A Lynching in 1864?

A black man was hanged by a Union Colonel. He did not get a trial. It appears the Colonel thought he was a spy or something. Colonel Ulric Dahlgren met Martin Robinson during an attempt to take his cavalry force into Richmond to rescue some Union men held there. Colonel Dahlgren was having trouble finding a spot to cross the James River and Mr. Robinson volunteered that he knew a place where the Union cavalry could cross; Dover Mills which was two hours away.

Shelby Foote refers to Martin Robinson as “a slave from a nearby plantation”. Other sources refer to him as a free black man and the Historic Record of the New York Fifth Cavalry refers to him as a negro who “was sent from headquarters to guide us and was considered faithful and reliable.” In any case, when they arrived Dover Mills and there was no crossing and Dahlgren ordered that Robinson be hanged. The Fifth Cavalry record indicates that Dahlgren warned Robinson he would be hanged if they got to Dover Mills and there was no crossing. It seems they thought this would make it a bit more palatable.

Twenty-one-year-old Colonel Dahlgren was killed shortly afterward and papers were allegedly found on his body that caused an uproar. The papers indicated his raid on Richmond included assassinating Jefferson Davis. We will never know if this is true. What we do know is that the New York papers were not concerned about Mr. Robinson’s treatment. The Brooklyn Union’s view was that the raid on Richmond failed “on account of false information…by a negro guide, who suffered death for his falsehood.”

Have we have found the mythical black Confederate, or is hanging black men because they may have deceived a Union cavalry force, evidence that the North was not as concerned with the welfare of blacks as many today want us to believe?

Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog