This black and white photograph shows Albert Chapman Ellithorpe wearing a military uniform, (1824-1907). A commander of Union forces during the Civil War, he recruited and organized with the 12th Illinois Cavalry. His duties quickly changed when President Abraham Lincoln appointed him in 1862, to serve as Lieutenant in the First Indian Home Guards Regiment. The volunteer infantry regiment, organized on May 22, 1862 in Le Roy, Kansas, was comprised of whites, refugee Creek and Seminole Indians, and African Americans. The regiment served mostly in the Indian Territory but ventured into Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. Lieut. Ellithorpe and his regiment fought in a number of battles and skirmishes from Prairie Grove to Willow Springs. He and his men also followed Confederate General Sterling Price through western Missouri. After the war, he engaged in the business of heavy contracting and the inventions of mechanical devices. One of the inventions that he is best known for is the air brake system used in elevators. On February 19, 1907, Albert Chapman Ellithorpe passed away at the age of eighty-three.
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