They were
ordered to attack a fort, and he fell at the first
volley of the enemy.
His comrades caught him up and carried him
bleeding and dying from the field. ``Bear witness,''
he said, ``that I have proved myself not
a coward, and I am not afraid to die.'' Then,
making a last effort, with his dying breath he
prayed for Abraham Lincoln.
THE COLONEL OF THE ZOUAVES
BY NOAH BROOKS (ADAPTED)
Among those who accompanied Mr. Lincoln, the
President-elect, on his journey from Illinois to
the national capital, was Elmer E. Ellsworth, a
young man who had been employed in the law
office of Lincoln and Herndon, Springfield.
He was a brave, handsome, and impetuous
youth, and was among the first to offer his services
to the President in defense of the Union, as
soon as the mutterings of war were heard.
Before the war he had organized a company of
Zouaves from the Chicago firemen, and had
delighted and astonished many people by the
exhibitions of their skill in the evolutions through
which they were put while visiting some chief
cities of the Republic.
Now, being commissioned a second lieutenant in
the United States Army, he went to New York and
organized from the firemen of that city a similar
regiment, known as the Eleventh New York.
Colonel Ellsworth's Zouaves, on the evening
of May 23, were sent with a considerable force
to occupy the heights overlooking Washington
and Alexandria, on the banks of the Potomac,
opposite the national capital.
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