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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim (1837-1861) Assassination of Ellsworth, at Alexandria, Va., May 24th, 1861

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03617.03 Author/Creator: Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim (1837-1861) Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Sheet music Date: circa 1861 Pagination: 1 p. ; 22.2 x 13.9 cm. Order a Copy

Published and printed by A.W. Auner at 110 North 10th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The song was sung to the melody of "California Brothers." The song has seven stanzas of verse. Last stanza says: "Then a curse be on the traitor's name, and on the bullet, too, / That killed a gallant Colonel who was so brave and true; / For a nobler heart ne'er beat beneath the breast of any man, / Nor a truer soldier never fell in defence of Uncle Sam." Slight printing mistake in the upper left corner.

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.

Ellsworth, E. E. (Elmer Ephraim), 1837-1861

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