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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) In Memory of Col. Ellsworth, of N.Y. Fire Zouaves, Assassinated, May 24th 1861

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03617.05 Author/Creator: Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim (1837-1861) Place Written: New York, New York Type: Sheet music Date: circa 1861 Pagination: 1 p. ; 23.2 x 15.6 cm. Order a Copy

Published by H. De Marson at 54 Chatham Street in New York. Hand-colored song sheet with draped American flags flowing down the sides. At the bottom left corner is an image of a Zouave and at the bottom right corner is the image of a slave dressed in a loincloth. Also has an image of the American eagle above an image of Ellsworth's grave, with items associated with his life. The song is four stanzas long. First stanza says: "Fall'n when his course had just begun - / Columbia mourns her hero son, / And with her tears bedews the grave / Of Ellsworth - leader of the brave!" For a similar image of the drapped flags see GLC03617.08, which is not hand-colored (the song is different at .08).

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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