Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth Papers (Ms.Ellsworth)

Biographical/Historical note

Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth was born in Malta, New York, in 1837, and grew up in nearby Mechanicsville, in a poor and struggling family which depended on his labor. Although he longed to be a soldier and aspired to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, his family's economic situation forced Ellsworth to leave home at age 17 to seek his fortune. Settling in Chicago, Ellsworth was to hold various jobs as a clerk and later as a patent solicitor in Chicago. He simultaneously became commander of a volunteer militia in Illinois. Following an encounter with a French military officer in 1857, he introduced the French Zouave drill method and became its principal promoter in the United States. Ellsworth's U.S. Zouave Cadets, in colorful uniforms that Ellsworth himself designed, enjoyed some popularity with the public, which led in turn to an eastern tour and a performance for President Buchanan at the White House in 1860.

At some point, Ellsworth was advised by his prospective father in law to seek a career in the law. He subsequently found a position as clerk in Abraham Lincoln's law office. Although his ambitions in the law did not last long, he and Lincoln became fast friends. When Lincoln ran for president, Ellsworth was among his staunch supporters. After the firing on Fort Sumter and the attack on the 6th Massachusetts Regiment in Baltimore in April 1861, Ellsworth made a tour of New York City firehouses, seeking volunteers to form a regiment of Zouaves. The First New York Fire Zouaves (officially known as the 11th New York Infantry, and informally as "Ellsworth's Zouaves") were mustered within ten days and quickly shipped out to Washington to join the Union forces. With his unit assigned to assist in the capture of Northern Virginia, Ellsworth led the assault on Alexandria and was shot by a local innkeeper after removing a Confederate flag from the roof of the inn. He was the first Union hero of the war, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. He thus came to occupy a prominent place in Civil War iconography. Numerous poems, pieces of sheet music, and other memorials were composed in his honor, and an entire generation of baby boys, born in the Union states, were named for him.

Bibliography:

Comings, H. H. Personal reminiscences of Co. E, N.Y. Fire Zouaves, better known as Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves. Malden, Massachusetts: J. Gould Tilden, 1886.

Hay, John. A young hero, personal reminiscences of Colonel E.E. Ellsworth. McClure's magazine VI (1895/96) 354-61.

Hay, John. Ellsworth. Atlantic monthly VIII (1861) 119-25. Reprinted for Chicago Historical Society by University of Chicago press, 1925.