Col. Elmer Ellsworth
Continuing our timeline on the progression of events of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln calls for volunteers to join the army for a three-year term on May 3rd. Spirits were high and northerners readily joined the army expecting a speedy conclusion to the insurrection of the south. Although war was never officially declared, events began to escalate into hostilities and people began to die.
May 6 - Arkansas and Tennessee secede from the Union.
May 13- U.S. troops move to occupy Baltimore, Maryland.
May 20 - North Carolina secedes from the Union and Kentucky declares neutrality. Richmond, Virginia is named the new Confederate capital.
May 18 - Two Union gunboats, including the USS Monticello, fought with confederate batteries at Sewell’s Point in an attempt to blockade Hampton Roads. This encounter led to the blockade of the Chesapeake Bay.
May 24 - Federal troops seize Alexandria, Virginia
Old Town's confederate soldier memorial. photo: Chester Simpson
Geographically, and politically and socially, Alexandria was directly in the path of the American Civil War with the Union, the Confederacy, and African Americans all having a major role in Alexandria’s history. Because of Alexandria’s strategic importance as a railroad center and port, federal troops took over the town, arriving on the morning of May 24, 1861, the day that Virginia’s secession from the Union went into effect. Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, organizer of the United States Zouave Cadets and a longtime family friend of the Lincolns, was leading the occupation troops. As they entered the city and traveled west on what is King Street, Ellsworth spied a Confederate flag flying atop the Marshal House hotel. In his dramatic style, Ellsworth climbed the stairs of the hotel to remove the offending flag. Ardent secessionist and innkeeper, James Jackson met Ellsworth on the way up and ended his attempt with a shotgun blast to the body. Ellsworth’s men in turn shot Jackson making both men martyrs to both north and south.
For four years Union forces occupied Alexandria, Robert E. Lee’s hometown. This was the longest military occupation by Union troops of any town during the conflict. Alexandria was transformed into a huge logistical supply center for Federal armies fighting in Virginia. Private homes, churches, and local public buildings were commandeered for military barracks, hospitals and prisons, while thousands of African Americans came to the former slave trading town seeking freedom and security behind Union lines.
Discover how Alexandria was transformed by the Civil War on the 150th anniversary weekend of Alexandria’s occupation by Federal troops! “Life in Civil War Alexandria: A 150th Commemorative Event,” a kick-off for Alexandria’s Civil War Commemoration, will be held on Saturday, May 21, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Old Town at Market Square, 301King Street.
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