11th New York Infantry Regiment
The 11th New York Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Union Army in the early years of the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in New York City in May 1861 as a Zouave regiment, known for its unusual dress and drill style, by Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, a personal friend of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Drawn from the ranks of the city's many volunteer fire companies, the unit was known alternately as the Ellsworth Zouaves, First Fire Zouaves, First Regiment New York Zouaves, and U.S. National Guards.
The unit was among the first to occupy the territory of a Confederate state when it captured Alexandria, Virginia, on May 24, 1861, less than 24 hours after the Commonwealth seceded from the Union. The regiment suffered extensive casualties during the First Battle of Bull Run during the fighting on Henry House Hill and while serving as the rear guard for the retreating Union Army.
The regiment would later be stationed near Hampton Roads during the Peninsula Campaign, but experienced little fighting. Sent back to New York City in May 1862, the regiment was mustered out of service on June 2, 1862. There were several attempts to reorganize as a light infantry regiment through the summer of 1863, and many new enlistees were involved in suppressing the New York Draft Riots but those efforts failed and the enlistees were transferred to the 17th New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Organization and muster
On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued an Executive Order calling for 75,000 ninety-day enlistments to "repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union." That day, Lincoln wrote Ellsworth asking for his assistance in raising a regiment. Ellsworth had known the president well, from having assisted in organizing his campaign for the presidency in 1860 and received a commission to organize the 11th New York Infantry as a 90-day regiment. To the enlistees, a common yet often unknown stipulation included 90 days of service to the Federal government and up to two years of service to the state. This was not always communicated to the men who enlisted, including those of the 11th New York.Ellsworth's military knowledge came from a lifetime of studying military tactics, history, and manuals; and later as colonel of Chicago's National Guard Cadets. He never achieved his dream of attending West Point, as he could not gain the needed sponsorship. He was introduced to the famous French Zouaves through the teachings of his fencing instructor, Charles DeVillers, a former French Zouave. Ellsworth introduced this drill team to the flashy Zouave uniforms and drill that emulated French colonial troops in Algeria and turned the group, renamed the U.S. Zouave Cadets, into a national champion drill team. A national tour in 1860 brought Ellsworth to the attention of Abraham Lincoln, for whom the unit performed hundreds of military drill movements with their muskets and bayonets.
When a civil war seemed unavoidable, Ellsworth proceeded to New York City to recruit his own regiment from the city's volunteer fire companies, stating: "I want the New York Firemen, for there are no more effective men in the country, and none with whom I can do so much. They are sleeping on a volcano at Washington and I want men who can go into a fight now." Two days after his arrival, Ellsworth awarded officer commissions to several foremen of the volunteer fire companies and began recruiting in earnest.
Within four days, 2,300 men had answered Ellsworth's call. A selection of only the most desirable men cut that number to 1,100, which was considered a regiment's full strength. When the state could not afford to supply the new troops, fundraisers were successful in raising $60,000 for the regiment, enough to provide uniforms, several different models of Sharps rifles, and provisions.
News media covered the regiment's formation:
Along the way, they received from the fire department a large white flag measuring by to serve as the regimental colors. Charlotte Augusta Gibbes also presented the unit with a flag. Unbeknownst to the regiment, Washington D.C. had postponed their departure because they did not comply with army regulations. John E. Wool, commander of the Department of the East, knew of the postponement, but allowed the men to embark, unaware the steamer Baltic carried no provisions. Quartermaster Arthur quickly purchased five-day rations, by paying a higher price, and hired three tug boats to catch the steamer to deliver them. The Baltic arrived in Annapolis, Maryland where the men boarded a train to Washington, D.C..
In Washington, men in the regiment broke into taverns, frightened women, swedged on meals and pursued imagined Confederates. They were returned to New York City and quartered in Battery Park. Their public antics and insubordination continued. Arthur had arrested any Fire Zouave found on the streets and jailed them on a steamer. When the number jailed reached 400 the steamer embarked to Hampton Roads where the men were banded with another regiment.
Early action
The regiment arrived in Washington, D.C., on the evening of May 2. There, they completed additional training and performed picket duty throughout the district. While quartered on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, the enlisted men took it upon themselves to set up a mock session, passing a law first abolishing the House of Representatives, then the Union and reconstituting both in a manner of their liking. The more embarrassing and lawbreaking actions by the regiment included the burning of fences, which resulted in a letter of reprimand from Brigadier General Joseph K. Mansfield along with six enlisted men being removed and sent back to New York. On May 7, the 11th New York was officially sworn into Federal service by Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell on the East Front of the unfinished Capitol in the presence of Lincoln, his son Tad and personal secretary John Hay.On May 9, the regiment had an opportunity to apply their experience as firefighters when asked to help extinguish a blaze at the Willard Hotel. Upon receiving word from General Mansfield, commander of the Department of Washington, Ellsworth dispatched ten men from each company to attend to the fire. Soon however, the entire regiment responded to the blaze. With Ellsworth having more men on the scene than the Washington Fire Department, he claimed the fire chief's trumpet and assumed command of the incident. When the fire was extinguished, Henry Willard, owner of the hotel, invited the regiment to breakfast and money was collected providing them with $500.
After nine days quartered at the capitol, the men of the 11th New York were moved to the heights near the Insane Asylum to Camp Lincoln. This move would allow for easy transport across the Potomac and into Virginia when necessary. While just five miles from the capitol, the standard of living the men were used to had changed dramatically, as their usual foodstuffs were replaced with beef steak, dry bread, and coffee. Ellsworth wrote to his fiancé that they had not had butter in a week.
File:Ellsworth. Memorial Col. E.E. Ellsworth, the patriot martyr. The Marshall house, Alexandria, Va. Francis E. Brownell, the avenger of Ellsworth. LCCN2015645487.jpg|thumb|right|Photographs show Colonel Elmer Ellsworth of Field and Staff, 11th New York Infantry Regiment; Marshall House at the corner of King and Pitt Streets, Alexandria, Virginia, the scene of the assassination of Col. Ellsworth on May 24, 1861; and Lieutenant Francis Brownell of Co. A, 11th New York Infantry Regiment, who killed James Jackson after he murdered Col. Ellsworth. From the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Photographs by Mathew Brady
Image:Quaker Gun2.jpg|thumb|Quaker gun near Centreville, Virginia, in March 1862, after the Confederate withdrawal; a man with a stick is pretending to "fire" it with a linstock
When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union on May 23, the regiment was ordered to assist in the occupation of Arlington Heights and Alexandria, Virginia, directly across the Potomac River from Washington. On May 24, the regiment boarded the steamers Baltimore and Mount Vernon and was transported across the Potomac, landing at the Alexandria wharves under the guard of the gunboat Pawnee. The 11th New York was one of eight to enter Virginia, and Ellsworth's men met no resistance as they moved through the streets.
After landing, members of Company E under Captain Leveridge were sent to take the railroad station, while Ellsworth, Major Charles Loeser, Lieutenant H. J. Winser and several men from Company A set out to secure the telegraph office. On the way there, Ellsworth spotted a Confederate flag atop the Marshall House inn. It was the same flag Ellsworth had seen for weeks from the White House during his visits with Lincoln. Ellsworth's group entered the inn and quickly cut down the flag, but they encountered the proprietor, James Jackson, as they descended the stairs. Jackson killed Ellsworth with a shotgun blast to the chest, and Cpl. Francis Brownell responded in kind by fatally shooting the innkeeper.
After the death of Ellsworth, Noah L. Farnham, the regiment's lieutenant colonel, was the obvious choice to take command. He was reluctant, however, labeling it an "unwelcome responsibility". His appointment was graded as temporary, he was not commissioned as the regiment's colonel and remained at rank while in its command. Regardless, he was a popular choice both with the enlisted men and in New York. One enlisted wrote in a letter home, "We have great faith in Colonel Farnham, having known him long and intimately as one deserving the confidence and esteem of his associates, and fully deserving of the position that he now occupies." Several of the officers recruited by Ellsworth, however, did not approve and caused a small controversy by resigning their commissions.
The regiment remained on guard duty in and around Alexandria until July 15, 1861, when orders were received attaching the regiment to Orlando B. Willcox's brigade, of Samuel P. Heintzelman's division, in Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell's Army of Northeast Virginia. They were to march out the next morning. From July 16 to 21, the regiment advanced to intercept Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard's Confederate Army of the Potomac. Three of McDowell's five divisions advanced towards Bull Run, outside the railroad junction at Manassas, Virginia. The 11th New York expected to first engage Confederates at Fairfax Court House on July 17, only to find that they had pulled back towards Centreville, leaving Quaker Guns in their place. These movements were to precipitate the first large-scale battle of the Civil War.