Hi Everyone -
Please join us for the next in our regular monthly series of free
Department of the Interior Library Park Ranger Speaker Series lectures,
entitled "Elmer Ellsworth and the Secession of Virginia" on Tuesday, May
17th from 1:00 - 1:45 pm in the Department of the Interior Library.
May 25, 1861 was a sad day for President Abraham Lincoln. Virginia had
seceded from the Union the day before, making a full scale Civil War a
certainty, troubling for Lincoln, who’d conceded to many of Virginia’s
demands before the state decided to secede. Yet that was just the
beginning. Before the day was over, one of the Lincoln family’s closest
friends, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, would be dead. The prior day Lincoln
looked out across the Potomac River, and saw a large Confederate flag
prominently displayed over the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria. Ellsworth
immediately offered to retrieve the flag for Lincoln. Once there, Ellsworth
and four men from the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment went to the
Marshall House Inn, ran upstairs and cut down the flag. As Ellsworth came
downstairs with the flag, the owner, James W. Jackson, killed him with a
shotgun blast to the chest. Ellsworth became widely known as the first man
to fall for the Union cause.
Please join Park Ranger Michael Kelly as he tells the story of Elmer
Ellsworth, his close friendship with President Lincoln, and the events of
May 1861 (specifically the secession of Virginia) that led to Ellsworth’s
tragic fate.
All that are interested are invited. The DOI Library is located in the
Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street, NW, Room 1151 in
Washington. Space is limited so please contact the Library by phone at
(202) 208-5815 or by e-mail at [log in to unmask] to let us know you will be
coming. For more information about future DOI Library Park Ranger
Speaker Series programs, we encourage you to visit our Park Ranger Speaker
Series website at http://library.doi.gov/programs/speaker/index.html.
We hope to see you on May 17th!
George Franchois
Director
U.S. Dept. of the Interior Library
1849 C Street, NW, MS 1151
Washington, DC 20240
[log in to unmask]
Phone: (202) 208-3796
Fax: (202) 208-6773
URL: http://library.doi.gov
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