66 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



of the war. It is probable that he was related in some degree to Stephen Clegg 

 Rowan, born near Dublin, Ireland, in 1808, who, when a child, came with his parents 

 to the United States, was appointed midshipman in 1826, fought gallantly on land 

 in Mexico, during the Civil War played an important part in blockading the coast 

 of North Carolina, and eventually gained the rank of rear admiral, commandant 

 of the Norfolk navy yard, commander in chief of the Asiatic squadron in 1870, 

 superintendent of the Naval Observatory, and chairman of the lighthouse board 

 in 1883. He died in Washington in 1890. 



John A. Dahlgren as a young student was good in mathematics, as well as in 

 Latin and Spanish. His teacher says: "He has received more honors than any 

 other individual in my classes in the same time." At the age of 10 or 11 "he was 

 continually occupied in reading universal history, particularly that of Greece and 

 Rome." As midshipman, John Dahlgren's "mathematical training and pro- 

 ficiency and some knowledge of the use of instruments speedily attracted the 

 attention of the learned chief of the Survey, Mr. Hassler." 



Dahlgren had a keen sense of form. He had a fondness for birds speaks 

 of one that is hopping about in his cabin, resting on his knee at tunes. His manu- 

 script books are "a marvel of painstaking care. Every letter and figure is drawn 

 with the incisive clearness of a steel engraving, and no sign of weariness or haste 

 is anywhere indicated." 



John Dahlgren was enthusiastic in talking, affectionate in nature, and felt 

 keenly the loss of each of such of his children as died. He is said to have been 

 a man of severe nature. "To remain idle was not in his nature." 



Dahlgren married twice: first, Mary Clement Bunker, a bright, joyous, 

 generous, unselfish woman, a free spender, of gentle, affectionate nature and rare 

 conversational powers. By her he had three children: 



1. Charles Bunker Dahlgren, born in October 1839, near Philadelphia. He 

 was educated at Rittenhouse Academy, Washington, and was graduated in 1857. 

 He then studied ordnance and steam engineering at the West Point foundry, 

 entered the engineer corps, United States navy, and was graduated at the head 

 of a large class, but was transferred from the engineers corps to the line at the 

 outbreak of the war. In 1863 he participated in the naval siege and capture of 

 Vicksburg and was so efficiently active that he received a command. After three 

 months in the hospital, he served under his father in front of Charleston and was 

 in the bloody assault on Fort Fisher. After the war he practiced civil engineering, 

 wrote a book on Mexico's historic mines, and participated on the Resolute in the 

 Spanish-American war. He married in 1867, Augusta, daughter of William A. 

 Smith. One of his sons is Ulric Dahlgren, born in 1870, professor of biology at 

 Princeton, and author of memoirs on production of light and electricity by animals. 



2. Ulric Dahlgren, born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 1842, was educated 

 in Washington and was studying law at the outbreak of the early war. He was 

 commissioned as captain and placed a battery of Dahlgren guns at Harper's Ferry 

 in a difficult position. He made a daring and successful raid with one company 

 into Fredericksburg and held the town against the opposition of a large force of 

 the enemy's cavalry, and also served as aide to Generals Sigel, Burnside, Fremont, 

 Hooker, and Pope. "At Chancellorsville he stayed the Confederate advance by a 

 desperate charge." At the second Bull Run he was chief of artillery and prevented 

 a disaster to the disorganized Union troops. In the Gettysburg campaign he 

 destroyed 179 wagons of Lee's train, lost a leg, and won a colonelcy. He lost his 

 life in a daring attempt to liberate Federal prisoners at Libby Prison and Belle Isle. 



