An artist's rendition of the funeral for Col. Elmer Ellsworth. The death of the young Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, who was shot as he attempted to capture a Confederate flag flying in Alexandria on May 24, 1861, deeply grieved President Lincoln. Ellsworth was a colonel in the National Guard Cadets in Chicago. He became close to Lincoln during the 1860 campaign, vowing to defend the candidate against harm, and he moved to Washington with the Lincolns. The president ordered his remains brought to the White House, where he lay in state in the East Room, beneath a wreath of flowers woven by Mary Lincoln.