to the President's call; and the arsenal was held by Captain Lyon of the United States army, who not only furnished the Governor of Illinois with arms on a requisition from Washington, but, with authority from the seat of government, proceeded to thwart the plans of Governor Jackson of Missouri.

On the 10th of May, with his regulars and Blair's volunteers, he suddenly marched out and surrounded the militia at Camp Jackson, and compelled them to surrender. The column on its return was attacked by a mob, and had at last to fire on them. General Harney was then sent to restore order in Missouri, but he was outwitted by Governor Jackson and his general, Price; and Lyon, now made a brigadier general of volunteers, was intrusted with full command. Then Governor Jackson called out fifty thousand men to repel invasion, and in a proclamation called on the people to resist the United States authority. The railroad bridges between St. Louis and Jefferson City were cut, and all preparations made to throw the State into the hands of the Confederacy.

Illinois, running down like a wedge between the doubtful States of Kentucky and Missouri, was intensely Republican. At the commencement of the troubles, she made Cairo, at the extreme southern point, her centre of operations, and, under directions from the War Department, occupied and fortified it.

Such was the position of affairs in May. The two sections of the country were in arms, and the actual warfare might commence at any point along the line. General Scott, at Washington, was planning a campaign with all his long experience and ability, but he was surrounded by officers devoted to the South and all his plans were known almost immediately.

The troops of the insurgent States had gathered in force in Virginia, under officers who had left the United States army, and menaced Washington. It was necessary to meet them. On the 23d of May, the United States troops in three columns crossed the Potomac, and took possession of Alexandria and its vicinity, without any opposition, although Colonel Ellsworth, a young and highly popular officer, was killed in a hotel which he had impetuously entered to lower the Confederate flag.

COLONEL EPHRAIM ELMER ELLSWORTH,

OF THE NEW YORK FIRE ZOUAVES.

Born at Malta, a town in our historic Saratoga County, on the banks of the Hudson, on the 11th of April, 1837, his early years were shadowed by the total wreck of his father's fortunes in the financial troubles which, about the period of his birth, swept over the land. His father never was able to retrieve his ruined fortunes; disaster followed disaster, and Elmer was thrown on his own resources. Deprived of opportunities for advancement, after various employments in Troy and New York, and ineffectual efforts to enter West Point, for which the studies he had ardently and at great sacrifices pursued admirably fitted him, but from which the want of political patronage excluded him, he sought the West, and at Chicago, before he came to man's estate, was successfully engaged in business as a patent agent. Energetic and attentive to his affairs, he was soon building up his

fortune, but, like many a noble-hearted man, beheld the fruit of his toil swept from him by the fraud of one whom he had trusted. He did not sink under this reverse, but resolving to enter the legal profession, began his studies, earning the means of sustaining life by the drudgery of copying, in the hours given by others to re laxation or rest. But though he had thus chosen a profession, and devoted himself with all his energy and intellect to acquire it, the career of arms was that for which he had the greatest predilection. True of eye and hand, a perfect adept in all gymnastic exercises, he soon rendered himself an unequalled swordsman and marksman. Yet it was not to give himself the skill of a duellist that he practised the use of weapons: he had great and noble plans in view,-plans which must ultimately be adopted, at least in part. Our militia syster now is little better than a farce. To make it a real arm in the defence of the country against foes from abroad, or in the suppression of rebel lion at home, was Ellsworth's ambition. One means to effect this was to popularize the system of military training, and to adapt the system in use to actual requirements. The light infantry corps of France, which, under the name of Zouave, had been so efficient in Africa, Russia, and Italy, seemed to him a model for the American militia; and he devoted himself to a thorough study of the French manual translated under the direction of Hardee, developing and arranging the various movements till he had made them meet every test which he applied. Having perfectly mastered it himself, he gathered around him

a set of fine, temperate, athletic young men, who entered with spirit into his system, and on the 4th of May, 1859, he organized the United States Zouave Cadets of Chicago, the first Zouave company ever seen in the country. In their attire, he flung aside the last relics of the

old awkward dress, and adopted one that left the limbs and joints at liberty but his regime was as strict as the garb was loose. Total abstinence from intoxicating liquors and from tobacco, was a strict law, the violation of which blotted the name of the offender from the roll. This corps he trained, as opportunity offered, for about a year, until he was himself satisfied with their efficiency: and he gave his attention likewise to similar organizations in Springfield and Rockford. At the United States Agricultural Fair, Ellsworth's Zouaves won the colors, and won it only to hold it as a prize to be contended for, the property of any company who could exhibit a superior efficiency.

The novelty of the dress, and the exactness and celerity of their evolutions, soon made the Chicago Zouaves known far and wide; and in July, 1860, they made a tour to the East, inviting any of the militia companies to compete with them for the colors. Their exercises were visited by crowds,-officers anxious to see and study, fair ladies to wonder, young men to be inspired with military zeal. In the city of New York, the Academy of Music was the scene of an exhibition which filled a house as densely as the most popular singer ever did.

Ellsworth was now known and appreciated. He felt that a great step had been made in the reform of our militia, and on his return formed a volunteer regiment, which he tendered to the newly-elected governor, as if conscious that the elements of discord in the country would soon, very soon, make war inevitable. In the presidential canvass he was a warm supporter of Mr. Lincoln, and advanced his cause by his eloquent and stirring appeals, speaking in various parts, and always to great crowds, whom his popularity drew around him.

During the session of the Legislature he actively exerted himself to obtain the passage of a military bill which would put Illinois in a