the Potomac, landing at the Alexandria wharves under the guard of the gunboat Pawnee. The 11th New York was one of eight to enter Virginia, and Ellsworth's men met no resistance as they moved through the streets. After landing, members of Company E under Captain Leveridge were sent to take the railroad station, while Ellsworth, Major Charles Loeser, Lieutenant H. J. Winser and several men from Company A set out to secure the telegraph office. On the way there, Ellsworth spotted a Confederate flag atop the Marshall House inn. It was the same flag Ellsworth had seen for weeks from the White House during his visits with Lincoln. Ellsworth's group entered the inn and quickly cut down the flag, but they encountered the proprietor, James Jackson, as they descended the stairs. Jackson killed Ellsworth with a shotgun blast to the chest, and Cpl. Francis Brownell responded in kind by fatally shooting the innkeeper. After the death of Ellsworth, Noah L. Farnham, the regiment's lieutenant colonel, was the obvious choice to take command. He was reluctant, however, labeling it an "unwelcome responsibility". His appointment was graded as temporary, he was not commissioned as the regiment's colonel and remained at rank while in its command. Regardless, he was a popular choice both with the enlisted men and in New York. One enlisted wrote in a letter home, "We have great faith in Colonel Farnham, having known him long and intimately as one deserving the confidence and esteem of his associates, and fully deserving of the position that he now occupies." Several of the officers recruited by Ellsworth, however, did not approve and caused a small controversy by resigning their commissions. The regiment remained on guard duty in and around Alexandria until July 15, 1861, when orders were received attaching the regiment to Orlando B. Willcox's brigade, of Samuel P. Heintzelman's division, in Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell's Army of Northeast Virginia. They were to march out the next morning. From July 16 to 21, the regiment advanced to intercept Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard's Confederate Army of the Potomac. Three of McDowell's five divisions advanced towards Bull Run, outside the railroad junction at Manassas, Virginia. The 11th New York expected to first engage Confederates at Fairfax Court House on July 17, only to find that they had pulled back towards Centreville, leaving Quaker Guns in their place. These movements were to precipitate