Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1861-07-17
Dtest ott .gonrnal,
From the Atlantic Monthly.
ELLSWORTH.

,Aen been marked ana MADE menora-
w. p Sv striking events. Out ofthe cloud
. ~. hangs around the vague inceptions
.l ~ reyol1tions, a startling incident will
.Ua =, flash like lightning, to show
IT, the warning elements have begun
s L. work. The scenes that attended
~. .Lo birth of American nationality form
Us not inaccurate type of those that
tara4pened the crusade for its perpetua-
.;oH The consolidation of public senti-
' r,I which followed the magnificent
a i at Bunker's Hill, in which the
sn;rit ofindignant resistance was temper
y bv the pathetic interest surrounding
,bs fate of Warren, was but a foreshad-
WING of the instant rally to arms which
s,lIowed the fall of the beleaguered fort
IN Charleston harbor. and of the intensity
IF traoic pathos which has been added to
the stern purpose of avenging justice by
,bo murder Of Colonel Ellsworth.
Enhraim Elmer Ellsworth was born
IN the little village of Mechanicsyille, on
,be eft bank of fhe Hudson, on the I'D
dav of April, 1887. When he was very
rnnnc, his father, through no fault of his
own lost irretrievably his entire fortune,
- tbc rpado of financial ruin that in
chose years swept from the sea to the
mountains. From this disaster he new
~ recovered. Misfortune seems to have
f,rouad him through life, with the insa-
fable pertinacity of the Nemesis of a
Greek tragedy. And now in his old age,
when for o moment there seemed to
shine upon bis path the sunshine that
rromi.ed better days, he finds that sud-
denly withdrawn, and stands desolate,
"stabbed through the hearts affections,
TO the heart" His younger son died
some years ago, of smallpox, in Chica-
90, and tho murder at Alexandria leaves
him with his sorrowing wife, lonely,
amid the sympathy of the world.
The days of Elmer's childhood and
early youth were passed at Troy and in
the city &, New York, in purs uits var
ious, but energetic and laborious. There
is little Of interest in the story of these
years. He was a proud, affectionate,
and generous boy, hampered by eircum-
sance but conscious of great capabilities,
mot morbidly addicted to day-dreaming.
but always working heartily for some
thing beyond. He was still very young
when he went to Chicago, and associated
himselfin business with Mr.. Devereux of
Massachusetts,. They managed for
little while, with much. success, an agen-
cy for securing patents to inventors
through the treachery of one in whom
they had .eposed great confidence they
suffered severe losses which obliged
them to close their business, and Dever-
eux went back to the East. The next
year of Eusworth's life was miracle of
endurance and accomplishing fortitude.
He read law with great assiduity, and
supported himself by copying, in the
hours that should have been devoted to
recreation. He had no pastimes and
very few friends. Not a soul beside
himselfand the baker who gave him his
daily loaf knew how he was living. Dur
ing all that time, he never slept in a
bed, never ate with friends at a social
board. So acute was his sense of honor,
so delicate his ideas of property, that, al
though himself the most generous of men
be never would accept from acquaint-
ances even the slightest favors or courte-
sizes which he was unable to return. He
told me once of a severe struggle between
inclination and sense of honor. At a
period vi treme hunger, he met a
friend in t tn5 street who was just starting
from the city. He accompanied his
tisnd into restaurant, wishing to con
rsse with him, but declined taking any
refreshment. He represented the savory
fragrance fhis friends dinner, as al
most maddeuing to his famished senses,
while he sat there pleasantly chatting,
and deprecating his friends entreaties
to join him in his repast, on the plea
that he had just dined.
What would have killed an ordinary
man did not injure Ellsworth. His iron
frame seemed incapable of dissolution OF
waste. Circumstance had no power to
conquer his spirit. His hearty good-hu-
NOR nSer gave way. His sense of hon
or, which was sometimes even fantastic
IN its dalicacy, freed him from the very
temptation to wrong. He knew there
vas better time coming for him. Con-
seieus ofgreat mental and bodily strength
with that bright outlook that industry
End honor always give man, he was
perfectly secure of ultimate success. His
plans mingled in a singular manner the
BRIGHT enthusiasm of the youthful dream.
er and the eminent practicality of the
man of affairs. AT one time, his mind
was fixed on Mexico,-not with the licen
tious dreams that excited the ragged
Condottieri who followed the fated foot
steps of the ''gray-eyed man of Destiny,
in the wild hope of plumber and power
nor with the vague reverie in which
fanatical theorists construct impossible
Utopias on the absurd framework o
icarias or Phalansteries. His clear bold
and thoroughly executive mind planned
a magnifceiSspscheIne of commercial en-
terprse, which having its centre of oper-
atoms at Guaymas, should ramify
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