Ulric Dahlgren led a Union cavalry raid on the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia on the cold Sunday morning of November 9, 1862. Only about 3 hours long, the incident is a minor footnote in Civil War history. Yet this story is a microcosm of the war as experienced by the citizens, newspapers North and South, the individual soldier and his officers. First person accounts paint a detailed picture of the events of that morning, eschewing the spin of triumph or perfidy so common to military narratives.