James W. Jackson

During the month that Virginia voters contemplated whether to follow the recommendation of the Virginia Secession Convention, President Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet reportedly observed through field glasses from an elevated spot in Washington Jackson's large Confederate flag flying atop the Marshall House inn in Alexandria, across the Potomac River.[1][2] Jackson had reportedly stated the flag would only be taken down "over his dead body".[1][3]

On May 24, 1861, the day after Virginia voters ratified the secession recommendation, federal troops crossed the Potomac and captured Alexandria.[1] One federal regiment was the famously flamboyant 11th New York Zouave Infantry, led by Col. Elmer Ellsworth, who was a close friend of Lincoln.[4]

When approaching the Marshall House, Ellsworth saw the flag, and went inside the building to seize it.[1] When questioned, a boarder at the house informed Ellsworth that he knew nothing about the flag.[5] Ellsworth then climbed the stairs and removed the flag from the flagpole.[1] As Ellsworth returned downstairs with the flag, Jackson suddenly appeared and shot him dead with an English-made double-barrel shotgun.[1][5][6] Then Francis E. Brownell of Ellsworth's regiment shot and bayonetted Jackson, thus killing him.[1][5] Both men immediately became celebrated martyrs for their respective causes.[1][5][7]

The Hotel Monaco, now The Alexandrian, on the site of the Marshall House, seen in 2009. The Marshall House plaque is visible in the foreground, within a blind arch near a corner of the hotel.

Marshall House plaque, within a blind arch near a corner of the Hotel Monaco before its removal (2009)

Jackson was buried in the Fairfax city cemetery.[8] In 1862, an account of his death was published in Richmond, Virginia.[9] In 1863, Union officials established a contraband camp (for former slaves) on or adjacent to or land owned by Jackson's widow in Lewinsville.[10]

In 1999, sociologist and historian James W. Loewen noted in his book Lies Across America that the Sons of Confederate Veterans had placed a bronze plaque on the side of a Holiday Inn that had been constructed on the former site of the Marshall House. Loewen reported that the plaque described Jackson's death but omitted any mention of Ellsworth.[11] Adam Goodheart further discussed the incident and the plaque (which was then within a blind arch near a corner of a Hotel Monaco) in his 2011 book 1861: The Civil War Awakening.[12]

The plaque called Jackson the "first martyr to the cause of Southern Independence" and said he "was killed by federal soldiers while defending his property and personal rights ... in defence of his home and the sacred soil of his native state".[13] In full, it read:

In 2013, WTOP reported that some Alexandria residents were advocating the removal of the plaque, but that city officials had no control over the matter as the plaque was on private property.[14] However, in December 2016, Marriott International purchased The Monaco, added it to its boutique Autograph Collection and renamed it as "The Alexandrian".[15] By October 2017, Marriott had removed the plaque from The Alexandrian and had given it to the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[16]

Goodheart, Adam (2012). 1861: The Civil War Awakening. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc. ISBN 9781400032198. LCCN 2010051326. OCLC 973512612. Retrieved 2019-01-25 – via Google Books.

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