An extraordinary scene, rooted in a dark moment in the Civil War, is molded in relief on the side of this pitcher. The ghostly white figures commemorate the violent deaths of Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, a charismatic Union officer, and James W. Jackson, a steadfast secessionist innkeeper. On the morning of March 24, 1861, Ellsworth and his company landed in Alexandria, Virginia. Ellsworth marched his troops up King Street, where he split off with four men to take the telegraph office. Spying a Rebel banner atop the Marshall House Hotel, he and his men detoured and made their way to the hotel's roof to cut down the flag. As they came down the stairs, Jackson, the hotel's proprietor, shot Ellsworth and was in turn was shot and bayoneted by Ellsworth's men. Both Ellsworth and Jackson became martyrs overnight, inspiring the enlistment of men on both sides, and Lincoln insisted that Ellsworth's body lie in state in the East Room of the White House. As the Union Army's first fallen hero, Ellsworth inspired prints, poetry, needlework, song, and this pitcher, perhaps the earliest example of American-made ceramics commemorating an historical event. The ability of Richard Millington and John Astbury's pottery to produce this tribute in a mere matter of months owes much to the skill of Charles Coxon, the seasoned Staffordshire-trained modeler who was working in Trenton at the time.