New York State Military Museum Marks 150th Anniversary of Mechanicville Civil War Heroes Death

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The coat Mechanicville native Col. Elmer Ellsworth was wearing when he was shot on May 24, 1861. The bullet hole is clearly visible.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (05/22/2011)(readMedia)-- New York State Military Museum Director Michael Aikey will be available to speak to reporters on Monday, May 23 about Mechanicville Native Elmer Ellsworth, a friend of Abraham Lincoln and Union Army officer whose death was a significant incident 150-years ago in the early days of the Civil War.

The coat Ellsworth was wearing when he was shot in Alexandria Virginia on May 24, 1861 is currently on display at the New York State Military Museum to mark the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

WHO: New York State Military Museum manager and Civil War expert Michael Aikey

WHAT: A discussion of the importance of Col. Elmer Ellsworth and his death on the population of the North in the opening days of the Civil War and an explanation of how his coat, and other artifacts surrounding his death, came to be included in the collections of the New York State Military Museum.

WHEN: 11 a.m. on Monday, May 23, 2011.

WHERE: New York State Military Museum, 61 Lake Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866

Coverage Opportunities:

Interview with Michael Aikey. Imagery of Col. Elmer Ellsworth's bullet-holed coat and other displays at the New York State Military Museum.

BACKGROUND:

Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, a 24-year old native of Mechanicville, was a law-clerk and a friend of President Abraham Lincoln. He was an active member of local militia's in the 1850s, studying military science in his spare time and serving as unit drillmaster.

When war came he organized the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry, known as the Fire Zoauves, because they recruited from volunteer fire companies and wore uniforms designed to look like those of French North African Troops.

The day after Virginia seceded, May 24, 1861, Union troops were ordered to cross the Potomac River and seize important areas on the Virginia side.

Ellsworth, having campaigned for the mission with his regiment, left Washington at daybreak on a steam boat and headed to an Alexandria wharf across the river. The regiment met no resistance. Once established in town, Ellsworth ordered one company of his Soldiers to seize the railroad station, while he and a small detachment were to capture the telegraph office.

While heading toward the telegraph office, Ellsworth saw a large Confederate Flag flying from the Marshall House, an inn on King Street. Ellsworth ordered that the flag be struck, stationed some men on the inn's first floor, led four Soldiers upstairs and cut down the flag.

Ellsworth then started back down the stairs, followed by Cpl. Francis E. Brownell -- from Troy, New York -- and New York Tribune reporter Edward H. House. James W. Jackson, the innkeeper, was waiting in ambush with a double-barreled shotgun on the third-floor landing. As Jackson raised his weapon to fire, Cpl. Brownell used his musket to bat the shotgun's barrels aside. But Jackson fired, hitting Ellsworth.

Jackson's second shot barely missed Brownell, but Brownell fired too, killing Jackson. After bayoneting Jackson's body and sending it tumbling down the stairs, Brownell turned with the others to Ellsworth, now lying dead on top of the bloody Confederate flag.

Flags flew at half mast and bells tolled across the North, in mourning for Col. Ellsworth.

President Lincoln was grief-stricken at the sight of his friend's body. On May 25, 1861, upon Lincoln's orders, an honor guard brought Ellsworth's body to the White House, where he lay in state, followed by a funeral ceremony.

"Excuse me but I cannot talk," Lincoln said to a senator expressing his sorrow. "I will make no apology, gentlemen, for my weakness but I knew Ellsworth well, and held him in great regard."

Col. Ellsworth's casket was then moved to City Hall in New York City, where thousands paid their respects. Following this, a train bearing Ellsworth's remains traveled to his hometown of Mechanicsville, New York, where he was buried overlooking the Hudson River.

Following his death, Col. Ellsworth became cult-like in the eyes of the Union. Poems, songs, sermons and memorial envelopes lamented his loss, and parents named their babies after him, and streets and towns used his name.

Brownell was awarded a Medal of Honor for killing Jackson in 1877, after applying for the honor twice and being turned down. He died in 1894 at age 54.

The uniform coat of Col. Ellsworth remains part of the collection of Civil War items in the New York State Military History Museum, along with most of the Confederate flag that Ellsworth took down at the site.