- Thomas Ewing, Jr.
Infobox Military Person
name=Thomas Ewing, Jr.
born= birth date|1829|8|7
died= death date and age|1896|1|21|1829|8|7
placeofbirth=Lancaster, Ohio
placeofdeath=New York City, New York
placeofburial=
caption=General Thomas Ewing, Jr.
nickname=
allegiance= United States of America
branch=United States Army
serviceyears=1861 – 1865
rank= Major General (Civil War)
commands=
unit=
battles=American Civil War *Fort Wayne *Cane Hill *Prairie Grove *Fort Davidson
awards=
laterwork=Secretary Lawyer Congressman College Vice-President Founder of the Ohio Society of New YorkThomas Ewing, Jr. (
August 7 ,1829 –January 21 ,1896 ) was an attorney,Union Army general during theAmerican Civil War , and two-termUnited States Congressman fromOhio .Early life and career
Ewing was born in
Lancaster, Ohio . His father,Thomas Ewing , was a very successful lawyer and Ohio politician. His mother, Maria Wills Boyle, converted him and his family toRoman Catholicism . The younger Ewing was a foster brother ofWilliam T. Sherman and became his brother-in-law when Sherman married his sister,Ellen Ewing Sherman . Two other brothers were also Civil War generals—Charles Ewing andHugh Boyle Ewing .Thomas Ewing, Jr., began his education at
Brown University inProvidence, Rhode Island . He left Brown University to act as private secretary to PresidentZachary Taylor from 1849 to 1850 (concurrent with his father's term in Taylor' Cabinet). He then studied and practiced law from 1852 to 1856 inCincinnati, Ohio .Ewing married Ellen Cox of
Piqua, Ohio , onJanuary 18 ,1856 . He moved toLeavenworth, Kansas , in 1856 to become a member of the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention of 1858. A staunch opponent ofslavery , his efforts helpedKansas enter the Union as afree state . He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of 1860, and was elected chief justice of Kansas in 1861.Civil War
Ewing resigned his judgeship in 1862 to enter the military. He recruited the 11th Kansas Cavalry and was elected as its first
colonel . His regiment fought as infantry inJames G. Blunt 's division in the battles of Fort Wayne, Cane Hill, and Prairie Grove.He was promoted to brigadier general on
March 13 1863 , for his excellent performance of leadership at the Battle of Prairie Grove. He commanded the District of the Border, which comprised Kansas and westernMissouri . Ewing was responsible for General Order № 11, issued in retaliation for Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, which killed 150 men and boys. The order commanded that civilians with southern sympathies living in four Missouri counties be expelled, and if they did not leave voluntarily, they would be forced out by Union cavalry. While this was part of an effort to suppressbushwhacker s in the region it left a black mark on his legacy. His district was soon expanded to embrace the District of St. Louis.In September and October 1864, Ewing helped repel
Sterling Price 's invasion of Missouri by holding Fort Davidson atPilot Knob, Missouri . He and his heavily outnumbered force of about 1,000 men fought off repeated Confederate attacks, buying additional time for the Union army to strengthen the defenses of St. Louis. Ewing and his men successfully retreated back toRolla, Missouri . He was promoted to major general of volunteers in March 1865 for his services in the war and resigned shortly afterwards to return to civilian life.Postbellum career
Although a staunch friend and ally of Abraham Lincoln, because he felt Edwin Stanton was reacting too harshly to the president's murder in ordering civilians tried by military courts, John Ford (of Ford's theater) was able to hire Ewing to represent three of the Lincoln conspirators in their trials in the summer of 1865, keeping Dr. Samuel Mudd and two others from the gallows. From 1865 to 1870, Ewing practiced law in
Washington D.C. , and helped secure the key Senate vote against the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. He declined PresidentAndrew Johnson 's offers for him to become the Secretary of War and later, the Attorney General. In 1870, he returned to his nativeLancaster, Ohio , where he practiced for the next decade. He was a member of the Ohio state Constitutional Convention of 1873 – 74, and represented his district in the 45th and 46th Congresses from 1877 until 1881. He prepared the bill establishing a Bureau of Labor Statistics, opposed the presence of U.S. soldiers at election polling places, and favored the re-monetization of silver and the continuation of the use ofGreenback currency.He was defeated for election for
Governor of Ohio as the Democratic candidate. OnMarch 3 ,1881 , he closed his second term as representative in Congress and moved toNew York to resume his law career.Ewing was founder and first president of the Ohio Society of New York, a trustee of Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home (1874–78), and a trustee of
Ohio University (1878–83). He served as Vice President of the Cincinnati Law College in 1881. He made a notable address before the Marietta Centennial Convention of 1887, and one before the Kansas state bar association in 1890. He also contributed an article entitled "The Struggle for Freedom in Kansas" to "The Cosmopolitan" in May 1894. Brown University, by special vote in 1894, gave him the degree of A.M., dating from in 1860 with the class of 1856. Georgetown College gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1870. He was killed when struck by aNew York City omnibus and was buried in Oakland Cemetery inYonkers, New York .ee also
* List of American Civil War generals
References
* Castel, Albert, "A Frontier State at War: Kansas, 1861-1865". Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1958.
* Johnson, Rossiter (ed.), "The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans". 10 vols. Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904.
* Warner, Ezra J., "Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders". Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.External links
CongBio|E000280 Retrieved on
2008-02-12
*findagrave|12088 Retrieved on2008-02-12
* [http://www.sandcastles.net/ Ewing Family History Pages]
** [http://www.sandcastles.net/general.htm Biography]
* [http://samuelmudd.com samuelmudd.com]Persondata
NAME= Ewing, Thomas, Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Union Army general
DATE OF BIRTH=
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