Smithsonian Article

[Laurie Verge]

Jim - your Southern roots are showing! I debated using the word "murder" in describing Col. Ellsworth's death because of the two viewpoints. He took it upon himself to charge up the stairs of the Marshall House in Alexandria, Virginia, to haul down that Confederate flag. Technically, I do not believe it was a military action, however. The owner of the establishment was protecting his property, but did the nature of the incident require shooting Ellsworth?

Rich - thanks for the correction on who embalmed Willie. The biography that I found on Holmes gives the impression that he did it because Mrs. Lincoln asked for him.

In the process of double-checking info on Holmes, I stumbled upon a page of explicit instructions as to how to embalm a body. It was exactly like an on-site instruction that a few of us got many years ago while researching for our popular exhibit on Victorian mourning customs. There are several funeral homes in the D.C. area that date back to the Civil War era. One of them is the Lee Funeral Home. We were invited to tour, look through their archives, and get a lesson on both embalming and cremation -- WAY MORE THAN I EVER WANTED TO KNOW!

I told my friends as we walked out the door that, if my mother were to die the next day, I would put her in my car, drive to our family cemetery, dig her grave, and bury her myself. No undertaker was going to touch anyone I loved!