a souvenir.  This prosthetic eventually made its way to  John Ballard, who wore it until the end of the war.

--Old Secesh

Some More On Col. Ulric's Leg-- Part 2: The Leg's Long Story At the Washington Navy Yard

And, then there is the story of what happened to the colonel's leg.  After it was cut off, the question became what to do with it.  It was in an advanced state of decomposition and it was determined that sending it to Philadelphia to be buried in the family plot was not an option.

But, there was a closer option: the Washington Navy Yard.  Ulric's father, John Dahlgren, was no longer in charge there, but the current commander  took the leg.  At the time, a new foundry was being to built at the yard to cast the elder Dahlgren's cannons and it was deemed appropriate that the leg should be buried in a wall of it.  A plaque was affixed to it saying that this was where the leg was buried.

The foundry was  demolished in 1915 and replaced with a metal fabrication shop though the leg was kept where it was.  However, the new shop was torn down in 1942 and the leg wasn't there.  The plaque, however, was attached to the new building erected on the site which in turn was replaced with a parking garage in 1998.  That plaque and another one explaining the story are still at the new facility.

It is not known where the leg is.

Where Is the Leg?  --Old Secesh

The Saga of Col. Ulric Dahlgren's Leg-- Part 2: In A Cornerstone

At the time of his wounding, Ulric Dahlhren was a 20-year-old cavalry officer leading a charge through the streets of Hagerstown, Maryland,  when a Confederate shot  struck his right ankle and passed through his foot.  Three days later, he got home to Washington, but a fever set in and surgeons had to amputate his leg  just below the knee.

His father was John Dahlgren, who had recently been commandant of the Washington Navy Yard (but now commanded the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron trying to take Charleston, S.C.)  A new gun foundry was being built at the Yard.  The day after the amputation, an ambulance took the leg to the yard, and a Marine honor guard escorted it to the foundry where the building's cornerstone was about to be laid.

The leg was placed in a box, draped with an American flag and sealed inside the cornerstone.

So, Now We Know Where the Leg Is, Or Do We?  --Old SeceshWhere

The Saga of Col. Ulric Dahlgren's Leg-- Part 1: Wounded in Fighting After Battle of Gettysburg

I recently mentioned an article in the January 27, 1991, Washington (D.C.) Post  "Sacrificial Limb" by Dwight Sullivan.

This one gave more details on the colonel's leg.  I will write about it now as I am about out of my limited number of free articles to this newspaper.  Plus, I had never heard of this story, other than Ulric Dahlgren's raid on Richmond.

"The macabre Civil War  relic is just off M Street SE,  mounted on the Washington Navy Yard's Building 28.  It's a black metal plate bearing this  inscription:  "Within this wall  is the leg of Col. Ulric Dahlgren U.S.V.  wounded July 6th 1863 while skirmishing in the streets of Hagerstown with the rebels after the Battle of Gettysburgh."

Then, the story gets stranger.

--Old Secesh

Col. Ulric Dahlgren's Leg-- Part 2: Under a Parking Lot?

Shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg, he was in Hagerstown, Maryland,  in July 1863 when his right foot and lower leg was hit by a bullet.  It became necessary to amputate below the knee.  He survived that, but a year later was killed during a Richmond Raid targeting Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Now, back to that leg.    Ulric Dahlgren's father was Rear Admiral John Dahlgren, who had developed an innovative smoothbore cannon and was admired by President Lincoln.

Leg burials weren't uncommon back in that era, at least among the well-connected.    That summer, the heat in Washington, D.C. was sweltering and Ulric decided not to bury the leg at his home.  So instead it ended up up in the cornerstone of a new foundry building being built.  That building has since been torn down and is a building that serves as a parking lot.

However, there is a plaque at that structure, Building 28, that gives the story of Ulric's leg.  However, a Washington Post story from 1991 reports that the leg may have been removed at some point so perhaps it is not there.

Where Is Ulric's Leg?  --Old Secesh

Col. Ulric Dahlgren's Leg May or May Not Be Buried at the Washington Navy Yard

From the December 20, 2018, Greater Greater Washington, D.C.:  "Breakfast Links: 10 interesting facts about Navy Yard you probably didn't know" by Leticia Johnson.

Even though the Washington Navy Yard probably should be in my Civil War Navy blog, since this story is primarily on a Union Army officer, I decided to put it here.  I have been writing about the Washington Navy Yard in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog in regards to its destruction by the British and Americans during the attack on Washington, D.C., during that war.

I like to cross-over my blogs whenever I can.

Abraham Lincoln was a frequent visitor to this place during the war and John Wilkes Booth made his escape after the assassination over the Washington Navy Yard Bridge.

COLONEL ULRIC DAHLGREN'S LEG

Sounds like the makings of a good ghost story.  The man's leg was buried at the Navy Yard.

10.  There's a leg... buried in a parking garage... (that may or not still be there).

The severed appendage in question belongs to Ulric Dahlgren.

Want To Know More?  --Old SecehLeg

Washington Arsenal

From "Lincoln's Citadel: The Civil War in Washington, D.C." by Kenneth Winkle.

The Washington Arsenal was the largest one in the Union and located a mile south of the Capitol at the Potomac and Eastern Branch rivers (I had read it was by the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers).  There were many "cavernous buildings filled with workshops" at the site.

Every week it produced 6-12 cannons and every day 100,000  minie cartridges, 36,000 minie balls along with hundreds of cannon shot, shells and grape cannister.

It didn't produce rifles, but generally had a quarter million stand at any given time.

Because of its importance, it was heavily guarded.  The nearby Navy Yard Arsenal also produced cannons, shot and shells.

The June 1864 explosion , wasn't the first one.  That occurred April 1862 where 6-8 workers were seriously burned or injured, but there were no fatalities.

Both arsenals began employing women in October 1862, to free up men for military service.

There had been a long series of fatal accidents prior to the June 1864 one.

--Old Secesh

Naval Battery at Harpers Ferry, WV

The good folks at the Historical Marker data base, had a spotlight Jan. 27th on the Naval Battery at Maryland Heights, Harper's Ferry, WV, 300 feet above the Potomac River. It is on the grounds of Storer College.

It was the first Union fortification on the heights and built quickly in 1862 and armed with naval guns rushed from the Washington, DC, Naval Yard and manned by 300 sailors and marines.

Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign served as the impetus for construction. During the Antietam Campaign, its guns were turned up the heights at Confederates. The whole position was surrendered. Union forces returned a week later (after Sept. 22, 1862) and built forts along the crest of Maryland Heights. The Naval Battery was turned into an ordnance depot.

www.hmdb.com

Here a Gun, There a Gun. --Old B-Runner