How Elmer Ellsworth Met Charles de Villiers

From the blog Sept. 19, 2022, Discovering Lives "A Conversation with Meg Groeling, author of  "First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North's First Civil War Hero."

Elmer Ellsworth was born in New York in 1837 and moved to Chicago in 1854 to seek his fortune. There, he met a former Zouave.  The Zouaves were a unit of the French Foreign Legion-type unit that had gained fame in the Crimean War.   That man was Charles de Villiers.

Ellsworth was apparently a very really coordinated both physically and athletically.  As a young boy he was fascinated with soldiers.  In Chicago he was working out at the Y and this Charles de Villiers became his fencing instructor.  De Villiers had served with the Zouaves in Crimea as a member of their medical corps.

Fencing was easily mastered by Ellsworth and they soon expanded to Zouave-type moves.  Together, the two developed something called the "Lightning Drill."

To see an example of Zouaves at drill go to You Tube and look up "American Legion Zouaves Jackson & Michigan Drill Team on the Ed Sullivan Show.

--Old Sercesh

MCCWRT Meeting This Tuesday: Presentation on Confederate Railroads

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table will have the opening meeting of the 2024 year this coming Tuesday, March 12 at the Woodstock Library (Illinois).

We will be having a special presentation by Charlie Banks on Confederate Railroads.

The meeting starts at 7 pm at the library at 414 W. Judd Street.  It can also be seen on ZOOM.

Before the meeting some of us will be getting together at 3 Brothers on Illinois Highway 47 in Woodstock for dinner or snack.  (And, we don't just talk Civil War.)  Meets at 5 pl.

--Old Secesh

Charles De Villiers Introduced Ellsworth to the Zouave Way

According to Wikipedia, Elmer Ellsworth was introduced to the zouave military ways by his fencing instructor,  Charles De Villiers, a French physician, immigrant and veteran of a zouave unit during the Crimean War.

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History New had an article "This Union soldier's death shocked the north and made Lincoln cry" by Meg Groeling.

A chance meeting  with Frenchman Charles A. De Villiers helped guide Ellsworth to a militia unit called the "Chicago Cadets of the National Guard."  De Villiers was an excellent swordsman and tutored Ellsworth in fencing and enthralled him with stories of his service during the Crimean War as an officer in a French Zouave unit.

--Old Secesh

Chales DeVilliers: Capture and Escape

As I wrote in the last post, he was taken prisoner on July 17, 1861 (the Battle of Bull Run was July 21) and sent to Richmond.  About the middle of September he escaped  in the guise of an aged, infirm and nearly blind mendicant Frenchman.  (Okay, I had to look up mendicant.  It means a beggar.)

He was able to get the prison commandants permission to go to  Fort Monroe (still under Union control) under a flag of truce that he might embark "for his dear old home in France,"

After a two week delay, the supposed Frenchman was assisted on board a transport in Norfolk and taken to a Union boat.  When safely under his own flag, he cast off his pack, green goggles and rags, thanked the officers for their politeness, shouted a loud huzza for the stars and stripes and gave them the pleasing information that they had just parted with Colonel De Villiers of the 11th Ohio.

He arrived safely in Washington, rejoined his regiment, and was brigadier general, 10 October 1861.

He had been military instructor for Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth.

His discharge from the Army on 23 April 1862, and returned to France.

--Old Secesh

Ellsworth & the U.S. Zouaves-- Part 15: Charles DeVilliers

CHARLES DeVILLIERS--  Colonel of the 11th Ohio Infantry.  Captured and sent to prison, but escaped.  Once back in the Union Army, he was court martialed on 13 counts of misconduct, including stealing from local citizens and selling to Army members.

Dismissed from service and returned to France.

This was from our speaker but I forgot his name.

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Looked up this man and found this on Virtual American Biographies.

CHARLES A. De VILLIERS

Soldier born in 1826.  He had been an officer in the French Army and afterward became colonel of the 11th Ohio Infantry.

At the beginning of the Civil War he was taken prisoner, 17 July 1861 and sent to Richmond.

Next...  His Escape.  --Old Secesh

Elmer Ellsworth and the United States Zouaves-- Part 14: H. Dwight Laflin and the Big Bang in Kenosha 1911

Another former Ellsworth Zouave:

H. DWIGHT LAFLIN--  Became president of Laflin-Vauder Gunpowder Company.  One of the largest gunpowder companies in the United States.  In 1898, he had 577 acres of land near Kenosha, Wisconsin (area where the outlet malls are located today).

On March 9, 1911, there was a huge explosion there at the Laflin, Rand Company when millions of pounds of dynamite and gunpowder exploded just after 8 pm. 

Not only was the plant, covering hundreds of acres, but the people in the community of Pleasant Prairie where it was located and for surrounding area were damaged.  The shockwave was felt as far away as 500 miles from Kenosha.

--Old Secesh

Elmer Ellsworth and the United States Zouave Cadets-- Part 13: Some Other Members

 This is a continuation thread from a long time ago.  From December 8, 2017--  Part 12.

I was listing Ellsworth-trained Zouave Cadets who fought in the Civil War.

LUCIUS LARRABEE--  Mortally wounded July 2, 1863, at Little Round Top, Battle of Gettysburg.  Captain, Company B, 44th New York regiment, known as Ellsworth's Avengers.

HARRISON KELLY--  In 44th New York  Infantry, made up of many former Zouave Cadets.

JOHN CONANT LONG--  Became drillmaster at Camp Douglas.  Trained 50 Illinois regiments there.

JOSEPH R. SCOTT--  Mortally wounded at Stones River, January 2, 1863.

HECTOR A. AIKEN--  Captain, Co. B, 29th USCT  Severely wounded at the Battle of the Crater July 30, 1864.  Died two days later.

--Old Secesh

Road Trippin' in Laurel Hill Cemetery: Medal of Honor, USMC Commandant

Some more Civil War folks buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.

CHALES FERGUSON SMITH  (1807-1862)--  Union general.

HECTOR TYNDALE  (1821-1880)--  Union general.

PINKERTON R. VAUGHAN  (1841-1866)--  Medal of Honor, USMC, on USS Mississippi at Port Hudson.

LANGHORN WISTER  1834-1891)--  Union colonel.

JACOB ZEILIN  (1806-1880)--  Commandant of USMC in 1864.

--Old Secesh

More Road Trippin': Laurel Hill Cemetery's Civil War Connection

Wikipedia.

I wrote about Philadelphia's West Laurel Hill Cemetery earlier.  That cemetery is a part of the larger Laurel Hill Cemetery in that city.

According to Wikipedia, hundreds of era persons are buried there, along with 40 Civil War-era generals.

HENRY K. BIDDLE  (1841-1912)--  Union Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient.  Forwarded personal effects of mortally wounded Confederate General Armistead to his old friend, Union Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock.

ULRIC DAHLGREN (1842-1864)--  One of leaders of famed 1864 attack on Richmond and son of Union Naval Admiral John A. Dahlgren.  His father is also buried there.

SAMUEL GIBBS FRENCH (1818-1910)--  Confederate general.  Buried in Florida but family has a cenotaph on family plot.

GEORGE GORDON MEADE  (1815-1872)--  Hero of Gettysburg.

JOHN C. PEMBERTON  (1814-1881)--  Confederate General who surrendered Vicksburg.

Kind of interesting to have two Confederate generals remembered in the cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Road Trippin' Through History: Civil War Notables Buried at Philadelphia's West Laurel Hill Cemetery

Here are four other Civil War folk:

OLIVER CHRISTIAN BOSBYSHELL  (1839-1921)-- Claims he was the first Union soldier wounded by enemy activity in the war after receiving a bruise on his head after being hit with an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer as his regiment marched through Baltimore to relieve Washington, D.C. on April 17, 1861.

CLARISA F. DOYLE  (1832-1921)--Army nurse during Civil War.  President of National Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War.

JOHN TROUT GREBLE  (1834-1861)--  First USMA graduate killed at Battle of Big Bethel.

HERMAN HAUPT  (1817-1905)--  Union general and engineer.  Revolutionized U.S. military transportation, particularly with the railroads.

--Old Seceh

Road Trippin' Through History: Civil War Notables Buried at Philadelphia's West Laurel Hill Cemetery-- Part 1

One thing I like to do is take a Road Trip Through History, starting with one article and seeing how far and where I can follow it to.  This started in my Running the Blockade blog when I wrote about Marine Sgt. Richard Binder who received a Medal of Honor for his service at the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.  He is buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

That means that I look through lists of people buried there and find anyone of particular interest.  I have been doing this in my Cooter's History Thing blog already.  Plus, I wrote about four other Medals of Honor recipients buried there in my Running the Blockade blog.

Here is one notable of interest who are buried with Sgt. Binder.

ROBERT COOPER GRIER (1794-1870)--   Associate Supreme Court Justice 1846-1870.  He would have been involved with decisions during the war.

I found three others which I will write about in the next post.

--Old Secesh

James Cantey, CSA-- Part 2

With the coming of the Civil War, he helped form the 15th Alabama Regiment and was elected its colonel.  The regiment participated in Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign where they showed great valor during the Battle of Cross Keys.

They were still with Jackson during the Seven Days Battles around Richmond.  After that, he was detached and served around Mobile, Alabama, from January 1863 to April 1864. where he organized a brigade consisting of three Alabama and one Mississippi regiment.

They were transferred to the Army of Tennessee and appointed brigadier general.  He was frequently absent from duty because of sickness.  His brigade fought in the Atlanta Campaign and in Hood's Franklin-Nashville debacle.

Cantey and his brigade fought at the Battle of Bentonville in the closing days of the war and surrendered with Johnston's forces at Durham Station.

After the war, he returned to his plantation near Fort Mitchell, Alabama.  He died at his plantation on June 30, 1874, and is buried in the Crowell Family Cemetery in Fort Mitchell.

--Old Secesh

James Cantey, One of Those Confederate Generals Born in Kershaw County, S.C.

From Wikipedia.

In the last post I listed the names of six Confederate generals born in Kershaw County, S.C..  One of them was James Kershaw (so I wonder if he had something to do with the county's founding).  I was familiar with James Chesnut, Jr., but only because of his wife Mary's diary from the war.

I was not familiar at all with the other four.

Here's one of them.

JAMES CANTEY (December 30, 1818 - June 30, 1874)

He served as an officer in the Palmetto Regiment during the Mexican War.  In one battle he was severely wounded and left among the dead until his enslaved servant retrieved the body to be buried at home and found him still alive.  He saved James' life.  James offered him his freedom for that, but was refused.

After the war, he moved to  Alabama and bought land, becoming a  planter in Russell County.

--Old Secesh

Six Confederate Generals Born in Kershaw County, South Carolina

From carolana.com.

Major General Joseph B.  Kershaw

Brigadiers

James Cantey

James Chesnut Jr.  Wife was Mary Chesnut who wrote the famous diary.

Zachariah C. Deas

John Doby Kennedy 

John Bordenave Villepigue

Old Secesh

About Those Discarded Rifles at Gettysburg

After the Battle of Gettysburg,  the discarded rifles were collected and sent to Washington, D.C., to be inspected and reissued.

Of the 37,574 rifles recovered, approximately 24,000 were still loaded; 12,000 had two rounds in the barrel; 6,000 had three to ten rounds in the barrel.

One rifle, the most remarkable of all,  had been stuffed to the top with twenty-three rounds in the barrel.

That Is Sure A Big Oops.  --Old Overloaded Rifle