LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 June Civil War Grand Format Auction #663  / 

74105

CDV of Francis E. Brownell CMH

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:75.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
CDV of Francis E. Brownell CMH
<B><I>Carte de Visite</B></I></B></I><B> of Francis E. Brownell, the Avenger of the Murder of Col. Ellsworth.</B></I> Private Francis E. Brownell is seen in this CDV by Mathew Brady dressed in his Zouave uniform and wearing a mourning band tied around his left arm. He is standing on the secession flag taken from the Marshall House and is holding the rifle with the sword bayonet that he used to kill the Alexandria secessionist James W. Jackson. <BR><BR>Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, a friend of Abraham Lincoln and the commander of the New York Fire Zouaves, was anxious to be the first to invade the South. On May 24, 1861, the day after Virginia seceded, Ellsworth led his men, uncontested, down the streets of Alexandria. He sent some of his men to take the railroad station while he and a few others went to secure the telegraph office. On the way, he noticed a Confederate flag atop the Marshall House Inn. Ellsworth and four others quickly ascended the stairs; Ellsworth cut down the flag and was on the way down the stairs when the proprietor killed him with a shotgun blast to the chest. Private Francis Brownell immediately killed the innkeeper. After the war, Francis E. Brownell twice put his name forward to receive the Medal of Honor. He succeeded a third time with the help of his congressman and finally received the decoration in 1877. Although sixteen years after the event, his medal marked the first action of the Civil War to merit this high award. The photo has a slight bump on the bottom, else very fine.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>) <BR><BR><B>Important notice:</
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