LFLB History Museum

Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth garnered nationwide fame during his short but event-filled life and with his dramatic death. He was a law clerk and United States Army soldier, best known as the first Union officer killed in the Civil War in May, 1861. In 1859, his work intersected with that of the fledgling community of Lake Forest.

Colonel Elmer Ellsworth (1837-1861).

Born in Malta, N.Y., young Ellsworth’s dream was to enter West Point but he was not academically prepared to do so. Nevertheless, his interest in things military persisted. He moved to Chicago and joined a National Guard volunteer unit that was about to disband. Ellsworth worked to bring them back together, recruited new members and gave them advanced training. It didn’t take him long to be appointed a major with the Illinois National Guard.

Ellsworth is second from the left, here in more traditional military dress.

Soon, Ellsworth became the leader of a famous touring military drill team, fashioned after the highly trained French Colonial troops in Algeria, the Zouaves. They wore an unusual uniform consisting of baggy pants, short jacket, fezzes and gaitors. That, combined with their complicated drills perfect for display on parade, made them famous throughout the Midwest.

In the fall of 1859, Ellsworth came to Lake Forest Academy to conduct drilling exercises. Each Saturday night, the students would march on fields adjacent to campus (east of the present-day site of Lois Durand Hall). The young men, who called themselves the Ellsworth Guides, were equipped with Springfield Army muskets. They performed both long, rugged hikes through the countryside as well as double-quick marching parades through town, entertaining and thrilling the residents.

Drawing imagining the circumstances of Ellsworth's death.

Ellsworth died the day after Virginia seceded from the Union, in May 1861; his company crossed the Potomac from Washington D.C. to occupy the Alexandria side. Ellsworth was shot while taking down a Confederate flag from the roof of an inn, an irritant visible to President Lincoln from the White House.

Posthumously, Ellsworth became a cult hero for the Union, the subject of songs, poems, and sermons. "Remember Ellsworth" was a Union rallying cry. He had also worked in Lincoln’s law office and was a close friend of the President. His body lay in state at the White House after his death.

Colonel Elmer Ellsworth: Close Friend to President