A Civil War Biography
Charles Ewing
Ewing was born 3 March 1835 in Lancaster, Ohio. He was the son of
Ohio Senator Thomas Ewing who was also Secretary of the Treasury in
the cabinets of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler and the first
Secretary of the Interior when that cabinet position was established
during the administration of Zachary Taylor. Charles Ewing was
educated at St Joseph's, a Dominican college in Perry County, Ohio
and at Gonzaga College in Washington, DC. He then studied law at the
University of Virginia, was admitted to the bar, and in 1860
established a practice in St Louis, Missouri. He practiced law until
the beginning of the Civil War.
Following the firing on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln, in
addition to calling for volunteers, authorized, on 4 May 1861, the
creation of several new regiments in the regular army. Ewing became
a captain in the 13th US Infantry, one of these new regiments. The
13th's colonel was William Tecumseh Sherman, Ewing's foster brother,
Sherman having been adopted by Thomas Ewing and also Charles'
brother-in-law, Sherman having married Ellen Ewing, Charles' sister.
In the spring of 1862 Ewing joined Sherman during the Arkansas and
Mississippi campaigns. Ewing was commissioned lieutenant colonel and
assistant inspector general of volunteers on 22 June 1862. On 15
June 1863 he was named inspector general of the XV Corps which
Sherman commanded. Ewing was wounded three times during the siege of
Vicksburg. He remained on Sherman's staff at Chattanooga and during
the Atlanta campaign, the "March to the Sea", and the Carolina
campaign. Ewing was commissioned brigadier general of volunteers on
8 March 1865.
When the war ended Ewing was mustered out of the volunteer service
and transferred to the regular army as a lieutenant colonel. He
resigned from the army on 31 July 1867 and established a law
practice in Washington, DC. In 1873 he was named the first Catholic
Commissioner for Indian Missions, a position within the newly
established Catholic Indian Bureau. The Grant administration,
seeking to replace the system of Indian agents that was proving
unsatisfactory, stipulated that administration of each Indian agency
was to be entrusted to the religious denomination that had an
established mission among the tribe. For his efforts in restoring to
the Catholic Indian Missions the schools among the Indians, Pope
Pius IX named Ewing a Knight of the Order of St George the Great on
3 May 1877. Ewing still held the commissioner position when on 20
June 1883 he died from a sudden attack of pneumonia.
Two of Charles Ewing's brothers would also rise to the rank of
general during the Civil War. Hugh Boyle Ewing would become a
brigadier general of volunteers in November 1862 and, after serving
as colonel of the 30th Ohio regiment, at South Mountain and
Antietam, would command a division in the XV Corps from Chattanooga
through the Carolina campaign. Thomas Ewing Jr would become a
brigadier general of volunteers in March 1863 and, after recruiting
the 11th Kansas Cavalry and serving as its colonel, would command
the District of the Border and oppose Sterling Price during Price's
Missouri raid.
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