EE's loved ones

Not the smoothest upload, but I am sure you get the idea. As far as I know, the pictures to the left are the only ones of Elmer Ellsworth's parents, Ephriam and Phebe, which is how she signed her name. These may have been taken at the same time the one of young Elmer was taken--the backgrounds look the same.

I think this is a nail for the coffin of EE's "impoverished" upbringing. His parents look well-dressed and healthy--even a little fashionable for the 1840s. Photography was much more expensive then than in the 1860s, so there's another nail. I think his folks look nice--like people you could get to know.

The lovely Northern belle on the right is Carrie Spafford. She was Elmer's only real love interest. He met her in Rockford, when she was 15 or so. It is through his letters to her that a biographer has such rich source material for Ellsworth, all the way to the end.

In C. A. Tripp's book, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln (the one in which the author makes the claim that AL was gay), Ellsworth is discussed in great detail. The conclusion? "Ellsworth was definitely and explicitely heterosexual."

Well, that's cleared up.