Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-06-06

| u.
Before our troops disembarkcd, n boat ill.
cd with armed marines, and carrying fac
OF truce, put oil from the Pawnec and landed
ahead ofus. From the officer in charge VIC
learned that the Pawnee had already pro-
posed terms Of submission TO the town. and
that the rebels had consented to vacate with
in u specified time. This seemed to settle
the question OF 4 contest in the negative
but IN the confusion Of mastering and form.
ing. the men, the intelligence was not well
understood, and received but little attention.
Indeed, am quite sure that the pawnee's s
officer did not seek Col. Ellsworth to COM
nuncate with him, and that the Col only
obtained Il meager share of information by
seeking 1t directly from the bearer of the fap
of truce himself No doubt this omission
arose from the confused condition i'm which
affairs then stood. But it would have caused
no 0,ncrence II tnc Uolonel's s military plans.
No attack was meditatcd, except in case OF
a forcible resistance to his progress On the
other hand, the idea Of the place being un-
der truce seemed to Danish every suspicion
OF resistance either from multtudes or in
diylduals. 1t was just possibly this CON
slderation that led Col. Ellsworth to forego
the requisite personal precautions, which, if
taken, would have prevented his unhappy
death. But am sure none of us ut that
time estimated the probability of the danger
which afterward menaced us. Perhaps the
thought of actual bloodshed and death in
war was too foreign to our experience to be
rightly weighed. But it certainly did not
enter our minds then, as poor Ellsworth S
fate has since taught us it should have done,
that town halfwaked, halfterrified, and
under truce, could harbor any peril for us
30 the Colonel gave some rapid directions
for the interruption of the railway course.
by displacing few rails near the depot, and
then turning toward the center of the town,
to destroy the means of communication
Southwark by the telegraph: ameasure which
he appeared to regard as very seriously i'm
portant He was accompanied by Mr.. III.
Nj. Wisner, military secretary to the regi-
mcnt, the chaplain, the Rev. Il. w. Dodge,
and myself. At first he summoned no guard
to follow him, but he afterward turned and
called forward single squad, with SER
geant from the first company. We passed
quickly through the streets, meeting few
bewildered travellers issuing from the princi-
pal hotel, which seemed to be slowly coming
to its daily senses, and were about to turn to-
ward the telegraph Office, when the Colonel,
first Of all, caught sight of the Secession flag,
which had so long swung insolcntly, in full
view of the Presidents House. He imme-
diately sent back the Sergeant, with an Or
der for the advance of the entire first COM
pany, and, leaving the matter of the tel
egraph office for while, pushed on to the
hotel, which proved to be the Marshall
House, second-class inn. On entering the
open door, the Colonel met a man in his
shirt and trowsers, of whom he demanded
what sort of a flag it was that hung above
the roof. The stranger, who seemed great
ly alarmed declared he knew nothing of it,
and that he was only a boarder there With
out questioning him further, the Colonel
sprang up stairs, and we all followed to the
topmost story, whence, by means of lad
der, he clambered to the roof, cut down the
flag with Wisner's knife, and brought it
from its staff. There were two men in bed
in the ganet whom we had not observed at
all when we entered their position being
somewhat concealed, but who now rose in
great apparent amazement, although | OBJ
served that they were more than half dress-
ed. We at once turned to descend, private
Brownell leading the way, and Colonel Ellis
worth Immediately following him with the
flag. AS Brownell reached the first landing
place, or entry, after a descent of some dozen
steps, n man jumped from dark passage,
and hardly noticing the private, leveled n
double -barreled gun square at the Colonel S
breast Brownell made quick pass to turn
the weapon aside, but the fellow hand was
firm, and he discharged one barrel straight
to its aim, the slugs or buckshot with which
it Was loaded entering the Colonel's heart,
and killing him at the instant. | think my
arm was resting on poor Ellsworth $ shoulder
at the moment. At any rate, he seemed to
fall almost from my own grasp. lie was ON
the second or third step from the landing,
and he dropped with that heavy, horrible
headlong weight which always comes of sud-
den death inflicted in this manner. His as
| sailant had turned like flash to give the
contents of the other barrel to Brownell, but
either he could not command his aim or the
Zouave was too quick with him, for the slugs
went over his head, and passed through the
panels and wainscoat of door which shell
tered some sleeping lodgers Simultaneously
with this second shot, and sounding like the
echo of the first, Brownell' rifle was heard,
and the assassin staggered backward. He
was hit exactly in the middle of the face, and
the wound, as afterward saw it, was the
most frightful | ever witnessed. OF course
Brownell did not know how fatal his shot had
been, and so before the man dropped, he
thrust his saber bayonet through and
through the body, the force Of the blow
sending the dead man violently down the
upper section of the second flight of stairs,
at the foot of which he lay with his face to
the floor Winscr ran from above, crying,
"Who is hit?" but as he glanced downward
by our feet, he needed no answer.
Bewildered for an instant by the sudden
ness of this attack, and not knowing what
more might be in store, we forbore to pro-
ceed, and gathered together defensively.- =
There were but seven Of us altogether, and
one was without weapon of any kind
Brownell instantly reloaded, and while do
ing so perceived the door through which the
assailant's shot had passed, beginning tC
open. He brought his rifle to the shoulder
and menaced the occupants, two travellers
with immediate death, if they stirred. The
three other privates guarded the passages
Of which there were quite number con
verging to the point where we stood, while
the Chaplain and Winser looked to the stair
case by which we had descended, and the
adjoining chambers. | ran down stairs tt
see if anything was threatened from til,
story below, but it soon appeared there wa.
no danger from that quarter However, W,
were not at all disposed to move from Oul
position. From the opening doors, ant
through the passages, we discerned a suf
a .sn,l,o, 90 l.,rp,o d. aoo,,ra ,,o tba