Lt. Knox Carries On His Friend's Legacy-- Part 2: How Knox Met Ellsworth

"I could scarcely credit my own senses.  There lay one whom I had seen only a few minutes before full of life and the vigor of early manhood, cut down without a moment's warning by the hand of an assassin.  His face wore a very natural expression and excepting its pallor, his countenance looked the same as in life."

In the 1850s, both Elmer Ellsworth and Edward Knox had moved to Illinois from different states.   Knox joined the National Guard Cadets militia in Chicago.  In 1859, Ellsworth took over the group and really turned it into one of the crack drill units in the country.  They even went on tour of the United States to show their prowess.

Accompanying Abraham Lincoln to Washington, D.C., Ellsworth went to New York City and raised the 11th New York Infantry.  The captains of the regiment were elected by the men, but Ellsworth appointed the first lieutenants.  Close personal friend Knox was 1st lieutenant of Company A.

--Old Secesh