Review - "First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero" by Meg Groeling

[First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero by Meg Groeling (Savas Beatie, 2021). Hardcover, maps, photos, illustrations, appendix section, footnotes, bibliography, index. Pages main/total:xviii,219/325. ISBN:978-1-61121-537-3. $29.95]

On the morning of May 24, 1861 (the day after Virginia voters ratified secession) Colonel Elmer Ellsworth led his Union volunteer regiment, the Eleventh New York "Fire Zouaves," across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. and into the streets of Alexandria. Accompanied by the First Michigan, the 11th quickly secured the northern Virginia town, and the troops set about cutting telegraph communications southward. Ellsworth, seeing the large Confederate flag (an early version of the Stars and Bars) flying atop the Marshall Hotel, took a small group of men and rushed to the rooftop, hauling down the banner and dragging it down the hotel steps. The hotel's secessionist proprietor, James Jackson, awakened by the commotion and angered by the intrusion, grabbed his shotgun and shot Ellsworth through the heart before being in turn shot dead by 11th NY Pvt. Francis Brownell. The event, occurring in the opening moments of the war and before such bloodshed became the order of the day, shocked the president and the public, and Ellsworth's death vaulted him into fallen national hero (even martyr) status. Col. Ellsworth's youth, his "Zouave Fever" fame, and his close relationships with the Lincoln family and White House circle together suggest an interesting and notable life worthy of a full-length biography. However, it is apparently the case that Meg Groeling's 2021 volume First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero is the first of its kind in terms of alignment with modern biographical standards, preceded only by Ruth Painter Randall's dated work Colonel Elmer Ellsworth: A biography of Lincoln's friend and first hero of the Civil War (1960).

With her subject dying before the war even began in earnest, Groeling's antebellum-weighted book is by default an atypical Civil War biography. Ellsworth came from a modest background without established connections, and Groeling documents in thorough and sympathetic fashion Ellsworth's struggles to find his way in the world (though the author frequently notes that his family circumstances were not as precarious as they've been made out to be by others in print or even by Ellsworth himself). Store clerk and law office copyist employment provided him with a subsistence income, but it was military matters that fired Ellsworth's passion. That did not please his fiance's parents, who wished their prospective son-in-law to have a more stable career.

Though Ellsworth certainly had patrons that helped him along at various crossroads moments in his life journey, the book presents his story in ways consistent with the "self-made man" tradition of myth and reality, though the heights reached were comparatively modest. Of course, the pre-Civil War story of Ellsworth's life is most closely bound to his famous connection with 1850s "Zouave Fever," and Groeling provides a very thorough history of his local militia company associations and his leadership/promotional roles in the Zouave cultural phenomenon. Her detailed account of Ellsworth's extended northern tour with his Zouave drill team is revealing as to the impact such militia company membership and public performances had on the social and political culture of northern communities both large and small. Unfortunately for Ellsworth, his time in the limelight did not translate into a sustainable living, and he felt forced to return once again to the law practice sphere that he disliked so much.

Ellsworth's move to Springfield, Illinois got him introduced to Abraham Lincoln, and the pair quickly struck up a personal and professional friendship. Though, as Groeling maintains, it is impossible to discern exactly how Ellsworth endeared himself so much and so quickly to the elder Lincoln, who had no shortage of sons of his own, but the young law clerk seems to have had the manners, youthful charm, and charismatic nature that enabled him to quickly win over young and old alike. Through detailing Ellsworth's lesser-known supporting role in the 1860 Republican national convention and his successful job in managing crowd control during President-Elect Lincoln's triumphant train tour from Springfield to Washington, Groeling significantly expands our knowledge of Ellsworth's behind-the-scenes contributions to Lincoln's figurative and literal paths to the presidency. With promise of an important government post in hand, Ellsworth arrived in the nation's capital in 1861 with bright hopes.

Hoping to have a major part in organizing the Union armed forces, Ellsworth developed a plan to manage militia integration into the national army, but (as one might have predicted) it wasn't going to fly that an organizational position as high as that would be given to a political nonentity in his early twenties. Armed only with a presidential letter of introduction, a frustrated Ellsworth instead traveled to New York and quickly raised a regiment of firemen eventually designated the 11th New York and nicknamed the "Fire Zouaves." Press coverage of this rowdy bunch somewhat stained Ellsworth's leadership reputation in some circles, though Groeling argues that much of the disciplinary problems were exaggerated.

Though the story of Ellsworth's death is very familiar, at least in a general sense, to Civil War readers, Groeling's thorough examination offers as detailed a recounting of events as one might wish. Interestingly, an oft-repeated part of the story involves Ellsworth's determination to remove the Marshall House flag as having been rooted in a constant complaint from Lincoln about its defiant presence. Though a mere flag flying across the Potomac driving a very busy executive mansion to distraction doesn't really sound like Lincoln, one of Groeling's footnotes also suggests the possibility that the flag was not even visible from the White House. Another part of the story, Brownell's bayoneting of the already dead Jackson, might also be questioned, as Groeling notes that the autopsy report did not mention finding any bayonet wounds on Jackson's body. Groeling's discussion of the aftermath of Ellsworth's death, from his funeral to his short life being commemorated in art, music, marches, and poetry, supports the traditional notion that the colonel's death (which clearly hit the Lincoln family hard) was deeply felt on a national level before being subsumed soon after by the war's escalation. Though obviously an admiring biographer, Groeling does not shy away from criticisms where warranted, and she offers a very sound critique of the the ill-advised manner in which Ellsworth conducted himself and his small party at the Marshall House. Though written with the benefit of hindsight, her suggestions regarding how the fatally impetuous Ellsworth might better have handled the situation are sound.

Readers should by no means skip the volume's richly informative appendix section, which is packed with an abundance of fascinating material. In addition to looking at the controversy surrounding the 11th New York's performance at First Bull Run, a substantial biographical summary of the life of Ellsworth killer James Jackson is provided as well as insights into what happened to fiance Carrie Spafford, avenger Brownell, and the confiscated flag. The immense size of the Marshall House flag itself might be used to question the validity of some of the anecdotes related to it.

Though unabashedly celebratory, Groeling's narrative is never uncritical and is clearly supported by exhaustive research. First Fallen is unquestionably the new standard history of Elmer Ellsworth's life, his impact on popular antebellum martial culture, his close association with Abraham Lincoln, his tragic death, and his status as the first martyr to the Union cause. Highly recommended.