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“The Fall Of A Sparrow”: The (Un)Timely Death Of Elmer Ellsworth And The Coming Of The Civil War, Adam Stauffer
“The Fall Of A Sparrow”: The (Un)Timely Death Of Elmer Ellsworth And The Coming Of The Civil War, Adam Stauffer
The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era
On the morning of May 24, 1861, a group of Union cadets marched into the city of Alexandria, Virginia. The cohort looked peculiar in their flamboyant Zouave uniforms with bright blue shirts and flashy red sashes. They were led by a dashing young colonel named Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth and charged with occupying the city. Noticing a Confederate flag flying high on the roof of a hotel called the Marshall House, Ellsworth and a few of his men entered the building, determined to bring it down. The trip up the stairs was easygoing and the flag was quickly retrieved without incident. …