| Charles G. Dahlgren | |
| Birth Date: | 13 August 1811 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Death Place: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Placeofburial: | City Cemetery, Natchez, Mississippi |
| Placeofburial Label: | Place of burial |
| Allegiance: |  United States of AmericaConfederate States of America |
| Branch: | Mississippi State Troops/Mississippi Militia |
| Rank: | Brigadier General (Mississippi State Troops/Mississippi Militia) |
| Battles: | American Civil War |
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.[1] [2]
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.[2] His older brother was John A. Dahlgren, an admiral in the Union Navy.[2] He moved to Louisiana, then to Mississippi, as a young man.[2] He was an official of the Bank of the United States at Natchez, Mississippi, and engaged in several other business ventures.[3]
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.
After the Civil War, Dahlgren had lost his plantation and fortune and moved to New Orleans to practice law.[1] 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.[1] He died at Brooklyn, New York, on December 18, 1888, and was buried in the City Cemetery, Natchez, Mississippi.[1]