Civil War Union Army Officer. Son of Ram Boat builder Charles Ellet Jr. Accompanied his father into the Union Army, and was with him when the Mississippi Ram Fleet assaulted and captured Memphis, Tennessee on June 6, 1862. Charles R. Ellet was the soldier who, in the face of a hostile crowd, raised the American flag over the captured city. When his father died of wounds received in the fight, he took over command of the Ram Fleet, and was promoted to Colonel of Engineers on November 5, 1862. His commission at age 19 made him the youngest Union soldier to be promoted to that rank. When Ulysses S. Grant moved on to capture the strategic Mississippi River stronghold of Vicksburg, he added the Ram Fleet to the forces under him. Colonel Ellet commanded the USS Queen of the West, which was run aground and abandoned after it attempted to steam past the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg in February 1863. He was then made second in command of the Mississippi Marine Brigade, which fought as infantry at the Battle of Miliken's Bend, Louisiana on March 22, 1863. During his service on the Mississippi he contracted typhoid fever, which caused his death in September 1863. Father and son lie side by side, both casualties of the Civil War.
Civil War Union Army Officer. Son of Ram Boat builder Charles Ellet Jr. Accompanied his father into the Union Army, and was with him when the Mississippi Ram Fleet assaulted and captured Memphis, Tennessee on June 6, 1862. Charles R. Ellet was the soldier who, in the face of a hostile crowd, raised the American flag over the captured city. When his father died of wounds received in the fight, he took over command of the Ram Fleet, and was promoted to Colonel of Engineers on November 5, 1862. His commission at age 19 made him the youngest Union soldier to be promoted to that rank. When Ulysses S. Grant moved on to capture the strategic Mississippi River stronghold of Vicksburg, he added the Ram Fleet to the forces under him. Colonel Ellet commanded the USS Queen of the West, which was run aground and abandoned after it attempted to steam past the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg in February 1863. He was then made second in command of the Mississippi Marine Brigade, which fought as infantry at the Battle of Miliken's Bend, Louisiana on March 22, 1863. During his service on the Mississippi he contracted typhoid fever, which caused his death in September 1863. Father and son lie side by side, both casualties of the Civil War.
Bio by: RPD2
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