New York's Slain Officer is Civil War's First Celebrity Casualty on May 24, 1861

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Col. Elmer Ellsworth

• The death of Col. Elmer Ellsworth
• The death of Col. Elmer Ellsworth

LATHAM, NY (05/21/2011)(readMedia)-- The first officer to die in the Civil War 150 years ago this week was Col. Ephraim Elmer Ellsworth, a twenty-four-year-old Upstate New York native and personal friend of President Lincoln.

Ephraim Ellsworth was born in Malta, New York on April 11, 1837. As a young man, he left home for New York City, then moved to Chicago where he worked as a law clerk and a solicitor of patents.

While in Chicaco, Ellsworth joined a volunteer militia company and introduced the Zouave uniform and drill, fashioned after French colonial troops in Algeria. His company, named the United States Zouave Cadets of Chicago soon became a highly trained and competent unit.

Their unusual dress consisting of baggy pants, short jackets, fezzes and gaiters, combined with their complicated drills gained attention for them in the Midwest.

With a promotion to major, Ellsworth and his unit soon became the honor guard to the Illinois governor. In 1860, before the Civil War began, Ellsworth and his unit toured cities across the northern states, including Washington, D.C.

That year Ellsworth left command temporarily to travel to Springfield, Ill. where he studied law in the offices of Abraham Lincoln. Becoming a close friend of Lincoln's, he stayed with him and assisted him in his campaign for president as well as traveled with him to Washington in the early months of 1861.

Ellsworth had spoken to Lincoln concerning a position in the War Department, however, this was put on hold due to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Ellsworth left Washington and traveled to New York City in March 1861 where he raised a new volunteer regiment in mid-April from the city's fire department. Ellsworth was able to enlist 1,100 volunteers in three days. Again employing the Zouave dress, Colonel Ellsworth soon commanded the 11th New York Fire Zouaves and appeared to be among the Union's most promising officers.

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 by steamer 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 and his men came upon an inn, known as the Marshall House, on King Street. Glancing up, Ellsworth saw that the inn was flying a large Confederate flag, and ordered that it be immediately taken down. After stationing a few of his men on the first floor of the inn, Ellsworth and four of his men went upstairs and leaning out a window, cut down the flag.

Ellsworth then started back down the stairs. In front of Ellsworth was Corporal Francis E. Brownell, and behind him was Edward H. House, a reporter for the New York Tribune. At the landing on the third floor, the innkeeper, James W. Jackson, was waiting with a double-barrel shotgun. As Jackson raised his weapon to fire, Corporal Brownell batted the barrel of Jackson's shotgun aside with the barrel of his musket, to avert the shot. Simultaneously, Jackson fired, hitting Ellsworth.

Jackson then fired a second shot, barely missing Brownell. At the same time as Jackson's second shot, Brownell fired, striking Jackson. As Jackson lay dead, Brownell bayoneted his body, sending it falling down the stairs. They then turned their attention to Ellsworth, who lay dead on top of the bloody Confederate flag.

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

Upon seeing his friend's body, President Lincoln was grief-stricken. 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.

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 the confederate star removed from the flag that Ellsworth took down at the site. The flag's star was donated to the museum in 2006. http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/press.htm#EllsworthFlag

Brownell, from Troy, N.Y., who enlisted in Company A of the 11th Volunteer Regiment, received the Medal of Honor for his actions in 1877 with the support of his congressman, the first act of the Civil War to result in the award.

More than 500,000 New Yorkers enlisted in the Army and Navy during the four years of the Civil War and 53,114 New Yorkers died. Throughout the period of the Civil War Sesquicentennial observance, the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs will produce short articles about New York's Civil War experience researched by the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs.

For more information, go the NewYork State Military Museum Civil War Timeline Website at http://dmna.state.ny.us/civilwar