Thomas Ewing , Jr . Thomas Ewing , Jr . ( August 7 , 1829 – January 21 , 1896 ) was an attorney , the first chief justice of Kansas and leading free state advocate , Union Army general during the American Civil War , and two - term United States Congressman from Ohio , 1877 - 1881 . He narrowly lost the 1880 campaign for Ohio Governor . Early life and career . Ewing was born in Lancaster , Ohio . His father , Thomas Ewing , was a very successful lawyer and Whig politician at the national level . Although Ewing Sr . was an Irish Protestant , his mother , Maria Wills Boyle , converted the family to Roman Catholicism . The younger Ewing was a foster brother of William T . Sherman and became his brother - in - law when Sherman married his sister , Ellen Ewing Sherman . Two other brothers were also Civil War generals — Charles Ewing and Hugh Boyle Ewing . Thomas Ewing Jr . ' s relationship with Sherman was close throughout their lives . Thomas Ewing , Jr . , began his education at Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island . He left Brown University to become private secretary to President Zachary Taylor from 1849 to 1850 ( concurrent with his father ' s term in Taylor ' s Cabinet ) . He then studied and practiced law from 1852 to 1856 in Cincinnati , Ohio . He graduated from Cincinnati Law School in 1855 . Ewing married Ellen Cox of Piqua , Ohio , on January 18 , 1856 . He moved to Leavenworth , Kansas in 1856 , and became a member of the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention of 1858 . He was a stockholder and leading advocate of a transcontinental railroad through his early ownership of the Leavenworth , Pawnee and Western Railroad , which later was sold to other investors and became part of the Union Pacific Railroad . A moderate on the issue of slavery , his efforts to defeat the Lecompton Constitution helped Kansas enter the Union as a free state but without the bloody fight against the federal government advocated by other free state men like James H . Lane and John Brown He was a delegate from Kansas to the Peace Conference of 1861 and was elected the first chief justice of the new state of Kansas in 1861 . Civil War . Ewing resigned his judgeship in 1862 to enter the military . He recruited the 11th Kansas Infantry and was elected as its first colonel . His regiment fought in James G . Blunt ' s division in the battles of Old Fort Wayne , Cane Hill , and Prairie Grove . Although he possessed no military experience before the civil war , Ewing was promoted to brigadier general on March 13 , 1863 , for his leadership at the Battle of Prairie Grove . He was given command of the District of the Border , which comprised Kansas and western Missouri . Ewing was responsible for General Order № 11 , issued in retaliation for William Quantrill ' s raid on Lawrence , Kansas , which killed 150 men and boys . The order commanded that civilians with southern sympathies living in four Missouri counties be expelled , and if they did not leave voluntarily , they would be forced out by Union cavalry . While this was part of an effort to suppress bushwhacker s in the region it left a black mark on his legacy . In September and October 1864 , as deputy commander of the St . Louis district under William Rosecrans , Ewing played a major part in thwarting Sterling Price ' s invasion of Missouri by commanding a successful defense at Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob , Missouri . His command of 800 heavily outnumbered soldiers and a few black civilians fought off repeated attacks from a force of about 15 , 000 Confederate , buying additional time for the Union army to strengthen the defenses around St . Louis . Instead of surrendering , Ewing and his men successfully eluded Price ' s force during the night and fought a fighting withdrawal to Rolla , Missouri . On February 23 , 1865 , Ewing resigned to return to civilian life , tendering his resignation directly to his good friend , the President , a month before Lincoln ' s assassination . On February 24 , 1866 , President Andrew Johnson nominated Ewing for appointment to the brevet rank of major general of volunteers to rank from March 13 , 1865 and the U . S . Senate confirmed the nomination on May 4 , 1866 . Postbellum career . Although a staunch friend and ally of Abraham Lincoln , when Edwin Stanton engaged in a post - assassination flap with Ewing ' s brother - in - law William T . Sherman over final surrender terms to the Southern armies , Ewing agreed to represent two of John Ford ' s ( of Ford ' s theater ) employees in the Lincoln conspiracy trials . Through Orville Browning , Ewing ' s Washington law partner , Dr . Samuel Mudd ' s family also sought Ewing ' s legal help . Ewing also represented Samuel Arnold and Edmund Spangler during the trial . Ewing ' s efforts kept all three men from the gallows , but other conspirators were hung . For their roles in the assassination , Mudd , Arnold and Spangler were sentenced to federal prison at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas off Key West , Florida . From 1865 to 1870 , Ewing practiced law in Washington , D . C . , helping southern interests with his influence in the Johnson Administration . The Ewing family was heavily involved in defending Andrew Johnson against radical impeachment efforts . He declined President Andrew Johnson ' s offers for him to become the Secretary of War during the Tenure in Office crisis . He successfully lobbied the key vote against the impeachment of Andrew Johnson when he convinced his old comrade in arms , Edmund G . Ross of Kansas , to vote against impeachment . Ewing also was successful in obtaining a pardon for Mudd at the end of Johnson ' s term . In 1870 , he returned to his native Lancaster , Ohio , where he practiced for the next decade and attempted several business investments in railroads and telegraph companies . He was a member of the Ohio state Constitutional Convention of 1873 – 74 , and represented his district in the 45th and 46th Congresses from 1877 until 1881 . He prepared the bill establishing a Bureau of Labor Statistics , opposed the presence of U . S . soldiers at election polling places , and favored the re - monetization of silver and the continuation of the use of Greenback currency , becoming one of the leading national spokesmen for the Greenback Party . In 1880 , Ewing was defeated for election for Governor of Ohio as the Democratic candidate in a close election . There is scholarly controversy whether the use of George Caleb Bingham ' s painting General Order № 11 in the anti - Ewing campaign made the difference in the election . On March 3 , 1881 , Ewing closed his second term as representative in Congress and moved to New York to resume his law career . He never ran for office again . Ewing was founder and first president of the Ohio Society of New York , a trustee of Ohio Soldiers ' and Sailors ' Orphans ' Home ( 1874 – 78 ) , and a trustee of Ohio University ( 1878 – 83 ) . He served as Vice President of the Cincinnati Law School in 1881 . He made a notable address before the Marietta Centennial Convention of 1887 , and one before the Kansas state bar association in 1890 . He also contributed an article entitled " The Struggle for Freedom in Kansas " to " The Cosmopolitan " in May 1894 . Brown University , by special vote in 1894 , gave him the bachelor ' s degree dating back to the class of 1856 . Georgetown College gave him the degree of LL . D . in 1870 . He was killed when struck by a New York City omnibus in 1896 . He is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers , New York .