Medal of Honor Monday: Army 1st Lt. Francis Brownell
By Katie Lange, DOD
May 22, 2023

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At the beginning of the Civil War, Army 1st Lt. Francis Edwin Brownell avenged the death of his unit's colonel by taking out his killer. Those actions made Brownell a hero to the Union and were the first of the war to merit the newly created Medal of Honor.
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Army 1st Lt. Francis Edwin Brownell, circa April 1864. Library of Congress

Brownell was born at some point in 1840 in Troy, New York. His parents, Charles and Lucy, had eight children, with Francis being the oldest.

Army 1st Lt. Francis Edwin Brownell poses for a portrait at some point during the Civil War. Emory University Libraries

Prior to the Civil War, Brownell was a clerk at a law office, according to historian and collector Steven Raab. When the war began in April 1861, Brownell joined Company A of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. They were called the Fire Zouaves, a nickname derived from decorated French soldiers from North Africa who wore exotic uniforms and did elaborate drills.

On May 23, 1861, Virginia's voters officially ratified the state's secession from the union. Brownell and his regiment were in Washington, D.C., at the time.

The following day, Union troops began to move into Alexandria, Virginia, to attempt to force the Confederates to surrender or withdraw. Brownell's regiment was tasked with crossing the Potomac River in a steamboat as part of this force.

The Marshall House Inn at the corner of King Street at Saint Asaph Streets in Alexandria, Va. Union Army Col. Elmer Ellsworth was killed at the inn after pulling down the Confederate flag in 1861. Library of Congress

However, it was too late for Ellsworth. Jackson's initial shot instantly killed him, making him the first Union casualty of the war.

Ellsworth had studied in President Abraham Lincoln's law office before his presidency, so the two were friends. His death was the subject of wide public mourning in the North and quickly made the colonel a martyr for the Union. Raab said the incident also made Brownell a national hero.

Brownell was rewarded with a commission in the Regular Army, where he served as an officer for two years, according to the Army and Navy Club, for which Brownell was a member. He retired in November 1863.

Brownell lived briefly, during 1864, in St. Louis, where he acted as the assistant provost marshal, according to Brownell's obituary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Two of his brothers also lived there.

Records show he married a woman named Cornelia in May of 1865. It's unclear if they had any children. Brownell then worked for several years in what was known as the Pension Office in Washington.

Brownell's request to receive the Medal of Honor was denied twice, but after getting help from his congressman, his third request was granted. In 1877, 16 years after the Civil War ended, Brownell received the nation's highest honor for his actions at the Marshall House Inn -- actions that were the first of the war to merit the medal.

A New York Office of State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation employee prepares the historic Marshall House Flag for display in June 2011 at its restoration facility in Cohoes, N.Y. Army

Brownell died on March 15, 1894, after a short illness. He is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

Brownell's Medal of Honor can be found at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

After the incident that earned him the medal, Brownell took possession of the Confederate flag that caused the incident, according to Raab, who said a piece of that flag can also be found at the Smithsonian. Other institutions and some private collectors also have pieces of it; however, the full flag was given to Mary Lincoln after her husband's assassination. That flag is now in the New York State Military Museum.

This article is part of a weekly series called "Medal of Honor Monday," in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have earned the U.S. military's highest medal for valor.