May 25, 1861 was a tragic day for President Abraham Lincoln. Virginia had seceded the day before, making a full scale Civil War a certainty, troubling for Lincoln, who’d conceded to many of the mighty Virginia’s demands before the state decided to secede. Yet that was just the beginning. Before the day was gone, one of the Lincoln family’s closest friends, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, would be dead, victim perhaps of his own arrogance. While the day was tragic for Lincoln, it made a martyr of Ellsworth, and the word “Zouave” would become a household word.

While the U.S. Army had a strong presence in the Civil War, many of the soldiers who served were not members of the army, but rather members of local militias who’d heeded Lincoln’s call for volunteers. These volunteer militias were usually outfitted by their hometowns, or, in the case of larger state militias, their home state. None of these local regiments cut a more dashing figure than the many Zouave regiments, which were found both in the North and South.

Inspired by French Zouave infantry regiments who served in North Africa, American Zouave regiments adopted the Zouaves’ distinctive – and very elaborate – uniform, which, although adapted with varying degrees by different regiments, typically consisted of short, closely-tailored jackets paired with wide-legged pantaloons known as chasseurs, and dependent on the regiment, adorned with a tasseled fez and/or turban, wide sash, and leather cuffs for the calves.

Despite the expense of outfitting such royally attired regiments, [ad#adsense]Zouave militias flourished at the beginning of the war. Over 70 volunteer Zouave regiments supported the Union, and around 25 Zouave companies rallied for the Confederacy. One can only imagine the confusion when opposing Zouave regiments met one another on the battlefield.

Their elaborate attire aside, the other conspicuous attribute of the Zouaves was their adherence to the demanding drilling that had been the hallmark of the original Zouaves. But what accounts for the popularity of French-styled regiments in America during the Civil War era?

In a word – Ellsworth. Elmer Ellsworth, a diminutive if dashing figure, did more to popularize the Zouave craze in Civil War era American than any other. Ellsworth, a would-be businessman and attorney who’d practiced with Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, was a lifelong student of military history and theory. He became involved with the Illinois state militia, and after meeting Charles DeVilliers, a French Zouave veteran, Ellsworth began to study the infantry drills of the Zouaves.

From Springfield Ellsworth moved to Chicago, where he took a local militia group from an uninspired outfit to an American Zouave regiment, known as the “United States Zouave Cadets.” Every detail of the regiment was dictated by Ellsworth, from the design of the Zouave uniform to his demands that members from tobacco and alcohol to the elaborate drills that Ellsworth had adapted from French Zouave manuals.

In 1860, Ellsworth and 50 of his best Zouaves took their show on the road. For six weeks they traveled in 20 cities – including Cleveland, Boston, Baltimore and New York – and competed against local regiments, whom they humbled with their choreographed drills. Local spectators were enthralled both with the Zouaves and especially Ellsworth, and other regiments across the country adapted the Zouave principles.

While the Civil War may have been dreaded for many, Ellsworth was inspired by the impending conflict, and whipped Manhattan’s Volunteer Firemen into the 11th New York Infantry – soon to be dubbed “Ellsworth’s Fire Zouaves.”

Ellsworth, now Colonel Ellsworth, insisted that his Zouave regiment be allowed to assist in the occupation of the Virginia shore of the Potomac upon Virginia’s secession from the Union. His close relationship to Lincoln probably gained him this ill-fated assignment.

Not content to simply occupy, the brazen Ellsworth led his men down the streets of nearby Alexandria the day after Virginia seceded. While his men were “securing” the telegraph office, Ellsworth, who took offense to the Confederate flag flying there, stormed the Marshall House Inn. After cutting down the flag, Ellsworth marched back down the stairs of the inn, only to be killed by a shotgun blast to the chest by the inn’s owner, James W. Jackson, who himself was henceforth killed.

In the end, both Ellsworth and the Zouave craze were short-lived. Although state militias persisted throughout the rest of the 19th century, Zouave regiments were few and far between, their brief infamy, due mainly to Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, long past.