Hugh Boyle Ewing Hugh Boyle Ewing , ( October 31 , 1826 – June 30 , 1905 ) , was a diplomat , author , attorney , and Union Army general during the American Civil War . He was a member of the prestigious Ewing family , son of Thomas Ewing , the eldest brother of Thomas Ewing , Jr . and Charles Ewing , and the foster brother and brother - in - law of William T . Sherman . General Ewing was an ambitious , literate , and erudite officer who held a strong sense of responsibility for the men under his command . He combined his West Point experience with the Civil War system of officer election . Ewing ' s wartime service was characterized by several incidents which would have a unique impact on history . In 1861 , his political connections helped save the reputation of his brother - in - law , William T . Sherman , who went on to become one of the north ' s most successful generals . Ewing himself went on to become Sherman ' s most trusted subordinate . His campaigning eventually led to the near - banishment of Lorenzo Thomas , a high ranking regular army officer who had intrigued against Sherman . He was present at the Battle of Antietam , where his brigade saved the flank of the Union Army late in the day . During the Vicksburg campaign , Ewing accidentally came across personal correspondence from Confederate President Jefferson F . Davis to former President Franklin Pierce which eventually ruined the reputation of the latter . Ewing was also present in Kentucky during Major General Stephen G . Burbridge ' s " reign of terror " , where he worked to oppose Burbridge ' s harsh policies against civilians , but was hampered by debilitating rheumatism . He ended the war with an independent command , a sign he held the confidence of his superiors , acting in concert with Sherman to trap Confederate Gen . Joseph E . Johnston in North Carolina . After the war , Ewing spent time as Ambassador to the Netherlands and became a noted author . He died in 1905 on his family farm . Early life and career . Hugh Ewing was born in Lancaster , Ohio . He was educated at the U . S . military academy , but was forced to resign on the eve of graduation after failing an engineering exam , which was a major embarrassment to his family . While a member of the cadet corps , he was close friends with future Union generals John Buford Jr . , Nathaniel C . McLean , and John C . Tidball . His father appointed Philip Sheridan to the open seat . During the gold rush in 1849 , Ewing went to California , where he joined an expedition ordered by his father , then Secretary of the Interior , to rescue immigrants who were imprisoned in the Sierra by heavy snows . He returned in 1852 with dispatches for the government . He then completed his course in law and settled in St . Louis . He practiced law there from 1854 to 1856 , when he moved with his young brother , Thomas Jr . , and brothers - in - law William T . Sherman and Hampden B . Denman to Leavenworth , Kansas , and began speculating in lands , roads , and government housing . They quickly established one of the leading law firms of Leavenworth , as well as a financially powerful land agency . In 1858 , Ewing married Henrietta Young , daughter of George W . Young , a large plantation owner of the District of Columbia , whose family was prominent in the settlement and history of Maryland . He soon afterward took charge of his father ' s salt works in Ohio . Civil War . In April 1861 , Governor William Dennison appointed Ewing as the brigade - inspector of Ohio volunteers . He served under Rosecrans and McClellan in western Virginia . Ewing became colonel of the 30th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in August 1861 . He was later promoted to Brigadier General , November 29 , 1862 , and major general by brevet in 1865 . In November 1861 , when his brother - in - law William T . Sherman was relieved of his command in disgrace , Ewing aided his younger sister Ellen Ewing Sherman in making the rounds of Washington D . C . , denying sensationalist media claims that Sherman was insane , and personally lobbying the President for Sherman ' s reinstatement . Ewing and his sister argued that Sherman ' s requests for men and material in Kentucky had been denied in Washington , and that the charges of insanity had been part of a conspiracy orchestrated by Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas . Eventually the political influence of the Ewing family persevered , and with the assistance of Henry Halleck , Sherman was returned to command . President Abraham Lincoln praised Sherman ' s " talent & conduct " publicly to a large group of important officers , and later banished Thomas to a meaningless post on recruiting duty in the Trans - Mississippi Theater . Under McClellan , Ewing commanded a regiment and then a brigade in the Kanawha Division in the IX Corps . In the Battle of South Mountain , he led the assault which drove the enemy from the summit ; and at midnight of that day , he received an order placing him in command of the brigade of Colonel Eliakim P . Scammon , who was in temporary command of the Kanawha division after its commander Major General Jacob D . Cox had been elevated to command of the IX Corps , replacing the fallen Major General Jesse Lee Reno who was killed earlier that day . At Antietam his brigade was placed upon the extreme left of the army , where , according to the report of the commander of the left wing , General Ambrose Burnside , " by a brilliant change of front he saved the left from being completely driven in . " After Antietam , Ewing was placed on sick leave because of chronic dysentery . He transferred West and served throughout the campaign before Vicksburg , leading the assaults made by General Sherman ; and upon its fall was placed in command of a division in the XVI Corps . At Chattanooga , he was given command of the 4th Division of the XV Corps , which formed the advance of Sherman ' s army and carried Missionary Ridge . Prior to the Battle of Chattanooga , Ewing ' s command led a diversionary raid that resulted in the destruction of the Empire State Iron Works in Dade County , Georgia , which was being refurbished to increase the South ' s manufacturing capability . Sherman considered Ewing his most reliable division commander . In the aftermath of Vicksburg , Ewing ' s command wrecked Confederate President Jefferson Davis ' s Fleetwood Plantation , and Ewing turned over Davis ' personal correspondence to his brother - in - law , Sherman . However , Ewing also sent copies of the letters to a few people he had known in Ohio , which , after the documents were published , permanently sullied the reputation of former President Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire . Their release coincided with that of Pierce ' s book , " Our Old Home " . As early as 1860 , Pierce had written to Davis about " the madness of northern abolitionism " , and other letters uncovered stated that he would " never justify , sustain , or in any way or to any extent uphold this cruel , heartless , aimless unnecessary war " , and that " the true purpose of the war was to wipe out the states and destroy property . " In October 1863 , Ewing was placed in command of the occupation forces in Louisville , Kentucky . He was unfortunate enough to serve during Maj . Gen . Stephen Gano Burbridge ' s " reign of terror , " where martial law was declared several times . On August 11 , 1864 , Burbridge ordered soldiers from the 26th Kentucky to select four men to be taken from prison in Louisville to Eminence , Kentucky , to be shot for unknown outrages , and on August 20 , several suspected Confederate guerrilla s were also to be taken from Louisville and executed . General Ewing declared their innocence and sought a pardon from Burbridge , but he refused to give the pardon and the men were shot . In his autobiography , Ewing describes an incident in October 1862 with Colonel Augustus Moor , who had struck a member of Ewing ' s regiment with his sword when the enlisted soldier had fallen out of a march . Ewing immediately confronted Moor . In his own words : Colonel Moor quickly apologized . While General Ewing respected the discipline of the German regiment , he preferred a different atmosphere in his own command , better suited to Americans . He was capable of recognizing the military tradition of other units while accommodating the unique needs of his own . General Ewing was ordered to North Carolina in 1865 , and was planning an expedition up the Roanoke river to co - operate with the Army of the James , when Lee surrendered . In 1864 , Ewing suffered an attack of rheumatism , and received treatment several times thereafter , often being confined to his chair . He was likely prostrated with illness as Commander of Louisville during Burbridge ' s madness in Kentucky . After leaving the Army , he experienced painful attacks for the rest of his life , often bedridden for periods of up to forty days . Postbellum career . President Andrew Johnson appointed Ewing as U . S . Minister to Holland , where he served from 1866 to 1870 . This appointment may have drawn the ire of the Radical Republicans , for Speaker of the House James G . Blaine urged President Ulysses S . Grant that Ewing be recalled and replaced with his brother , Charles Ewing . Blaine told the President that Hugh was ' acting badly ' . Blaine himself was disingenuous , having represented to prominent politicians in Ohio including Senator John Sherman that he was doing everything possible to nominate his close personal friend , former Ohio General Roeliff Brinkerhoff , for the post . Nonetheless , Blaine ' s request to recall General Ewing was never acted upon , possibly due to the influence of his sister , whose husband General Sherman was a very close friend to President Grant . Upon his eventual return to the United States , Ewing retired to a farm near Lancaster , Ohio , where he died of old age . He was the author of : " The Black List ; A Tale of Early California " ( 1887 ) ; " A Castle in the Air " ( 1887 ) ; " The Gold Plague " , and other works .