Marshall House ( Alexandria , Virginia ) The Marshall House was a hotel that stood on the corner of King Street and South Pitt Street in Alexandria , Virginia . At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861 , it was the site of the killing of Col . Elmer E . Ellsworth during the Union army takeover of Alexandria . Ellsworth was a popular and highly prominent officer and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln . He was the first conspicuous casualty and the first officer killed in battle in the war , and his death became a " cause célèbre " for the Union . He was shot by the hotel proprietor James W . Jackson after removing a Confederate flag from the roof of the hotel , and Jackson was then killed immediately after he killed Ellsworth . On the other side , Jackson was celebrated for flying the flag and dying while defending the Confederate cause . At the current Hotel Monaco , which was built on the site where the Marshall House once stood , a plaque at the corner of the building commemorates the death of Jackson , who it calls the " first martyr to the cause of Southern Independence " and says " was killed by federal soldiers while defending his property and personal rights " . The plaque makes no mention of Jackson ' s shotgun slaying of Col . Ellsworth . History . Ellsworth , founder of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment known as the " Fire Zouaves " , was killed at the Marshall House on May 24 , 1861 ( the day after Virginia ' s secession was ratified by referendum ) during the Union take - over of Alexandria . He was shot by the hotel proprietor James W . Jackson , who was then immediately killed by Corporal Francis E . Brownell , one of the four soldiers accompanying Ellsworth . Ellsworth , a young Illinois lawyer and friend of the Lincolns , became the first Union officer to die in the Civil War . Brownell later received the Medal of Honor for his action . Ellsworth was killed as he descended the stairs of the hotel after removing a Confederate flag from its roof . Jackson had raised the flag over the hotel , which was at a prominent location visible from the White House , and he had said the flag would only be taken down " over his dead body " . Ellsworth ' s body was taken back across the Potomac to Washington , D . C . and was laid in state in the East Room at the White House . Immediately after the incident , thousands of Union supporters rallied around Ellsworth ' s cause and enlisted , and " Remember Ellsworth " became a patriotic slogan . The 44th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment called itself the " Ellsworth Avengers " , as well as " The People ' s Ellsworth Regiment " . Souvenir hunters carried away bits of the hotel as mementos , especially including portions of the stairway . The building was torn down in the 1950s . Today the site of the Marshall house is occupied by a Hotel Monaco . The current hotel is adorned by a plaque that reads : The Marshall House < br > stood upon this site , and within the building < br > on the early morning of May 24 , 1861 < br > James W . Jackson < br > was killed by federal soldiers while defending his property and < br > personal rights as stated in the verdict of the coroners jury . < br > He was < br > the first martyr to the cause of Southern Independence . < br > The justice of history does not permit his name to be forgotten . < br > Not in the excitement of battle , but coolly and for a great principle , < br > he laid down his life , an example to all , in defence of his home and < br > the sacred soil of his native state < br > Virginia Artifacts collected during the construction process of the Hotel Monaco were preserved by local archeologists and may be seen in the Old Torpedo Factory ' s third floor exhibit ( the Alexandria Archaeology Museum ) , three blocks away on King Street .