Page 37 - Family History
P. 37
Family Stories
On May 24, 1861, the day after Virginia seceded; Ellsworth led his men
uncontested down the streets of Alexandria, Virginia, across the Potomac River
from Washington. He ordered some of his men to take the railroad station while
he and a few other soldiers went to secure the telegraph office. While doing this,
Ellsworth noticed a Confederate flag flying above the Marshall House Inn. He
and four others quickly went up the stairs. Ellsworth cut down the flag and
was on the way down the stairs when the owner of the inn, James W. Jackson,
killed him with a shotgun blast to the chest. Cpl. Francis Brownell of Troy, New
York, immediately killed the innkeeper.
Death of Col. Ellsworth, a Currier and Ives engraving, 1861
Lincoln was deeply saddened by his friend’s death and ordered an honor guard
to bring his body to the White House, where it lay in state in the East Room on
May 25, 1861. Ellsworth was then taken to the City Hall in New York City,
where thousands of Union supporters came to see the first man to fall for the
Union cause. Ellsworth became a Union martyr, and babies, streets and even
towns (Ellsworth, Wisconsin) were named after him.
Thousands of Union supporters rallied around Ellsworth’s cause and enlisted.
“Remember Ellsworth” was a patriotic slogan, and a New York regiment of
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