I am collecting materials for a life of Col. E. E. Ellsworth
and would ask if you have in your library anything
concerning his drilling of the Governor’s Guard in your city
in the space between 1858 and 1860. I understand that his
stay was not very long, a few weeks probably, but I cannot
state definitely the year. It would be a great help to me if
you would look up this matter, and if you could send me full
information and copies of important phases relating in any
manner to his sojourn in your town, I would be greatly
obliged. I am in this work simply to resurrect and save from
oblivion the history of a great and martyred name of our
country, one which has been strangely neglected. The more I
study into his life and collect the materials from scattered
and almost forgotten sources, the more I am convinced that
he was a young man of remarkable genius, worthy of
perpetuation in the annals of the nation.
From the success that has so far rewarded my search, I am
encouraged to believe that ere long I will be in possession
of everything of real importance that belonged to his
career. I was well acquainted with his father and my home is
within easy reach of his birthplace. and of Mechanicsville,
New York, where he was buried and where a fine monument
stands to his memory.
C. A. INGRAHAM,
_Cambridge, New York_.
We find in our collections a few memorials of E. E. Ellsworth that we
think would interest you. In an old book of autographs there is a tiny
photograph that has been identified as that of Ellsworth. It is only
about an inch long and yet it is perfectly clear and well-defined; the
uniform shows to great advantage, and there are three medals on the
breast of the coat. Among the other relics is a drawing about sixteen
inches by twelve, the head of a fine-looking man with lifted eyes.
This is signed “Ellsworth” and “EEE.” It was presented to the Society
by N. B. Van Slyke, who gave the information that it was a “Sketch
drawn by Col. E. E. Ellsworth in 1858 at Madison, Wisconsin, and
presented to N. B. Van Slyke while the young man was at Madison.”
Pasted upon this drawing are several newspaper slips giving
Ellsworth’s biography, the last letter which he wrote to his parents
from Washington, May 23, 1861, accounts of his death and funeral, and
a poem in his honor.
Upon consulting the Madison newspapers for 1858 we secured the
following items: The Governor’s Guard was organized February 18, 1858,
with Julius P. Atwood as captain. April 20, the Guard appeared upon
the street for the first time trained by Lieutenant C. W. Harris. The
Guard was very prominent socially, and gave many balls and soirées. It
took part in public celebrations on the Fourth of July, at the
university commencement, and at the state fair. June 25, the Guard
first appeared in uniform. No mention appears of Ellsworth until Oct.
15, 1858, when a Cadet Corps formed. Twenty-five Madison boys met at
the Governor’s Guard Armory, and Maj. E. E. Ellsworth, who was
unanimously elected commandant, immediately put the cadets to drill.
October 18, the Governor’s Guard was summoned to drill three evenings
in the week, no spectators allowed. October 20 the papers contain
notices of the drilling of the cadets by their commandant, Maj. E. E.
Ellsworth, who “Is an accomplished and thorough drill master.” Another
paper says the cadets “are ambitious to become the best drilled
company in the State and their aptness has called forth a high
compliment from Major Ellsworth.”
An exhaustive search does not reveal his name again. On December 26,
1858, the Governor’s Guard “were out in full uniform for the first
time since the State Fair and to us appear much improved in a military
point.”
We have not been able to determine what brought Ellsworth to Madison.
W. J. Ellsworth lived in the city at the time. Possibly they were
kinsmen.
One other relic of Ellsworth’s activities among us is in the Keyes
Papers. In 1910, Col. Elisha W. Keyes wrote an article for the Madison
_Democrat_ on the organization of the Governor’s Guard. In it he says
“Soon after the organization of the guard he [Ellsworth] appeared in
Madison and spent much time, without Compensation, in drilling the
men. He was then a young man, not much over 30 years of age. He had
been an apt student of military science and discipline. His heart and
soul were in the work. His enthusiasm was boundless, although at the
time of his work here no one hardly dreamed that the rebellion was
possible. Before he left he contemplated the full organization of the
eighteenth regiment State militia [of which Keyes was then Colonel]. I
have in my possession now a roll of maps and instructions for
regimental drill, which involved much labor, that he prepared for me,
as colonel, without reward.” These drafts came to the Society with
Judge Keyes’s other papers. They are large map-like drafts, colored,
of the positions of the regiment, and fully written out directions in
Ellsworth’s own hand for the various orders for military positions and
movements.
Probably you know that Ellsworth’s diary was given to Frank Brownell,
his avenger. We have two pamphlets giving liberal excerpts from the
diary, but we find therein no mention of Madison. Probably the full
text of this diary would show when and why he came to Madison.
Your letter of the nineteenth instant concerning Ellsworth
is before me and I wish to thank you earnestly for the time
and care which you have devoted to this subject; it
illuminates a portion of his career with which I was
entirely unacquainted and which to have searched out myself
would have involved much expense and inconvenience. Your
communication will be excellent to appear verbatim in the
book.
I am unable to say as to the identity of W. J. Ellsworth,
but I have written to an uncle of Colonel Ellsworth who may
be able to shed light on the matter. Colonel Keyes, when he
estimated Ellsworth’s age as “not over 30 years” when he was
in Madison, was evidently deceived by his remarkable degree
of development, which was in advance of his age: at that
time he was but twenty-one, having been born April 11, 1837.
Ellsworth’s diary I have not yet unearthed. John Hay’s
article published in _McClure’s Magazine_, VI, 354, has many
citations from it, but nothing concerning Madison. Mr. Hay
also contributed to the _Atlantic_, very soon after
Ellsworth’s death, a fine article on him (VIII, 119), and
the two comprise the best literature so far published on
Ellsworth. These two young men were students in Lincoln’s
law office, and Mr. Hay all his life down to his last years
mourned for him, whom he estimated as a most wonderfully
brilliant and patriotically devoted man whose future would
have been exceedingly prominent and useful. My own
investigations lead me to the same conclusion. Yet he had
very few early advantages; practically none, except a
limited district school education. His parents, whom I knew,
were plain people, and others of the relations whom I have
met or corresponded with exhibit nothing out of the common.
C. A. INGRAHAM,
_Cambridge, New York_.