American Historical Ephemera and Photography Featuring the Civil War and American Militaria Collection of Bruce B. Hermann

Standing view of Francis Brownell as first lieutenant, autographed on verso ("Frank E. Brownell/ USA"). New York, NY: J. Gurney & Son. 2 1/8 x 3 1/2 in. CDV on cardstock mount (soiling mostly to top half of image/mount, signature strong). First Lieutenant Francis Brownell is shown in uniform, proudly displaying the medals on his jacket, while holding a Staff Officer's sword in his left hand.

[With:] 5 x 8 in. anonymous manuscript poem addressed to the Army, honoring Elmer Ellsworth, the first conspicuous casualty of the Civil War (expected folds to poem, some spotting, toning to left half of document). The poem states in part: "Our response all hearts shall thrill:/ Ellsworth's fame is with us still,/ Ne'er to pass away!/ Bring that rebel banner low,/ Hoisted by a treacherous foe/ I was for that they dealt the blow,/ Laid him in the dust." 

Francis E. Brownell of the 11th New York Volunteers, the "Fire Zouaves," is best known for slaying Colonel Elmer Ellsworth's murderer, innkeeper and Southern sympathizer James W. Jackson, on the stairs of the Marshall House in Alexandria, VA, near the start of the Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions in 1877.