Town of Malta historian Paul Perreault discussed the life and death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth. Ellsworth was born in Malta, New York, and later became close with the Lincoln family. He gained fame touring the country with the Chicago Zouaves and when the Civil War broke out, he raised a regiment of New York City firefighters. Ellsworth would become the first officer killed during the war after being shot trying to remove a Confederate flag from a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia.