Charles G. Dahlgren

Charles Gustavus Ulrich Dahlgren (August 13, 1811 – December 18, 1888) was a brigadier general of Mississippi State Troops (or Mississippi Militia) with allegiance to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He commanded the 3rd Brigade of the Mississippi Militia, before a dispute with the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, over transfer of the state troops to the Confederate States Army cost him his career.

Early life and career Dahlgren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Bernhard Ulrik Dahlgren (1784-1824) and Martha (Rowan) Dahlgren (1789-1838). His father was a merchant and Swedish Consul stationed in Philadelphia. He briefly served in the United States Navy. He married into the wealthy Routh family. He and his first wife, Mary Routh Ellis Dahlgren, built Dunleith, moving in the Greek Revival-style house in 1856. Mary Ellis Routh Dahlgren died in 1858, and Dahlgren remarried to Mary Vannoy, for whom he built Llangollen, which was a quasi-Italianate Victorian cottage that stood until a fire in 1932. As of 1860, Dahlgren "operated one of [Natchez's] largest plantation-supply firms while at the same time controlling 6,100 acres of cotton lands in Tensas Parish."

Civil War service Following Mississippi's passage of the ordinance of secession and the subsequent outbreak of the Civil War, Dahlgren raised two regiments of state-sponsored volunteer infantry (the 3rd and 7th Mississippi Infantry Regiments) by his own means. When his brigade (Brigade 3) was transferred from state service to the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, he lost his command. Dahlgren was known for a short temper and strong opinions, and strongly opposed this transfer. His outspoken opposition to the nationalization of his men cost him his command and sparked a feud with the family of Jefferson Davis that spanned from 1862 to 1906.

Later life

After the Civil War, Dahlgren had lost his plantation and fortune and moved to New Orleans to practice law. Thereafter, he moved with his family to Nashville, Tennessee, for several months in 1870, then to Winchester, Virginia, and finally to New York City in 1876, where he worked as a lawyer and public accountant. He died at Brooklyn, New York, on December 18, 1888, and was buried in the City Cemetery, Natchez, Mississippi.