Reference Entry
DEATH OF COLONEL ELMER ELLSWORTH IN ALEXANDRIA
Early in the Civil War, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth led the 11th New York “Fire Zouaves,” a regiment drawn from New York City firefighters, across the Potomac River to occupy Alexandria, Virginia. On May 24th, 1861, Ellsworth personally took down a large Confederate flag flying above the Marshall House inn, a banner that could be seen from the White House and that deeply angered President Lincoln.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth in Alexandria
Early in the Civil War, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth led the 11th New York “Fire Zouaves,” a regiment drawn from New York City firefighters, across the Potomac River to occupy Alexandria, Virginia. On May 24th, 1861, Ellsworth personally took down a large Confederate flag flying above the Marshall House inn, a banner that could be seen from the White House and that deeply angered President Lincoln. As Ellsworth descended the stairs with the captured flag, the inn’s proprietor shot him at close range, killing him instantly. A sergeant in the regiment immediately killed the proprietor, but Ellsworth’s death became the first widely mourned Union officer casualty of the war. His body lay in state in the White House, and newspapers carried emotional accounts of his friendship with Lincoln and his idealism. The incident reminded Americans on both sides that this would not be a brief, bloodless contest of abstractions but a conflict that reached into personal relationships and family circles.
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