As March began, Brigadier-General H. Judson Kilpatrick’s Federal cavalry was on a mission to raid the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. His objectives were to free Federal prisoners of war and distribute President Abraham Lincoln’s amnesty proclamation. A detachment of 500 men under Colonel Ulric Dahlgren had split from Kilpatrick’s 3,000-man force to strike Richmond from the southwest, while the main force was to hit the city from the north. Kilpatrick and Dahlgren agreed to launch simultaneous attacks on Richmond at 8 p.m. on the 1st.
After a short rest, Kilpatrick’s Federals resumed their advance at 1 a.m. They crossed the South Anna River under a gray and dreary daybreak, fending off small Confederate detachments along the way. By 10 a.m. they had come up the Brook Pike to within five miles of Richmond.
Dahlgren’s troopers mobilized at dawn and rode toward the James River, slowed by Confederate guards and snow. They relied on a former slave to find a fordable point on the river, but when he failed, Dahlgren had him executed. With no way to cross the James, Dahlgren resolved to attack Richmond from the west instead.
Meanwhile, Richmond residents had been alerted to the Federal threat, and the 3,000 home guards defending the city were quickly reinforced by convalescing Confederate soldiers, government clerks, factory workers, and other able-bodied men. Kilpatrick, still confident he would only be facing raw recruits, deployed skirmishers and unlimbered his six guns. Colonel Walter Stevens, commanding the Richmond defenses, reported, “Soon after my arrival, the enemy opened upon my position a rapid and tolerably accurate fire from five pieces of artillery, and his skirmishers advanced under cover of ditches and the neighboring houses to within 200 yards of our works and annoyed our artillerists…”
The defenders charged, knocking the skirmishers back to the main Federal line. Since Dahlgren did not answer the sound of the guns with fire of his own, Kilpatrick began to consider the possibility that Dahlgren’s operation had failed. He also heard grumblings from his men at the front that the Richmond defenders had been reinforced by General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Kilpatrick rode to the front and complained, “They have too many of those damned guns; they keep opening new ones on us all the time.”
Confederate fire on the Federal troopers increased as the day wore on, and Kilpatrick finally called the raid off. The Federals fell back to the north side of the Chickahominy River, and Kilpatrick later reported, “Feeling confident that Dahlgren had failed to cross the river, and that an attempt to enter the city at that point would but end in a bloody failure, I reluctantly withdrew my command at dark.”
Meanwhile, Dahlgren came within earshot of the firing at 4 p.m. and, since the attack was not supposed to start until 8, believed that something had gone wrong. He became more concerned as the sound grew more distant because it indicated the action was moving away from Richmond. Nevertheless, Dahlgren waited until the scheduled time and then advanced toward the city. His Federals were met by reinforced defenders who easily held their ground. Dahlgren ordered a withdrawal, moving northeast around Richmond to try rejoining Kilpatrick.
Kilpatrick’s Federals moved southeast around the capital. They tried to get some rest, having been in the saddle for nearly 60 straight hours, but it was a miserable night. A trooper wrote, “A more dreary, dismal night it would be difficult to imagine, with rain, snow, sleet, mud, cold and wet to the skin, rain and snow falling rapidly, the roads a puddle of mud, and the night as dark as pitch.”
Late into the night, Kilpatrick had the idea to try another drive on Richmond, but they were suddenly attacked by Major-General Wade Hampton’s Confederate cavalry brigade. Unbeknownst to Kilpatrick, Hampton had been pursuing him for two days. Kilpatrick wrote, “The enemy charged and drove back the 7th Michigan, and considerable confusion ensued.” Hampton reported:
“The attack was made with great gallantry. The enemy, a brigade strong here, with two other brigades immediately in their rear, made a stout resistance for a short time, but the advance of my men was never checked and they were soon in possession of the entire camp, in which horses, arms, rations, and clothing were scattered about in confusion.”
Kilpatrick reported “a loss of 2 officers, upwards of 50 men, and 100 horses.” His troopers fell back to Tunstall’s Station, 25 miles east of Richmond. Kilpatrick planned to move down the Virginia Peninsula the next day and join Major-General Benjamin F. Butler’s Federals stationed at Fort Monroe, on the tip of the peninsula between the York and James rivers.
As Dahlgren tried catching up to them, his command separated, with Dahlgren and 100 of his men stopping for the night south of Dunkirk, about 25 miles from Richmond. This ended the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid, as they lacked both the numbers and the drive to accomplish their mission. The Federals lost 340 men and 583 horses in the operation, but the Confederates were not finished with them yet.
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