Thomas Ewing Jr.

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Thomas Ewing Jr.
General Thomas Ewing Jr.
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio
In office
March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1881
Preceded byAnsel T. Walling
Succeeded byJohn B. Rice
Constituency12th district (1877–1879)
10th district (1879–1881)
Personal details
Born(1829-08-07)August 7, 1829
United States of America
Union
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Union Army
Years of service1862 – 1865
Rank Brevet Major General
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Thomas Ewing Jr. (August 7, 1829 – January 21, 1896) was an attorney, the first chief justice of Kansas and leading free state advocate,

United States Congressman from Ohio, 1877–1881.[1]
He narrowly lost the 1879 campaign for Ohio Governor.

Early life and career

Ewing was born in

Charles Ewing and Hugh Boyle Ewing
. Thomas Ewing Jr.'s relationship with Sherman was close throughout their lives.

Thomas Ewing Jr. began his education at

Cincinnati Law School in 1855.[2]

Ewing married Ellen Cox of

James H. Lane and John Brown. He was a delegate from Kansas to the Peace Conference of 1861
and was elected the first chief justice of the new state of Kansas in 1861.

Civil War

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 Infantry and was elected as its first colonel. His regiment fought in James G. Blunt's division in the battles of Old Fort Wayne, Cane Hill, and Prairie Grove
.

Although he possessed no military experience before the civil war, Ewing was promoted to brigadier general on March 13, 1863, for his leadership at the Battle of Prairie Grove. He was given command of the District of the Border, which comprised Kansas and western Missouri. Ewing was responsible for General Order № 11, issued in retaliation for William Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, where 450 raiders shot and killed 150 men and boys.[3] 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.

Thomas Ewing Jr.

In September and October 1864, as deputy commander of the St. Louis district under

St. Louis. Instead of surrendering, Ewing and his men successfully eluded Price's force during the night and fought a fighting withdrawal to Rolla, Missouri.[5] On February 23, 1865, Ewing resigned to return to civilian life,[6] tendering his resignation directly to his good friend, the President, a month before Lincoln's assassination. On February 24, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Ewing for appointment to the brevet rank of major general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865 and the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination on May 4, 1866.[7]

Postbellum career

Although a staunch friend and ally of

Key West, Florida
.

From 1865 to 1870, Ewing practiced law in Washington, D.C., helping southern interests with his influence in the Johnson Administration. The Ewing family was heavily involved in defending Andrew Johnson against radical impeachment efforts. He declined President Johnson's offers for him to become the Secretary of War during the Tenure in Office crisis. Ewing successfully lobbied the key vote against the impeachment of Andrew Johnson when he convinced his old comrade in arms, Edmund G. Ross of Kansas, to vote against impeachment. Ewing also was successful in obtaining a pardon for Mudd at the end of Johnson's term.

In 1870, he returned to his native Lancaster, Ohio, where he practiced for the next decade and attempted several business investments in railroads and telegraph companies. Ewing was a member of the Ohio state Constitutional Convention of 1873 – 74.

Congress

In 1876, he was elected as a Democrat to the

Greenback currency, becoming one of the leading national spokesmen for the Greenback Party
.

Campaign for governor

In 1879, Ewing was defeated for election for

General Order № 11 in the anti-Ewing campaign made the difference in the election.[8]

On March 3, 1881, Ewing closed his second term as representative in Congress and moved to New York to resume his law career. He never ran for office again.

Later career

Ewing was founder and first president of the

Cincinnati Law School in 1881. Ewing 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 bachelor's degree dating back to the class of 1856. Georgetown College gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1870. Ewing was killed when struck by a New York City omnibus driver in 1896.[9] He is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers, New York
.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Gen. Thomas Ewing the victim of a cable car". The Standard Union. 21 January 1896. p. 1. Retrieved 2 April 2021.Open access icon
  2. ^ Reid 1895, p. 834
  3. JSTOR 41781497
    .
  4. ^ Prushankin, Jeffrey S. (2015). The Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. p. 52.
  5. ^ Ewing's efforts caught the special private praise of Abraham Lincoln. See Smith, "Thomas Ewing Jr.," infra, p. 248.
  6. ^ Eicher & Eicher 2001, p. 230
  7. ^ Eicher & Eicher 2001, p. 712
  8. ^ For this analysis, see the discussion regarding the General order, linked in this paragraph.
  9. ^ "General Ewing's Untimely Death". The New York Herald. New York City, New York, USA. 22 January 1896. p. 14.

References

External links

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