California Militia and National Guard Unit Histories

Ellsworth Zouave Cadets

 

Official or Other Titles: Ellsworth Zouave Cadets, 2nd Brigade, California Militia

Location: City and County of San Francisco

Mustered in: March 2, 1864

Date of Disbanding: August 4, 1866
Inclusive dates of units papers: 1864-1866

 

 

Unit papers on file at the California State Archives

a. Organization Papers 3 documents (1864)
b. Bonds none
c. Correspondence (Unclassified letters) 5 documents (1864-1865)
d. Election Returns 1 document (1866)
e. Exempt Certificates, Applications for none
f. Muster Rolls, Monthly returns 4 documents (1864-1866)
g. Oaths Qualifications 7 documents (1864-1865)
h. Orders none
i. Receipts, invoices 2 documents (1864)
j. Requisitions 1 document (1864)
k. Resignations none
l. Target Practice Reports none

 

Link to Official History:

 

History of the Ellsworth Zouave Cadets

 

Colonel Elmer Ellsworth:

 

Prior to his becoming the first conspicuous casualty of the Civil War, Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth led a short but interesting life. During his 24 years, he was a lawyer, a colonel, and a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln, whom he met in Springfield, Illinois after moving there to work in Lincoln's office and who he followed to Washington.

 

With an interest in military science that began well before the start of the Civil War - he would have gone to the U.S. Military Academy if he could have afforded it - Ellsworth responded enthusiastically to Lincoln's 1861 call for troops by raising of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry, which he dressed in distinctive Zouave-style uniforms, fashioned after those worn by French colonial troops.

 

Ironically, perhaps, for all of his drills and militia training, Ellsworth's death came not in a battle, but instead inside the long-demolished Marshall House hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. The building's owner had a raised a large Confederate flag from its roof, which was visible from the White House. Offering to retrieve the flag for the president, Ellsworth led his 11th New York across the Potomac River and into Alexandria. Ellsworth succeeded in removing the flag, but as he descended the stairs from the building's roof, the hotel's owner, James W. Jackson, shot and killed Ellsworth with a single shotgun blast to the chest.

 

Lincoln had the body of Ellsworth, whom he called "the greatest little man I ever met," laid in state at the White House before it was taken to his home state of New York for burial. His memory lived on throughout the war as "Remember Ellsworth" became a rallying cry for supporters of the Union, regiments were named in his honor and artifacts related to his death became popular souvenirs.

 

Source: National Park Service

 

 

 

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Updated 8 February 2016