The plaque below marks the spot where the leg of U.S. Army Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, son of Admiral John Dahlgren, "father of American naval ordnance," was interred following his wounding after the battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
The leg was enclosed in a lead and wooden box and placed in the cornerstone of Admiral Dahlgren's new foundry, building 26 which was then under construction on this site.
Colonel Dahlgren was killed in March 1864 during a failed Union cavalry raid on Richmond. Documents said to have been found on his body directed the capture or killing of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. Public outrage in the South over "the Dahlgren papers" set the stage for conspirators led by John Wilkes Booth to plan the kidnapping and eventually the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
In 1915, Building 28 was demolished and replaced by a metal fabrication shop, and the plaque remained in the original wall. The building was again demolished in 1942, removing the remaining surface remnants of the 1863 foundry. The plaque was reinstalled at a higher location in the new wall. Mysteriously, Ulric Dahlgren's leg was not found.
In 1998, the plaque was recovered when the building was again demolished to construct the NavSea parking garage. The plaque now rests in its approximate original location marking the southwest corner of Admiral Dahlgren's foundry.
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