W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1994 Quest for glory: The naval career of John A Dahlgren, 1826-1870 Thomas James Legg College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Legg, Thomas James, "Quest for glory: The naval career of John A Dahlgren, 1826-1870" (1994). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623848. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-593v-xc15 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of the of copyright the copyright owner. owner.Further reproductionFurther reproduction prohibited without prohibited permission. without permission. QUEST FOR GLORY: THE NAVAL CAREER OF JOHN A. DAHLGREN, 1826-1870 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Thomas James Legg 1994 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thomas J. Approved, April 1994 Ludwel1 Oft. Johnson, III Richard B. Sherman Edward P. Crapol - / ^ /C-4— v Ujip J/. Funigj-efl 1 o A11 en Gi Eastern i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright 1994 by Thomas James Legg ALL RIGHTS RESERVED i i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................... v ABSTRACT ................................................... xil CHAPTER I. BEFORE THE WAR................................. 2 CHAPTER II. LOYALTY REWARDED............................. 4 4 CHAPTER III. STUCK IN WASHINGTON......................... 84 CHAPTER IV. THE FAILED COUP.............................. 139 CHAPTER V. THE MAKING OF A SQUADRON COMMANDER.......... 169 CHAPTER VI. FAILURE AT FORT SUMTER....................... 216 CHAPTER VII. A 3ITTER END................................. 270 BIBILIOGRAPHY.............................................. 299 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS John Dahlgren is among the most famous officers in the history of the United States Navy. One of the first officers to hold the rank of admiral, which was first established during the Civil War, Dahlgren's career is prominent in almost every written account of the nineteenth-century American navy. But unlike most famous naval figures who are usually recognized for their achievements in battle, Dahlgren is best known as an ordnance specialist. When he is mentioned in naval histories, it is almost always in connection with the large cannon that he designed in the decade or so prior to the Civil War. Shaped like a giant soda-bottle, wide at the breech and tapered narrow at the muzzle, the distinctive Dahlgren gun was the navy's primary weapon on its ships during the Civil War, and the main source of Dahlgren's prominence. I was initially interested in John Dahlgren for two reasons, neither of which had anything to do with his ordnance career. I was intrigued by his friendship with President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. I also knew that Dahlgren had kept a personal Journal, which I had seen printed excerpts of in numerous places, especially in Dahlgren's Memoirs. and in various volumes of The Official Bggflrds of the Uni_on_artd__Confederate Navies of the War of the Rebel 1 ion. It was my hope that his Journal would v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. provide fresh insights into the workings of the Lincoln administration. Not knowing what to expect when I arrived at the Syracuse University library where the complete manuscript copy of Dahlgren's journal is located, I was nearly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the document. Having started it in 1824, at the age of fifteen, the Journal is in fifteen volumes, containing a total of more than two thousand pages. Dahlgren was especially prolific in his journal writing during the Civil War. For those four years, the journal encompasses seven volumes and more than thirteen hundred pages. Despite periodic revelations about Lincoln and his administration, however, I discovered that Dahlgren's journal lacked the overall depth of information contained in other important Civil War diaries, like the one kept by Lincoln's secretary of the navy, Gideon Welles. Although I was disappointed that Dahlgren's journal did not provide the type of information that I had hoped to find, as 1 read Dahlgren's personal account of his life and career, I became increasingly intrigued by the man. I quickly realized that Dahlgren's career merited attention on its own. First and foremost, this dissertation is an account of John Dahlgren's long naval career. Beginning with his appointment to the navy in 1826, as an anonymous sixteen year old midshipman, it details his climb from obscurity to v i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the relative fame and recognition that he enjoyed by the end of his life as one of only a handful of officers who reached the rank of admiral during the Civil War. His career demonstrates how many military men clawed their way up through the ranks, through whatever means they could. Dahlgren's Civil War career is also extremely revealing, especially his Involvement with the Union's military campaign against Charleston. This campaign demonstrates the absolute obsession that the North, especially the Navy Department, had with trying to destroy this city. Additionally, Dahlgren's Civil War career shows the Navy Department in an entirely different light than the one in which it is usually seen. Compared to the War Department, the Navy Department has generally been viewed as being relatively flawless during the war, and its few failings have been portrayed as innocent and well meaning mistakes. The circumstances surrounding Dahlgren's assignment to, and subsequent command of, the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron shows that this was not the case, as Dahlgren was primarily a pawn in the Navy Department's and the Lincoln administration's battles with their Congressional enemies. This dissertation is also the story of Dahlgren the man. It details the private side of his obsessive quest for personal glory and analyzes the ways in which he struggled to reconcile his Insatiable ambition with the realities of his career. While he enjoyed the outward trappings of vi 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. success, a reputation as a brilliant ordnance expert and the highest rank in the navy, Dahlgren died a bitter and disappointed