Civil War Times: August 1996 Letters

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Steve Palmer
Germantown, Tennessee

The Illustrious Ellets
I was delighted to see the article by Christopher Abel about theMississippi Marine Brigade (”Marines Under Fire,” May). There were a totalof six members of the Ellet family who served as officers in the Ram Fleetor Marine Brigade, so it is understandable that there was, and remains,some confusion with regard to which Ellet did what. I am working on abiography and collection of personal letters of Charles Rivers Ellet, so Ifeel it is my duty to point out an error in the caption below thephotograph on page 56. It was not Charles Rivers Ellet who founded the RamFleet, but his father, Charles Ellet, Jr.

Charles Ellet, Jr., was a well known civil engineer. Charles Rivers Elletjoined his father on the Ram Fleet on his 19th birthday, June 1, 1862. Ashis father lay mortally wounded after the Battle of Memphis on June 6,Charles Rivers accompanied his uncle, Alfred W. Ellet, down the Mississippiin a further attempt to disrupt Confederate supply lines and militaryoperations. When Alfred was made brigadier general in command of theMississippi Marine Brigade in the autumn of 1862, Charles Rivers received acolonel’s commission and took command of the Ram Fleet while his uncle wasorganizing the Marine Brigade. Colonel Ellet served gallantly as commanderof the fleet aboard the Queen of the West, until she ran aground and wascaptured on the Red River in February 1863. Colonel Ellet, along with mostof his crew, escaped by floating downriver on cotton bales. He diedsuddenly and tragically at age 20, apparently from an overdose of morphine,which he had been taking to relieve the pain of a facial neuralgia.

Valerie Savage
Bloomington, Indiana

A Plan For Lee Day
Editor’s note: Civil War Times reader Anne Adams sent the following letterto Brian Pulito in response to Pulito’s letter to the editor in our Mayissue, which called for making Robert E. Lee’s birthday a national holiday.

A Yankee by birth, but a Southern belle in my heart, I find this cause anoble one. A goal of this nature takes much planning, financial support,political savvy, and lots of volunteers.Planning-Using January 19, 2008, as your goal, there is a little lessthan a 12-year timeline. I would use the next 20 months to design andorganize your campaign. You need an actual business plan. Of primaryimportance is establishing a network of dedicated, responsible individualsto coordinate such an endeavor.

I would envision a grand “Period Ball” at Arlington on January 19, 1998, asthe kickoff, with smaller but similar kickoffs in each state, as well. Ican see the need for celebrity spokespersons.Volunteers-I suggest that you network with the Sons of ConfederateVeterans, the Daughters of the Confederacy, the Order of the ConfederateRose, the Confederate Memorial Association, the Friends of Beauvoir, andevery Confederate museum, Civil War monument organization, Round Table, andschool named for Lee.Political Savy-What you are proposing here is an item that needs to gothrough Congress and then be signed into law by the president. Having theright politicians backing this endeavor from the start could be vital.Financial Support-Fundraisers are the usual answers, coupled withrequests for donations via merchandising pleas, such as T-shirts, bumperstickers, etc.I know I have just scratched the surface of an enormous project. Let’s getthis project off the ground.

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