Lot 3055

Description

USA, Civil War, Colonel Ephraim Elmore Ellsworth Plaque in bronze, uniface (89mm; 9mm thick). Brown patina, good extremely fine.

Ellsworth was colonel of the New York Five Zouaves and, as Lossing stated, his was the first death of note in the war and the since campaigning started. In May, 1861 in the center of Alexandria, Virginia, Ellsworth demanded the owner of an inn remove the rebel flag flying from its window. The owner, a man named Jackson, shot Ellsworth on the spot was in turn executed by Ellsworth's escort. Ellsworth's body lay in state in the East Room at the White House; Lincoln was chief mourner. New York City put on a grand funeral parade.
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Ex John J. Ford Collection, part VII (lot 527).