We’re here the corner of Pitt and King Streets in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.
What happened here on May 24th, 1861, brought the Civil War to the steps of the nation's
capital.
Today, we're here in the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition “The Death of
Ellsworth.”
I'm Warren Perry and we're talking with NPG historian James Barber.
Can you tell us please why this exhibition and why right now?
“The Death of Ellsworth,” that's the title of the exhibition and there…it’s three
stories.
It's a national story.
It’s a local story.
The incident happens just in Alexander, Virginia across the river.
And it’s also a Smithsonian story.
It’s national story.
Elmer Ellsworth was the first Union officer to be killed in the Civil War.
It’s a local story.
It happens at the Marshall House which is on the corner of Pitt and King Street in Alexandria,
Virginia.
And it's a Smithsonian story in a sense that Ellsworth’s avenger donated then several
key artifacts from the incident to the Smithsonian, namely the rifles and his Medal of Honor.
This incident will warrant…
it'll be the first incident where the Medal of Honor is given.
So what we see in this exhibition was actually taken from that moment, the inciting moment
of the war beginning with the occupation of Alexandria.
Can you tell us a little bit about the exhibition?
The exhibition is composed of those, like you say, many original artifacts from the
incident, the rifles, the bayonets.
We have pieces of...
The Marshall house becomes a Mecca after the incident for sightseers and they literally
will carve away bits and pieces of it.
So we have some of those artifacts too, portions of the flag pole, a bit of the flag which
caused all the trouble, and a bit of the blood-stained flooring and what not.
Okay so now what we have to get you to do, if you can, can you please tell us the story
of Elmer Ellsworth?
What happens, yes.
Ellsworth is a young 24-year-old, very enthusiastic about the military.
He wants to get in this brewing war.
And he goes to New York City early in April and organizes the regiment there called the
1st New York Fire Zouaves.
And these Fire Zouaves are basically New York firemen.
They're very good at what they do, putting out fires.
They're also, if truth be known, good at starting fires and putting them out.
So they are a rough and tumble bunch.
Ellsworth ironically is… he made his reputation the year before, summer 1860, for organizing
a regiment of Chicago's Zouave Cadets.
And they are famous for their military discipline and precision drill.
These New York firemen were not the same.
And Ellsworth doesn't have the… just doesn't have the time to instruct and drill these
recruits.
Lincoln has asked for 75 thousand militia to come to the aide of Washington and Ellsworth
and these Zouaves are part of that.
After Virginia secedes on May 23rd, Lincoln will waste no time and orders troops into
Northern Virginia.
And the Ellsworth Zouaves are part of that invasion.
They land on the Cameron Street Whorf in Alexander, Virginia.
And Ellsworth, with a small detail man, he will march towards… he wants to occupy the
telegraph office.
And on his way up King Street to find… to take back telegraph office, he sees this huge
Confederate flag flying above a hotel called the Marshall House.
He makes a detour with his small detail of men, goes to the hotel, climbs to the third
floor, hauls down the flag, and on his way down, he meets the innkeeper, the one person
he doesn't want to meet in Northern Virginia.
And this is James W. Jackson, an ardent secessionist.
To give you a sense of Jackson's passion for secession: not only was the flag huge – it
was 14 by 25 feet on a 30-foot flagpole, allegedly it could be seen from the second floor of
the White House with binoculars, which gave Lincoln pause among others – but Jackson
represented the radical element.
And, you know, it's amazing.
He confronts Ellsworth.
He doesn't shoot the man in front of Ellsworth with the rifle.
That’s Francis Brownell.
His first blast is to Ellsworth with the flag.
And Jackson had boasted throughout town that he would defend that flag with his life.
Which Jackson did and then Brownell, as you said, avenges the death of Ellsworth.
Is that how this comes into play?
Right.
All in a matter of you know…a few seconds.
This is an English-made double-barrel shotgun.
It belonged to James W. Jackson, the innkeeper of the Marshall House.
And this shotgun, he put to use.
Ellsworth received the first barrel.
The second barrel went amiss when Ellsworth’s avenger, Francis Brownell with his rifle and
bayonet, sort of confronted Jackson and skewed his aim.
So that was Jackson's shotgun.
This is actually Francis Brownell’s rifle, is that correct?
Correct.
It's a model 1855 Harpers Ferry and it's the rifle that Brownell was holding and carrying
and the bayonet that he used to dispatch James W. Jackson.
More battles were fought in the state of Virginia than any other state during the entire Civil
War.
However, the battle that was fought here on this street corner in Alexandria, Virginia,
made a martyr out of James Jackson for the Southern cause and Elmer Ellsworth for the
cause of the Union.