Union soldiers were sent across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., to occupy Alexandria on May 24, 1861, the day after Virginia seceded from the Union. They were led by Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth who'd been a law clerk for Lincoln before entering the Army.
Angered that the flag could be easily seen from the White House, he climbed to the top of the Marshall House Hotel and took it down. On his way back down, James Jackson grabbed his shotgun and killed Ellsworth. Moments later, Jackson also lay dead, killed by Ellsworth's soldiers.
--Old Secesh
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