“Not heeding the mission to the telegraph office for the moment, we pushed on toward the building with the flag flying over it and found it was the Marshall House, an hotel of second-class grade. As we rushed into the open door the Colonel called out to a man in shirt and trousers who was entering the hallway from the opposite side: ‘What flag is that over the roof?’ The fellow looked neither surprised nor alarmed at the irruption of armed men, and answered, doggedly as I thought: ‘I don’t know anything about it; I am only a boarder here.’ Without further parley the Colonel ran up the long winding stairway to the topmost story, the rest of us following closely. It did not take long to find the attic room, whence opened a skylight with the flagstaff within easy reach, and the large flag was soon upon our heads. “I passed it down to the men below, and as I got off the ladder I saw the Zouaves tearing off pieces as mementos of the exploit. This I stopped, saying that the flag must not be mutilated, but must be preserved as a trophy. The entire occurrence could not have occupied more than a couple of minutes. I was busy rolling the long flag over my arm when Ellsworth turned to the stairway holding one end of the flag. He was preceded by Private Francis E. Brownell, of Company A. Mr. House and Chaplain Dodge were close beside him, and I was a few steps behind, still rolling the flag on my arm as compactly as possible. There were two men in the attic room whom we had not noticed at first in our eagerness to get down the flag. They arose in great bewilderment to witness our deed and were almost fully dressed. They had, however, no connection with the tragic event.