Below are my pictures of Private Francis E. Brownell of the 11th New York State Militia, Ellsworth’s Fire Zouaves as he appeared just after his Medal of Honor action in the Civil War.
The figure is SST. All the equipment is SST except as noted. The gaiters, pants, belt, shirt, jacket, armband, bayonet frog, fireman’s badge and base are custom. The sword bayonet and scabbard are battle gear. The Rebel flag is Hasbro. The pose is based on a photo of Brownell taken after his commanders death, but prior to the first Battle of Bull Run.
If your look closely at his belt you can see part of the word “Premier”. The 11th was recruited from firefighter companies in NYC and Premier was the name of the company Brownell worked for.
The black armband is in memory of his fallen Col. Elmer Ellsworth. (I learned that the black armband dates at least to the civil war)
Francis Brownell has the distinction of the first action to merit the Medal of Honor. In one of the unusual circumstances of the Civil War and early history of the MOH, Pvt. Brownell’s Medal was awarded retroactively for an action that occurred in May 1861, well before the MOH was first signed into law. (There is one MOH with an earlier citation date, but it was prior to the Civil War and in non-combat, so Brownell holds the distinction for the first MOH in a combat situation.)
Brownell’s MOH is for “killing the murderer” of his colonel, Elmer Ellsworth. From the Web:
"On May 24, 1861, the day after Virginia officially seceded, Union troops were ordered to cross the Potomac River and seize and control important areas on the Virginia side. As the port of Alexandria was a choice assignment, Ellsworth convinced the powers that be to give this mission to him and his Fire Zouaves. Ellsworth even dressed for the occasion, wearing a new gleaning uniform, affixed with a medal that was inscribed in Latin, "Not for ourselves alone but for country."
Leaving Washington at daybreak, Ellsworth and his troops traveled by steamer to an Alexandria wharf. They were met by no resistance, as Alexandria's only Confederate troops, a small Virginia militia, were hurriedly leaving town. Once there, Ellsworth ordered one company of his soldiers to take and hold the railroad station, while he and a small detachment went off to capture the telegraph office.
While heading toward this office, Ellsworth and his men came upon an inn, known as the Marshall House, on King Street. Glancing up, Ellsworth saw that the inn was flying a large Confederate flag, and ordered that it be immediately taken down. After stationing a few of his men on the first floor of the inn, Ellsworth and four of his men went upstairs and leaning out a window, cut down the flag. Ellsworth then started back down the stairs. In front of Ellsworth was Corporal Francis E. Brownell, and behind him was Edward H. House, a reporter for the New York Tribune. At the landing on the third floor, the innkeeper, James W. Jackson, was waiting with a double-barrel shotgun. As Jackson raised his weapon to fire, Corporal Brownell batted the barrel of Jackson's shotgun aside with the barrel of his musket, to avert the shot. Simultaneously, Jackson fired, hitting Ellsworth. Jackson then fired a second shot, barely missing Brownell. At the same time as Jackson's second shot, Brownell fired, striking Jackson. As Jackson lay dead, Brownell bayoneted his body, sending it falling down the stairs. They then turned their attention to Ellsworth, who lay dead on top of the bloody Confederate flag, his uniform medal embedded into his chest from the force of the shotgun blast."
(A little strange that you can get the MOH for defending yourself, get your officer shot and bayonet the guy that got him. But it was 1861 and the criteria for getting the MOH was different in those days.)
Today the tale is all but forgotten, but in 1861, Ellsworth’s death was sensational. People cut off scraps of the Rebel flag to save as souvenirs. (The same one Brownell is standing on) Remnants of the original flag are at the Smithsonian and the frock coat that Elmer Ellsworth was killed in is on display at the NYS Military Museum in my own Saratoga Springs, NY.
While researching Brownell and the MOH, I found there are a number of MOH CW firsts. I hope to make a series of MOH figures commemorating those firsts and their fascinating stories.
Maintiens le Droits
