Hugh Boyle Ewing,
son of the Hon. Thomas Ewing and Maria Wills
Boyle, was born 31 October 1826 in Lancaster, Ohio. He died 30 June 1905 and is
buried in the Ewing section of St. Mary's Cemetery, Lancaster.
The "Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of
Notable Americans: Volume IV" says the following about Hugh Boyle Ewing:
Hugh was educated at the U.S. military academy, and in 1849 went to California where he
joined an expedition ordered by his father, then Secretary of the Interior, to rescue the
belated immigrants who were imprisoned in the Sierra by the heavy snows. He made the
journey to California by way of New Orleans and Texas; passing through Mexico from the Rio
Grande to Mazatlan on the Pacific, crossing the Cordilleras on mule back; and returning in
1852 by way of Panama, with dispatches for the government. He then completed his course in
law and settled in St. Louis, Mo., where he practised from 1854 to 1856, when he removed
with his brother, Thomas, to Leavenworth, Kan. In 1858 he was married to Henrietta,
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. In April, 1861, he was appointed by Governor
Dennison brigade-inspector of Ohio volunteers, and he served under Rosecrans and McClellan
in western Virginia. He was made colonel of the 30th Ohio volunteers in August, 1861,
brigadier-general, Nov. 29, 1862, and major-general by brevet in 1865. 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 a brigade. Under McClellan at
Antietam his brigade was placed upon the extreme left of the army, where, according to the
report of General Burnside, "by a brilliant change of front he saved the left from
being completely driven in." He served throughout the campaign before Vicksburg,
leading the assaults made by General Sherman; and upon its fall was placed in command of a
division. At Chattanooga his division formed the advance of Sherman's army and carried
Missionary Ridge. He 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.
President Johnson appointed him U.S. minister to Holland, where he served, 1866-70. Upon
his return to the United States he retired upon a farm near Lancaster, Ohio. He is the
author of: The Black List; A Tale of Early California (1887); A Castle in the Air (1887);
The Gold Plague, and other works.
For more information about the family of Hugh Boyle Ewing,
go to Descendant Names.
