These are speaking trumpets. The fire departments used them mid-century to give orders that could be heard above the noise and din of fighting a fire. Ellsworth used one to direct his men when they fought the fire which threatened Willard's, the hotel in Washington where politicians met and lived and made deals. I thought they were pretty cool. The next chapter is one I don't want to write. Maybe a rough draft won't be so bad. Probably that last polish will be difficult. If it isn't then I haven't done my job. It was a terrible death in many ways, but it was fast for EE, and it galvanized an already patriotic North to support Lincoln's efforts to maintain the Union. I just want to do justice to Ellsworth, and in some way do justice to all those who have worn the uniform. It is not popular today to think of a wartime death as honorable, because somehow war is no longer honorable.
As the daughter of a Naval Officer, the step daughter of an Army volunteer, the former wife of an Army sergeant and the stepparent of a young man who is serving in Afghanistan, I shall respectfully disagree.
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