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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC03617.04 |
| From Archive Folder | Song sheets pertaining to the death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth |
| Title | Ellsworth Avengers |
| Date | ca. 1861 |
| Author | Hudson, A.L. (fl. 1861) |
| Document Type | Miscellany |
| Content Description | Published by Charles Magnus, 12 Frankfort Street, New York. Top third of the sheet consists of a colored image of the Marshall House, the hotel where Ellsworth was shot, and an image of Ellsworth being shot by innkeeper James W. Jackson. Bottom two-thirds consists of the song in blue ink. 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." Song is almost identical to the version at GLC03617.02, except for the last four lines, which say: "By our hopes of you bright heaven, / By the land we love / By the God who reigns above us, / We'll avenge thy blood." Offer at the bottom of page says the publisher will send 10 illustrated songs on notepaper for 50 cents. Another version at GLC03617.10. |
| Subjects | Civil War Military History Union Forces Confederate States of America Death Propaganda Art, Music, Theater, and Film Religion Merchants and Trade African American History Freemen |
| Place written | New York, New York |
| 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 |