The colorful leader of the equally exotic Zouaves, whose name and picturesque uniforms were patterned after those of the renowned French Algerian forces, the twenty-four-year-old Ellsworth had already established a reputation as an able military organizer and trainer prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Immediately after the attack on Fort Sumter, he raised a regiment of New York City firemen, commissioned as the 11th New York Fire Zouaves, and promptly marched to Washington, where his troops were mustered into Federal service on May 7, 1861. Just three weeks later, Ellsworth led his Zouaves across the Potomac to occupy Alexandria, Virginia. Spotting a defiant Confederate flag atop the Marshall House hotel, he stormed to the roof and tore the Rebel banner down. As he descended the stairs in triumph, the indignant hotel owner ambushed him with a shotgun and the brash young Ellsworth fell dead, a victim of his patriotic zeal, apotheosized into an immediate hero and rallying point for Union sentiments. President Lincoln openly grieved his loss, consoling Ellsworth’s parents on “the untimely loss of your noble son…My acquaintance with him began less than two years ago [he had studied law for a time in Lincoln’s Springfield office]; yet…it was as intimate as the disparity of our ages and my engrossing engagements would permit…[He was] my young friend, and your brave and early fallen child.” As proof of his esteem, Lincoln ordered that the body be brought to the White House to lie in state before its return for burial in New York state. Vintage 2 x 3.5 full-length Brady cabinet photo, housed in its original 4 x 6.25 photographer’s presentation frame, of a young Ellsworth in a three piece suit, complete with hat and walking stick, signed in the bottom border of the presentation frame in black ink, “Elmer E. Ellsworth.” Nicely cloth matted and framed with an original unsigned Silsbee, Case and Company CDV of Ellsworth in uniform (with “Compliments of Frank E. Brownele, 1st. Lt. 11th Infantry, U. S. Army ,” written in pencil on the reverse), a mailing envelope bearing a color cachet of memorializing Ellsworth’s death and an informational plaque, to an overall size of 17.75 x 28. In fine condition, with light overall toning to photographer’s mount, not affecting clarity or boldness of signature. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA. Oversized.
