The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1891-02-21

A'l' ~ $3.50
born in Lancaster. Ohio, Feb. 5, $50.
His father WAS Il lawyer and at Il
time a Judge of the supreme court of
Ohio, and his mother vas Mary Hoyt.
Eleven children we're born of the mar
rage. which was celebrated in 1910. of
whom vii lam was the sixth. After
the death OF his father in 1927, leaving
the large family with but limited
means. William was adopted by Thorn
"a Ewing ard attended school in Lam
caster until 1886. In July of that year
he was sent "a a cadet 70 West Point.
where lie was graduated in 1910, sixth
in a class of forty-twO members.
Among his classmates was George H..
Thomas. He was commissioned second
lieutenant i'll the Third artillery July
!, $40. and sent TO Florida. where the
embeIs of the Indian war were still
s%moldering. Nov. 80, 1S4l. he was
promoted first lieutenant and placed in
command of Il detachment at Piccolati.
In 1872 he was stationed at Fort Nor
gan, Mobile Point, Alabama, and AT Fort
Moriirie. Charleston harbor. In 1913
he began the study of law, not with a
view to following it as a profession.
DuI III ItIItlti Ilif!Sfii IL IIIoIt lultiIIStuI
soldier. Upon the outbreak of the
Mexican war. in 1915. he was sent with
troops around Cape Horn TO California
where he acted as adjutant general 10
General Stephen ". kearney. Colonel
Mason and General Persifer F. Smith.
Upon mis- return to the states, in 1850.
he WAS married in Washington, D. c..
May l, to Miss Ellen Boyle Ewing, the
daughter of his benefactor.
Sept. 2. 1850, he was appointed cap
am III the comlnissary department,
and ordered TO st. Louis and New Or
leans. He had already received a
brevet of captain for service in Califor-
mia to date from May 80, 1s4s. Seeing
little prospect of promotion and small
opportunity for his talents in the army
IN times of peace. he resigned his COM
mission Sept. 6, 1853, and at once ac-
cepted the post of manager of the
branch bank Of Lucas. Turner & Co..
in San Francisco. Cal. The affairs of
the concern were wound up il 1857,
and he returned TO ST. Louis, whence
he went to New York rs the agent of
a st. Louis firm. In 1850 he prac-
ticed law in Leavenworth, Kan. and
III the ueXt year became superintend- |
ent of the Louisiana State University
and Agricultural and Mechanical Col
lege. a military academy then located
at Alexandria,, La. When the state
seeded from the union he resigned lis
post and, returning to ST.. Louis. was
elected president Of the Fifth Street
Railroad Company. OF the civil war
he took What were then regarded as
extreme views. He regarded President
Lincoln's call for $4,000 three months
men, in April, 1861. as trifing with a
serious matter, declaring that secession
was not a riot to be put down by a
posse comitatus, but a war to he fought
by armies. On May. 10. 1861. he was
commissioned colonel of the Thirteenth !,
Infantry, and reporting to General
Scott at Washington, was put in COM
mand of d brigade in Tyler's division
of the army that marched to Bull Run.
August ), 1861, he was made b~rigadier-
general of volunteers TO date FROM Nav
II, and on August % was sent from the
Army of the Potomac 70 be second in
command to General Robert Anderson
IN Kentucky. On account of broken
health General Anderson was relieved
at his W request, and on Oct. II was
succeeded by Sherman. He was re-
lieved Nov. II by Buell. and ordered to
report to General Halleck, command
ing the department of the west, by
whom he was placed in charge of Ben
ton Barracks, Mo. His military judg-
ment and ability becoming early APP
parent to General Grant, he was
assigned to the command of the fifth
division, Army of Tennessee, which
was hotly engaged at Shiloh. General
Sherman's division lost 2O34 in the
battle. He was himself wounded in
the battle, but remained on the field.
He was appointed major general of
volunteers to date from May /, 1862.
and on June 9 was ordered to Grand
junction, Miss, a strategic point where
the Memphis and Charleston and Mis-
sissippi Central Railroads met. Grant
having been appointed to the command
of the Department of the Tennessee,
Sherman was ordered to Memphis. He
bore a conspicuous part in McCler-
nand's expedition against Vicksburs,
and for the capture of Fort Hindman
was appointed a brigadier general in
the regular army to date from july 4,
1863. He was then ordered to Tonnes
see, and on Nov. "a, 1863, intrenched
at the north end of Mission Ridge,
fought desperate and ~gallantly. By
forced marches his corps relieved Burn
side at Knoxville in December, and
toward the end of January he marched
to jackson and Meridian, Miss, where