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John G. Nicolay, The Outbreak of Rebellion, Chapter 9: Ellsworth. (search)
him a second lieutenant of dragoons. Then came Sumter and the call for volunteers, and Ellsworth saw his opportunity. Hastening to the city of New York, he called together and harangued the fire companies of the metropolis; in three days he had twenty-two hundred names inscribed on his recruiting lists; out of these he carefully selected a regiment of eleven hundred men, who chose him their colonel, and, bearing half a dozen beautiful presentation flags, one of them publicly donated by Mrs. Astor, followed him to Washington, where they were mustered into the service among the earliest three years volunteers. It was at the head of this regiment that Colonel Ellsworth entered Alexandria at daylight of May 24th. The rebels received notice of his coming, and most of them retired with sufficient promptness to escape capture. Having seen the town securely occupied and pickets posted to prevent surprise, Colonel Ellsworth remembered the rebel flag which had been for weeks flaunting