First Lieutenant Francis E. Brownell, Medal of Honor, U.S.A.-(1840-1894)- Brownell enlisted in Company A, 11^th New York Infantry, on April 20, 1861.  Without doubt he was drawn to the colors by the unit’s commander, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, and Ellsworth’s passion for Zouave uniforms and drill.  In May, Ellsworth’s Zouaves were among the first Union volunteers to arrive in Washington, D.C., to guard it from anticipated Confederate incursions.  On May 20, 1861, the 11^th New York was part of a force ordered to Alexandria, Virginia, (a Washington suburb across the Potomac) to help secure the Potomac River for navigation.  Ellsworth spied a Confederate flag flying prominently from atop the Marshall House, a hotel, and decided to remove it.   While descending the staircase from the rooftop, Colonel Ellsworth was confronted by the hotel’s proprietor, James T. Jackson. 

Brownell tried unsuccessfully to deflect Jackson’s shotgun, but Jackson fired point-blank into Ellsworth’s chest, killing him instantly.  Brownell fired, hitting Jackson in the forehead, and then finished him with the bayonet.   Brownell was soon after commissioned directly into regular service as a second lieutenant of the 11^th U. S. Infantry.  He was promoted to first lieutenant on October 24, 1861, and served in that rank until leaving the army on November 4, 1863.  For his bravery in Ellsworth’s defense, he was awarded the Medal of Honor on January 26, 1877, sixteen years after the event.  Francis Edwin Brownell, Ellsworth’s avenger, died in St. Louis on March 15, 1894.     (Block 40, Lot 2316)
 
(Narrative from William Winter’s “The Civil War in St. Louis”)