Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-07-27
Death of Moi. Edwin HI. Ewing.

We regret to announce the death Of Maj.
| Edwin Il. Ewing, which occurred at his
residences in his city, at half past twelve
o'clCcS yesterday, after having been con-
fined to bis bed fot several weeks, by that
deceptive disease consumption. Msj. Ew-
ing was the eldest son of Orville Ewing, ST.,
| and was thirty-nine years o. age. He was
| senior member of the wholesale firm of
Ewing & Co., Of this city. At the age of
%, be married Miss Emma j. Eakin, daugE-
ter Of Alexander Eakin, of Shelbyville,
Tenn. and at the time Of his death left his
wife and five children. While quite b "
he was connected with the Nashville and
Chattanooga Railroad, then building. At
the sge Of q he entered the wholesale
grocery business in this city and continued
in it successfully up to the breaking out of
the war. In the spring Of 1862, he joined
Col. Starnes regiment Of 4th Tennessee
Confederate cavalry, serving with it until
the death of Col. Stsrnes. He had
risen from the ranks to the grade of Captain
and at Tullahoma he received the appoint
ment Of Quartermaster, serving with the
army until Gen. Bragg's retrest to Chstta-
nooga. Here he was promoted to the rank
Of Major and Chief Quartermaste- of the
corps commanded by Gen. D. 81. Hill, ar
my of Tennessee, and serving under the
different commanders who Afterwards had
charge of the corps. At the battle OF Chick
amauga he accompanied and was with
Gen. D. II. Hill as volunteer Aid-de-camp
throughout the battle. After the disaster at
Missionary Ridge, and upon Gen. Jos. E
Johnston assuming command OF the army
at Dalton, Ga, Gen, Johnston seeing the
necessity of a thorough organization Of the
Transportation Department OF the army,
placed Maj. Ewing a. the head of this i'm
portant branch as its chief. No one
knows, but the commanding General and
the chief, what lack there was, and what
a short while they had to organ
ize. Wagons had TO be built in
the interior of the Confederacy;
harness of all kinds made; horses
for artillery purposes and mules for bag
gage wagons had to be sought out OF
country already drained by q two and q
half years. war. Twas then Maj. EwiDg's
energy and excellent administrative ca
pacity was shown and complimented by
Gen. Johnston and his corps commanders.
On the commencement Of hostilities in the
spring Of 1864 this department was we'll
organized and efficiently eq"ipped, and
throughout the terrible campaign from Dal-
ton to JoneSborO, Ga, II retained its effi-
cheney equal to any arm of the service.
His splendid and thorough organization Of
this difficult arm attracted the attention Of
the authorities at Richmond and he was
called to higher and more important SER
vice-that of Chief Master of Transports
ton of the Western Department, composed
of the States Of Alabama, Mississippi, East
Louisiana and West Tennessee. In this
laborious department he sill further show
ed his excellent qualities of administration
aud energy, so as frequently to be men
toned honorably by President Davis and
the various heads of department. At
the surrender, he was pSroled with Gen. |
Dick Taylor's ssrmy at Meridian, Miss, |
returning to Tennessee in June, 1865. In |
October, of the same year, he was APPOINT |
ed General Freight Agent Cf the Nashville |
& Chattanooga and Nashville and North |
western railroads, and again had difficult |
task to accomplish. The United States |
Government had given up the road to the |
old company. A vast amount of freight |
was being transferred over the road and all |
of his agents had TO be appointed and |
trained. In few weeks matters began to |
move az if they bad been working smoothly |
for years, and on his retirement he had re-
duced the intricate workings of his depart
inert TO almost science. He resigned his
position as General Freight Agent in the
fal of 1866, and went to st. Louis and
opened large commission house. Here
he me- with remarkable success, remaining
in st. Louis until the summer of 1857, |
W zen be was elected General Superint md
ent of the Nashville and Chattanooga rail-
road. He managed the road with marked
success until the summer of 1868, retiring
when the present Board of Directors were
elected. Since then, he has been connected
with the house of Ewing d Co.
Maj, Henry Ewing, who recently died in
St. Louis, was his tLird brother.