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A Requiem
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This cover of A Requiem in memory of Colonel Elmer
Ellsworth is decorated with scenes recalling his brief
and tragic Civil War service. As the commander of the
11th New York Infantry, Ellsworth led his men into Alexandria,
Virginia, at dawn on May 24, 1861. Ellsworth saw a large
Confederate flag flying over the roof of the Marshall
House hotel on King Street. This was the first rebel flag
to have been raised in the city, and allegedly it was
visible from Washington, several miles to the north. With
a small detail of men, Ellsworth hastened to the hotel
and made his way to the rooftop flagpole, where he lowered
the flag. While Ellsworth was rolling it up, the soldiers
were descending the staircase when from out of the shadows
they were surprised by the innkeeper, James W. Jackson.
Jackson leveled a double-barrel shotgun at Ellsworth and
killed him instantly with a shot to the chest. Jackson,
whose second shot missed, was himself shot and bayoneted
to death by Private Francis E. Brownell. |
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Sam De Vincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet
Music, Archives Center
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Behring Center
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