The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-07-10
Ehe le,l1ntrat.
GENERAL EWING ASA SOLDIER.

a.
military career pF General Ewing, the.
Democratic cand Aale' for aoyernor It
reads as followe
Thomas ERIn the third son of Hon.
Thomas Z wine, SIC distln euisheQ States
man and pohEieIad. maA born " kancas,.
ter, Ohio, Nhguat II 1879 He received
liberal Alipis wae graduated at
Brown UnieeIsliy, Rhode Island, and in
March 1856. az the Cincihnati Law
School. AL both iHsiitutions he ranked
high, and be was generally believed to
have inherited a large share his faith.
er's ability.
In 1856 he removed from Ohio to
Leavenworth, Kansas, where, with one
of his brothers, and with his brother.in-
law, then known as Captain Sherman
he begun the practice of law. He was
successful from the outset, and soon came
to rank as the leading lawyer of the
young State. He also became prominent
in politics, and was accepted as one of
the Republican leaders. He was chosen
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the
State, and in this position he served for
q period Of two years.
On the 10th of September he recruited
and organized the Eleventh Kansas Vol
unteer IufAutry, of which he was ap'
pointed Colonel. He commanded his
regiment in the battles of Fort Wayne
and Cane Hill. At Prarje Grove he had
risen to the command of a brigade, and
for his gallant services in this battle he
was promoted to be Brigadier General of
Volunteers on the llth of March, 1868.
In June, 1868, he was assigned to the
command of the District of the Border
comprising Kansas, and the northern
tier of counties in Missouri. He now
began the work of eXterminating the
guerrilla bands which infested the bor-
der counties and repressed with strong
band the thieving expeditions which,
through every month of the proceeding
summer, had desolated with impunity
the villages of that unhappy region.
In March, 1854, the District of the
Border was abolished by the Depart.
ment of Kansas. By request of Major
General r lsencrans, then commanding
the Department Of Missouri, General
Ewing Was ordered to report to him, and
was assigned to the command of the
st. Louis District.
On the 24sh of September, it being as
certained that General Price had entered
the State with a large force, General
Ewing was ordered to the post at Pilot
Knob with instructions to hold it, if
possible, against any mere detachments
of the enemy, but to evacuate it if men,
aced by Prices whole army, known to
be fifteen or twenty thousand strong.
at dawn on the morning ofS9ptember
9th, he commenced one of the most
stubborn, and for the number engaged,
one of the most sanguinary conflicts of
the war. The enemy had entered the
valley at Shutting Gap, narrow gorge in
the mountains, four and half miles
Bouth.east of Pilot Knob. The whole
available force, cavalry, infantry and ar.
tillery, garrisoning the post was one
thousand and sixty effective men, six
hundred of whom we're raw troops
scarcely organized. But the advantages
of delaying the enemy few days in his
march northward, and of making a stub.
born fight before retreatiDg seemed 30
great, even if the defense should be un.
successful, that General Ewing resolved
10 stand last and take the chances
With his meager force he Immediately
attacked the advancing columns of Price,
and disputed every inch of ground be-
tween the Gap and the fort. By two
O'Clock he had been forced into the
works. BY this time the enemy had
massed two divisions on the mountain
sides, with their artillery commanding
the fort. The opening { f the battery on
the mountain was the signal for the as
sault, and with demoniac yells, at least
six thousand men precipitated them
selves upon the fort. They were met
with grape canister, from seven guns and
an incessant fire musketry. The enc.
my wavered, broke and fell back, leav.
ing the ground strewn with their killed
and wounded.
General Ewing had lost one. fourth of
his available force. He felt assured that
the enemy would rally, and, as the fort
was untenable, he resolved, hazardous
as it was, to attempt retreat. Accord.
ingly, at two o'clock in the morning he
moved silently from the fort with his
six field pieces, two hundred and fifty
cavalry and FIVE hundred infantry. Two
hours afterward the magazine exploded,
q slow match having been applied when
the troops left. All Prices command in
that quarter gave quick pursuit, but
Ewing gloriously repulsed them, killing
and wounding some fifteen hundred Of
the enemy, and lost only twenty eight
killed and 6fty.six wounded. u
Finding Msrmaduk's and Fagen's rebel
divisions before him, and his position
commanded by q numerically superior
artillery, acted en- suggestions made
when l was discussing with him the
possibilities of the position. On the
night Of the 27th, he spiked his heavy
guns, blew up the magazine, ammuni-
tion and supplies, and, with the field
battery and remains of his command,
Fetreated through the hills toward the
Merimee Valley, hoping to reach point
on the railroad whence he could move to
st. Louis. But the enemy pursued him,
harrassed his rear on the march (Which
he directed along ridge, where the ene-
my could not flank him. and overlook
him near Harrison's Station, where, seiz.
ing and extending the temporary de.
fenses constructed by the militia, he
displayed such vigor that after harassing
him for thirty.six hours and making sew
eral attacks, on the approach of small
detachment of Sanborn's cavalry, the
rebels LETT him, and he escaped with all |
his command to Rolla.
General Ewing was brevetted Major
General for his conduct in this cam
paign. The war being practically ended, |
and no further active duties being re
quired in that department, he resigned |
his com mission on the 18th Of March, |
1861