Thomas Ewing Jr.

Thomas Ewing, Jr.
General Thomas Ewing, Jr.
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1861 – 1865
Rank	Major General (Civil War)
Battles/wars	American Civil War *Fort Wayne *Cane Hill *Prairie Grove *Fort Davidson
Other work	Secretary Lawyer Congressman College Vice-President Founder of the Ohio Society of New York

Thomas Ewing, Jr. (August 7, 1829 – January 21, 1896) was an attorney, Union Army general during the American Civil War, and two-term United States Congressman from Ohio.

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 to Roman Catholicism. The younger Ewing was a foster brother of William 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 and Hugh Boyle Ewing.

Thomas Ewing, Jr., began his education at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He left Brown University to act as private secretary to President Zachary Taylor from 1849 to 1850 (concurrent with his father's term in Taylor' Cabinet). He then studied and practiced law from 1852 to 1856 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ewing married Ellen Cox of Piqua, Ohio, on January 18, 1856. He moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1856 to become a member of the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention of 1858. A staunch opponent of slavery, his efforts helped Kansas enter the Union as a free state. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of 1860, and was elected chief justice of Kansas in 1861.

Civil War

File:Bingham-11.jpg

George Caleb Bingham painting of General Order No. 11. In this famous propaganda work General Thomas Ewing is seated on a horse watching the Red Legs.

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 in James 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, comprised of Kansas and western Missouri. 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 suppress bushwhackers in the region it left a black mark on his legacy. His district was soon expanded to embrace the District of St. Louis.

Thomas Ewing, Jr.

In September and October 1864, Ewing helped repel Sterling Price's invasion of Missouri by holding Fort Davidson at Pilot 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 to Rolla, 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 President Andrew Johnson's offers for him to become the Secretary of War and later, the Attorney General. In 1870, he returned to his native Lancaster, 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 of Greenback currency.

He was defeated for election for Governor of Ohio as the Democratic candidate. On March 3, 1881, he closed his second term as representative in Congress and moved to New 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 a New York City omnibus and was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers, New York.

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

• United States Congress. "Thomas Ewing Jr. (id: E000280)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-12
• Thomas Ewing Jr. at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2008-02-12
• Ewing Family History Pages
  • Biography
• samuelmudd.com