Live Auction Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 10AM:
29. Civil War Pvt. William H. Trombly Handwritten ALS, On the
Memorial Service for Col. Elmer Ellsworth (11th New York Fire Zouaves), First
Officer Killed in the Civil War, May 26, 1861
Three-page handwritten and signed letter by Private William H. Trombly,
addressed from the Albany Barracks to his “friends at home.” Recounts the
emotional memorial service for Colonel Elmer Ellsworth of the New York Fire
Zouaves, killed while removing a Confederate flag from the Marshall House Inn
outside Alexandria, and the first officer to die in the Civil War. President
Lincoln was grief stricken by his death, and Ellsworth’s body lay in state at
the White House the day before this memorial service. He was buried in
Mechanicsville, N.Y. and received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Oh how I wish you could go to meeting here. In next paper you will hear of the
battles in Virginia and the death of Col Elsworth It was almost like a funeral
in the Church to day The City is trimmed in Mourning I think all the Volunteers
would cheer with delight if they could get the word commanding them to march in
Virginia tomorrow morning.
Ellsworth is credited as organizing his own variation on the Zouave drill,
including special acrobatics for musket and bayonet practice.
This afternoon thirteen hundred Volunteers marched in ranks altogether to the
Tweedwell Hall…Oh how I wish you could of heard that Sermon you would never said
a word against my point. The volunteers there was not one in the Hall but what
Shed tears…he cautioned them to be ready to die.
Two handwritten sheets; first sheet verso and recto, second verso.
Condition Report: Excellent
Size: 9.8 x 7.3 in. (24.9 x 18.5 cm.)
Provenance: War Between the States Memorabilia
Estimate: $250 - 500
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