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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC03617.02 |
| From Archive Folder | Song sheets pertaining to the death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth |
| Title | Ellsworth Avengers |
| Date | ca. 1861 |
| Author | Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim (1837-1861) |
| Document Type | Miscellany |
| Content Description | Published and printed by A.W. Auner at 45 North 9th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The song was sung to the melody of "Annie Lisle." It is an 1857 ballad by Boston, Massachusetts songwriter H. S. Thompson. The song is about the death of a young maiden, by what some have speculated to be tuberculosis, an awful circumstance which mirrors the tragic death of the young Colonel Ellsworth in Alexandria, Virginia. Six stanza song, which includes the chorus: "Strike, freemen, for the Union! / Sheathe your swords no more, / While remains in arms a traitor / On Columbia's shore." Slightly different versions of same song at GLC03617.04 and .10. |
| Subjects | Civil War Military History Union Forces Confederate States of America Death Propaganda Art, Music, Theater, and Film Freemen African American History |
| People | Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim (1837-1861) |
| Place written | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Arts & Literature |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Additional Information | Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, a friend of Abraham Lincoln, was commander of the 11th New York Infantry, a unit of Zouaves from the New York City Fire Department. He was killed on 24 May 1861, attempting to remove a Confederate flag from the Marshall House, a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |
| Civil War: Unit | New York 11th Infantry |