"Patriotism Is Not Dead"
“Patriotism is not dead, even if it sleeps.”
Elmer E. Ellsworth,1861
Paul J. Loatman, Jr., Ph.D. Mechanicville City Historian
May 10, 2011
When Elmer E. Ellsworth uttered these words in April, 1861, following the fall of Fort Sumter, things had hardly been looking up for him. John Hay, another young man in President Lincoln’s coterie that had followed him from Springfield, Illinois, to the White House, once remarked that “what would have killed an ordinary man did not injure Ellsworth.” At the time, Elmer was mourning the loss of his younger brother, Charley, who had been entrusted into his care by his parents, a victim of smallpox. Today’s generation, profiting from advances made in modern medicine, may be surprised to learn that twice as many Union soldiers died of diseases such as measles, mumps, and pneumonia as battle wounds. Elmer’s own battle with measles in the Spring of 1861 had put him in grave peril.
As the sole surviving son of a family that been economically ruined by the Panic of 1837 and subsequent depression, Elmer keenly felt the need to advance socially and financially in order to provide for his mourning parents. Additionally, although he had recently fallen in love with a young woman, he was well aware that he would have to defer marriage until he was able to support a family.
Previously, Ellsworth had devoted a couple of years crafting a six-part plan to reform the nation’s disorganized state militia system, an idea strongly endorsed by his friend, President Lincoln. But, in the early months of the new Administration, he had to confront the bitter reality that jealous military staff officers “rusting” on their laurels and parochial-minded members of Congress would never let his proposal see the light of day. Faced with such staunch opposition, Lincoln recognized the inevitable and withdrew Ellsworth’s proposal from Congressional consideration. Partly to assuage his disappointment, as Hay later recalled, “the President, who loved him as a younger brother, made him a lieutenant in the army, intending to detail him for special service.”
Shortly after the capture of Fort Sumter by secessionist forces on April 14, 1861, John Hay shared doubts being expressed by many people who were openly questioning the loyalty of the Northern people. Their apparent unwillingness to respond to the threat of disunion disheartened Hay. Rising from his sickbed to reply to his friend, (one day destined to become Secretary of State), Ellsworth retorted, “I can only speak for myself….You will find that patriotism is not dead, even if it sleeps.”
We know, of course, that shortly after recovering his health, Ellsworth resigned his commission in the regular army. In short order, he traveled to New York City, recruited a feisty band of young firemen, and quickly turned them into a crack corps of Zouaves. In less than a month, Ellsworth had readied his men and off they marched to the nation’s Capital to defend the Union. No one knew at the time, of course, that all of this had set in motion a train of events that ultimately led to Colonel Ellsworth’s untimely death in Alexandria, Virginia, on May 24, 1861.
The current generation’s attention to the sacrifices made by Mechanicville’s young hero may have waned in recent years, but Colonel Ellsworth is now garnering the attention he deserves in articles in the national press, newly-published books on the Civil War, and historical displays in leading museums like the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Locally, on Sunday, May 15, at 9:30 a.m., the Sons of Union Civil War Veterans will be joined by patriotic, civic, and veterans groups along with the general public to mark the 150th Anniversary of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth’s death with a gravesite re-enactment of his funeral in Hudson View Cemetery. In some small way, we have been presented with a unique opportunity to demonstrate that “patriotism is not dead, even if it sleeps.”