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On May 24, 1861, Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, 24, became the first Union officer killed during the Civil War.
https://www.facebook.com/CivilWarMonitor/posts/colonel-elmer-e-ellsworth-24-was-the-first-union-officer-killed-during-the-civil/1540347318101531/Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, 24, was the first Union officer killed during the Civil War #OnThisDay in 1861 when he was shot by the proprietor of the Marshall House in Alexandria, VA, after removing the Confederate flag that had flown from the establishment’s roof.
Col. Elmer Ellsworth and The Marshall House Incident
Perhaps no other name sparked the imaginations and patriotic fervor of Northerners in the early days of the Civil War as that of Col. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth. His pre-Civil War fame as the leader of the Chicago Zouave Cadets popularized the Zouave movement in America and awakened interest in the military at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. Ellsworth’s dedication to the Union cause led him to raise the first volunteer regiment in the North. Yet his death at the Marshall House in Alexandria, Virginia early in the war also claimed him as the first officer to die in the conflict and rallied the patriotic spirit of Northerners who mourned him as a martyred hero.
Ellsworth was born in 1837 to a working-class family in Malta, New York. From his childhood, he was fascinated by the military—eagerly listening to his great-grandfather’s tales of the Revolutionary War and of George Washington, who became one of his heroes. The young Ellsworth liked to draw soldiers, which anticipated his later interest in designing the uniforms of the men he commanded. Moreover, his boyhood game of organizing his playmates into companies and drilling them reflected the natural leadership abilities that won him acclaim later in life.
Like others who hoped to find fortune in the West, Ellsworth left New York at the age of 17 for Chicago. He worked for a short time as a co-partner of a patent-soliciting business, but the failure of this venture plunged him into several years of poverty. He eked out a living, eventually becoming a law clerk and student. Ellsworth’s law studies, however, were always half-hearted, taking second place to his growing interest and involvement in military activities.
Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth
Newspaper accounts in the mid-1850s of the daring exploits of the French Zouaves in the Crimean War sparked his romantic imagination. These exotic-looking troops wore colorful uniforms, North African in origin, that featured tasseled fezzes, decorative short jackets, and baggy trousers. Their elaborate drill was physically strenuous and required precise execution. It included the ability to load and fire on the run, both lying down and kneeling, as well as skill in the use of the bayonet. Determined to learn more about the distinctive Zouave drill and uniform, Ellsworth ordered books from France and became acquainted with a surgeon who had been in a French Zouave regiment.
© Fort Ward Museum, Office of Historic Alexandria, 2020
Perhaps no other name sparked the imaginations and patriotic fervor of Northerners in the early days of the Civil War as that of Col. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth. His pre-Civil War fame as the leader of the Chicago Zouave Cadets popularized the Zouave movement in America and awakened interest in the military at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. Ellsworth’s dedication to the Union cause led him to raise the first volunteer regiment in the North. Yet his death at the Marshall House in Alexandria, Virginia early in the war also claimed him as the first officer to die in the conflict and rallied the patriotic spirit of Northerners who mourned him as a martyred hero.
Ellsworth was born in 1837 to a working-class family in Malta, New York. From his childhood, he was fascinated by the military—eagerly listening to his great-grandfather’s tales of the Revolutionary War and of George Washington, who became one of his heroes. The young Ellsworth liked to draw soldiers, which anticipated his later interest in designing the uniforms of the men he commanded. Moreover, his boyhood game of organizing his playmates into companies and drilling them reflected the natural leadership abilities that won him acclaim later in life.
Like others who hoped to find fortune in the West, Ellsworth left New York at the age of 17 for Chicago. He worked for a short time as a co-partner of a patent-soliciting business, but the failure of this venture plunged him into several years of poverty. He eked out a living, eventually becoming a law clerk and student. Ellsworth’s law studies, however, were always half-hearted, taking second place to his growing interest and involvement in military activities.
Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth
Newspaper accounts in the mid-1850s of the daring exploits of the French Zouaves in the Crimean War sparked his romantic imagination. These exotic-looking troops wore colorful uniforms, North African in origin, that featured tasseled fezzes, decorative short jackets, and baggy trousers. Their elaborate drill was physically strenuous and required precise execution. It included the ability to load and fire on the run, both lying down and kneeling, as well as skill in the use of the bayonet. Determined to learn more about the distinctive Zouave drill and uniform, Ellsworth ordered books from France and became acquainted with a surgeon who had been in a French Zouave regiment.
© Fort Ward Museum, Office of Historic Alexandria, 2020
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