James W. Jackson

James Jackson shooting Col. Ellsworth

Marshall House, Alexandria, Virginia - place where Elmer Ellsworth was shot to death. (photo 1861)

James W. Jackson (ca. 1824–1861) was an ardent secessionist and the proprietor of the Marshall House, an inn located in the City of Alexandria during the time of the American Civil War. During the capture of Alexandria, Jackson used an English-made double-barrel shotgun^[1] to kill Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth as he descended the stairs of the hotel with the Confederate flag he had just removed from the flagpole over the roof. In retaliation, Francis E. Brownell of Ellsworth's 11th New York Zouave regiment killed Jackson. Both men became martyrs for their respective causes.^[2]

References

1. "James W. Jackson's shotgun". Smithsonian Institution. 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
2. "Alexandria in the Civil War". The Historical Marker Database. 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.