New York Herald
April 18, 1861
Great preparations are being made to defend Washington against the anticipated attack of a Confederate army. Among these is the enrolment of a regiment of Zouaves from the Fire Department of this city, and Colonel Ellsworth, of the Chicago Zouaves, has arrived here for the purpose. Without any disparagement to the militia, it is felt that men accustomed to a rough life and exposed to hardship are best calculated for hard fighting in the streets, sleeping out in the open air and all those privations which are inseparable from a soldier’s life. Colonel Ellsworth, with ten of this Chicago corps, is about to organize a regiment of this kind in New York; and no doubt it will be a highly efficient one, and do good service in protecting the government at Washington against its enemies.