Thomas Ewing Jr.

Thomas Ewing Jr. was an American attorney, Union Army general during the American Civil War, and prominent Republican politician. The son of influential Whig senator Thomas Ewing and brother of Hugh Boyle Ewing and Charles Ewing, he was also the foster brother and brother-in-law of famed general William Tecumseh Sherman. His career was marked by significant military command in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, authorship of the controversial General Order No. 11, and a notable post-war political and legal career, including service as the first chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court.

Early life and education

Born in Lancaster, Ohio, he was raised in a politically powerful family closely connected to national figures like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. After preparatory studies, he attended Brown University but did not graduate, instead moving to St. Louis to study law. He was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati in 1855 before relocating to Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, in 1856. There, he formed a successful law partnership with his brother Hugh Boyle Ewing and Daniel McCook Jr., a member of the famed Fighting McCooks. This period immersed him in the violent pre-statehood politics of Bleeding Kansas, solidifying his abolitionist and Free-State convictions.

Civil War service

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, he helped raise the 11th Kansas Infantry Regiment and was elected its first colonel. He commanded a brigade in the Army of the Frontier under General James G. Blunt, seeing combat at the Battle of Fort Wayne, the Battle of Cane Hill, and the Battle of Prairie Grove. Promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in 1863, he was given command of the District of the Border, tasked with suppressing pro-Confederate guerrilla raids from Missouri. In response to the lethal Lawrence Massacre led by William Quantrill, he issued the infamous General Order No. 11, which depopulated several Missouri counties, an act that generated lasting bitterness. He resigned his commission in 1863 to accept a seat in the United States House of Representatives.

Political and legal career

Although elected as a Republican to the 38th United States Congress, he served only briefly before resigning to become the first chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court in 1865. He returned to private law practice in Washington, D.C., in 1870, establishing a formidable firm. A prominent figure in the Liberal Republican movement, he was a delegate to the pivotal 1872 Liberal Republican convention that nominated Horace Greeley for president. He later served as counsel for Samuel J. Tilden during the disputed 1876 presidential election and was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's agent to prosecute the notorious Star route scandal, a massive fraud involving postal contracts.

Later life and death

In his later years, Ewing maintained an active legal practice in New York City, specializing in corporate and railroad law. He remained involved in Democratic politics, supporting Grover Cleveland's presidential campaigns. He continued to write and speak on legal and political matters until his death from diabetes complications at his home in Manhattan in 1896. He was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C., near other members of his distinguished family.

Legacy

Thomas Ewing Jr. is remembered as a complex figure of the American Civil War and Reconstruction periods. His military legacy is inextricably tied to the harsh counter-guerrilla measure of General Order No. 11, which remains a subject of historical debate. As a jurist, he helped establish the early judiciary of the state of Kansas. His political career reflected the tumultuous realignments of the Gilded Age, moving from Radical Republican to Liberal Republican and finally to Bourbon Democrat. His legal work on significant cases like the Star route scandal and the Hayes-Tilden election cemented his reputation as a skilled and influential attorney in the post-war nation.

Category:1829 births Category:1896 deaths Category:People from Lancaster, Ohio Category:Union Army generals Category:Kansas Supreme Court justices Category:American lawyers