Later Life
After the war, trying to eke out a living in the war-savaged mountains and often the victim of his own altruistic nature, Ellis petitioned the U.S. Congress for compensation for his efforts on behalf of the Union. He was recognized with an award of $3,060—about two years' pay and allowances for an army captain.
In 1867 Ellis first published his war memoirs, Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis. Ellis was probably assisted in writing the book by William R. Fitzsimmons, who was a prominent East Tennessee newspaperman, and whose name appears as "part-proprietor" on Ellis' contract with the publisher, Harper & Brothers (for an examination of Ellis' authorship of Thrilling Adventures, see Ellis, Allen. "The Lost Adventures of Daniel Ellis." in The Journal of East Tennessee History no. 74 (2002), pp. 58–68).
Despite the popularity of his book, and partly because of his tendency to give copies away, Ellis remained in poor financial straits. In 1878 Ellis was chosen, by virtue of his reputation for integrity and courage, to act as bodyguard in the congressional campaign of Robert Love Taylor. Taylor rewarded Ellis with a position within the U.S. House of Representatives.
Years later, writer James R. Gilmore ("Edmund Kirke") was shocked to find Ellis, whom he considered "the hero of the late war" living in obscurity and poverty in the east Tennessee mountains. Gilmore worked to provide more government compensation for the old scout, and used him as a supporting character in one of his novels, A Mountain-White Heroine (1889).
Due to continued Confederate loyalties in the east Tennessee region, the nature of Ellis' wartime activities, and to reactions toward his vitriolic book, Ellis' life was threatened for years after the war. As long as he was able, he was compelled to travel well-armed and always on the alert. Nonetheless, Ellis lived into old age, always preferring to walk when possible, recounting his exploits, and enjoying a measure of local celebrity.
Ellis is buried in the family cemetery near Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Read more about this topic: Daniel Ellis (Unionist)
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