research in diaries, memoirs, and personal papers to convey to the reader the daily life of cotton planters and slave owners in Mississippi and Louisiana PCharles G. Dahlgren came from a family that played a prominent role in the effort to preserve the Union. His older
brother, John, was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and enjoyed a measure of fame for inventing naval guns. In 1864, Johns son, Col. Ulric Dahlgren, died in a Union cavalry raid against Richmond. Charless other
brother, William, spent part of the war in England spying on Confederate purchasing agents. In ironic contrast, Charless compelling story evolves within the hierarchy of Southern aristocracy. PHerschel Gower eloquently traces the rise of Charles to social prominence in the South. As a young man, Charles became a protigi of Nicholas Biddle, the prominent Philadelphia financier, who dispatched him to the cotton states to look after his interests. Ambitious and in search of wealth and position, Charles established himself in Natchez, Mississippi, married an heiress, started a family, and prospered. When Mississippi seceded from the Union, he stood in defense of his cotton plantations, his ownership of slaves, and his hard-won security. In July 1861, the governor of Mississippi appointed him brigadier general of volunteers. Under criticism, he resigned the post and took an advisory position overseeing gunboat construction. Charless fortune evaporated with the fall of the Confederacy, and his family suffered severely. After the war, he was reconciled with his
brother John and returned to the North. He died a Confederate carpetbagger practicing law and
accounting in New York. Readers interested in t@™™™™™šÿ¾Û€
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