The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-12-26

Mrs. Lincoln talked about that flag
with a devil-may-care lad Of 23 named
Elmer Ellsworth, who sported All en-
bryo mustache and long curly hair
and ZouaVe uniform.
"Ill pull it down, Mrs. Lincoln" "
said the boy with Il bow, 'and l shall
bring it to you with my compliments" "
He did pull it down, but he didn't
bring his trophy to the wife of the
president, because just after lie had
ripped the flag from the roof and was
coming down the stairway of the
Marshall house smiling proudly and
with the flag tlutterng from his left
arm jim Jackson shot the boy through
the breast.
That's the tale as Marty Reese
tells it. Marty ought TO know, be-
cause he was there. Marty says that
certain historians are all wrong when
they insist that Elmer Ellsworth, the
first martyr" Of the war, lost his
life simply because he happened along
the streets of Alexandria that morning
and saw the flag and tried to get it.
lie steamed down the Potomac pur-
bosely To get it for Mrs. Lincoln, he
aud his regiment Of LOO volunteer
1ircmen of New York city in three
boats. He landed under fire, and
when he arrived at the Marshall house
he left his regiment standing Ia the
street and he went 10 the roof to pull
down the flag alone.
Ellsworth was born the same year
icsvilie, N. Y, but at an early age he
went to Chicago. He came to know
Abraham Lincoln while in the middle
west and entered Lincoln's Springfield
office and did clerical work there
while reading law. Military life ap.
pealed to him, aRd so before the war
while he was in Illinois he organized
a militia company of Zouaves that was
d precursor of the Streator, ILL.,, and
other well-drilled zouaves from Illinois
that one sees in vaudeville and the cir.
cuses today. In fact, Marty Reese
remembers seeing Ellsworth's military
zouaves in New York long before any
one thought that Sumter would be
fired upon giving an exhibition drill
here in front of Martyrs city hall.
When the civil war broke out Ellis.
worth got permission from Lincoln
his personal friend, to come to New
York to organize a zouave regiment
that would do something besides
fancy drilling. For some reason of
his own the boyish colonel insisted
that the first lieutenant alone of each
company be picked from his original
Illinois zouaves. but that all the other
officers and privates be recruited from
the volunteer fire companies of New
York
That's how his regiment came into
being, and it was known variously as
Ellsworth's Zouaves the Eleventh
New York Volunteers. the First Fire
Zouaves---to distinguish it from the
earlier Illinois organization--and, pop
ularly, as "Ellsworth's Pet Lambs
Partly because of its fireInen person
mel and partly hecau pf the little red
fez with the tassel and the odd UNI
form the regiment was the most ad
Vertised and the one most talked
about of any that marched out Of New
York.
They went down through Hampton
IL. A
where they had meal on the campus
Of the naval academy. Then they
worked their way over back Of Balti
more and into Washington. and care
fully followed their orders to avoid
Baltimore lest there be a repetition
there of the brick throwing and shoot
ing that had greeted Massachusetts
marching sons not long before. The
regiment entered Washington Mt last
That night the companies were scat
tered about various public buildings
and on the following day they were
all slowed in the capitol. they slept
on the floor of the senate chamber
wrapped in their blankets, and the
OtGIHOW WSut dClO5o tilC OlG UuliuluG
to the lower house. Down in the base,
ment. where they cooked and ate, they
found the labyrinth of rooms and cor
riccrs that twist and turn beneath
the floor one mass of bales and boxes
filed with provisions against pos
Sible siege.
Gen. Mcdowell swore the men in
one night out on Capitol hill. That