An Unusual Valentine: Elmer E. Ellsworth, Esquire

Elmer Ellsworth about 1860

Every biography or biographical article about not-yet-colonel Elmer Ellsworth says the same thing: It is not known if Ellsworth passed, or even took, the Illinois State Bar Examination. I know this is not a bombshell issue for most people, but some of us care. I care. And, I am working like a madwoman to finish up my biography of Colonel Ellsworth before the next full eclipse of the sun. So imagine my surprise when . . .

March 30, 2017–the news breaks. “Joint Secretary of State & Supreme Court Restoration Project of Illinois Attorney Oaths Complete” is the headline of the For Immediate Release memo from the desk of Jesse White, Secretary of State for the great state of Illinois. This, apparently, had been a long-term project that sought to discover, restore, and preserve the attorney oaths for the Illinois Supreme Court. “Approximately 142,000 oaths, some preceding the Civil War, have been restored,” according to White. As explained in the memo, signing the Attorney Oath is the final step a newly minted lawyer takes before practicing law in Illinois. One must pass the bar exam before signing this oath.

The project was begun in 2009 and took until last year to complete. The Illinois Supreme Court was preparing to completely restore their building and needed a place to keep the court records while this was happening. Carolyn Taft Grosboll, current clerk of the Court stated, “Among the records were these historic oaths, so we contacted the State Archives. The State Archives graciously agreed not only to store the oaths for the Court but also to restore them.”[1] Most were in good condition, but some had been affected by mold or deteriorated by water damage. The amazing archivists in Illinois were able to restore almost all the badly damaged oaths using modern techniques, including the digitalization of some of the badly eroded signatures.

Clarence Darrow

Among the oaths in the Supreme Court’s collection are those for famed attorney Clarence Darrow, former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Robinson Obama, former U.S. Supreme Court Justices John Paul Stevens and Arthur Goldberg, 12 U.S. Senators, 12 Illinois governors, 59 Illinois Supreme Court justices and five Chicago mayors. Oaths from attorneys licensed before the Civil War, such as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, were incorporated into the law license itself; therefore, no separate oaths for Lincoln and Douglas are included in this collection.[2]

And whom else did they find? Yes. Elmer Ellsworth. In 1860, Ellsworth began studying law with Abraham Lincoln, although he had studied with a couple of other men in Chicago before leaving with the Chicago Zouave Cadet Tour in the summer of 1860. Lincoln asked Ellsworth personally to study in Springfield at his law office. During the time he worked there, he became friends with Lincoln secretaries George Nicolay and John Hay, Mary Lincoln, the Lincoln children, and many of the movers and shakers in the Illinois political scene. Ellsworth worked the Republican Convention in Chicago for the Lincoln supporters, he walked with Mr. Lincoln to cast his vote in the presidential election, and he celebrated with the Lincolns on the night of Lincoln’s election.

History left an Ellsworthian blank between November 6, 1860, and February 11, 1861,

Lincoln in Illinois

when Elmer Ellsworth accompanied Lincoln on the Inaugural Express train from Springfield to Washington. We know that before Ellsworth left, he presented a bill for the organization of the Illinois State Militia to the state legislature. It passed several reviews and committees, but was never brought to a vote because within weeks of Lincoln’s inauguration, Fort Sumter had been fired on, and all available militia members were being asked to go to Washington.

Now, the blank has been filled in–between November 6 and February 11 Elmer Ellsworth was passing the bar exam in Illinois, and we have proof! A letter was found from Judge Pickney Walker to the Clerk of the Supreme Court William Turney that said to create a law license for Ellsworth. On the back of the letter is a note by Turney saying that the license was sent. Elmer Ellsworth’s documentation allowing him to practice law in Illinois became official on February 14, 1861. Now we know.

 

John Lupton

I will be interviewing John Lupton of the Illinois Supreme Court Historical Preservation Commission in the next couple of months for emergingcivilwar.com. Mr. Lupton worked with me to get all the right documents signed that permit me to tell this story, and it is only because people like Mr. Lupton exist that the tiny-but-strong unifying threads of the past are able to be teased out of the huge historical knot we love so well. Stay tuned!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day.

[1] https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/news/2017/march/170330d1.pdf

[2] Ibid.



8 Responses to An Unusual Valentine: Elmer E. Ellsworth, Esquire

  1. Wow! Wonderful project and a lot of diligent work! Does this project record even the persons who have had their law license taken away? Wish this was on internet for genealogist . Thank you again!

  2. Elmer Ellsworth had so much potential and it was cut short, as was the lives of so many men and women during the U.S. Civil War. Part of the Emerging Civil War world is how this war changed our country. It is not a question of “what if” but it happened and people had to step up after the war to do the work of those lost in this war. Emerging Civil War is not just about “turning points” of the Civil War, but the Civil War itself was a “turning point” in American history.

  3. A great tale of history detectivery! Congratulations on finding the missing piece in your Ellsworth puzzle. I love it when that kind of thing happens. And good luck with finishing your book before the next full eclipse of the sun. According to Mr. Google, in California, you’ve got until Aug. 12, 2045.

  4. Those of us who are near neighbors to Ellsworth’s grave in Mechanicville and have visited his blood stained, bullet holed uniform coat at the New York Military Museum in Saratoga Springs will be glad for that news.

    Rosemary Nichols, Capital District Civil War Round Table.

    1. I am very grateful for this comment. I, too, have stood next to Ellsworth’s grave on a hot Fall day, listening to the cicadas, and I have visited his uniform and the Marshall House Flag in Saratoga. I blinked back tears when I saw the red kepi at Fort Ward, and when the historians in Kenosha and I opened Carrie’s scrapbook and saw the carefully pressed sprig of greenery from the New York funeral, we were all moved to tears. Stop by the cemetery if you have a chance and tell him “hello,” for me.

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