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394 he had earned enough money to clear from debt the farm that his father had bought in 1792, and had qualified himself to enter the Ohio vmiver- sity at Athens, where, in 1815, he received the first degree of A. B. that was ever granted in the Northwest. He then studied law in Lancaster, was admitted to the bar in 1816, and practised with success for fif- teen years. In 1831-'7 he served as U. S. senator from Ohio, having been chosen as a Whig. He supported the protective tariff system of Clay, and advocated a reduction in the rates of postage, a recharter of the U. S. bank, and the revenue collection bill, known as the " forcebill." He opposed the removal of the deposits from the U. S. bank, and introduced a bill for the settle- ment of the Ohio boundary question, which was passed in 1836. During the same session he brought forward a bill for the reorganization of the general land-office, which was passed, and also presented a memorial for the abolition of slavery. In July, 1836, the secretary of the treasury issued what was known as the " specie circular." This directed re- ceivers in land-offices to accept payments only in gold, silver, or treasury certificates, except from certain classes of persons for a limited time. Mr. Ewing brought in a bill to annul this circular, and another to make it unlawful for the secretary to make such a discrimination, but these were not carried. After the expiration of his term in 1837 he resumed the practice of his profession. He be- came secretary of the treasury in 1841, under Harrison, and in 1849 accepted the newly created portfolio of the interior, under Taylor, and organ- ized that department. Among the measures rec- ommended in his first report, 3 Dec, 1849, were the establishment of a mint near the California gold-mines, and the construction of a railroad to the Pacific. When Thomas Corwin became secre- tary of the treasury in 1850, Mr. Ewing was ap- pointed to succeed him in the senate. During this term he opposed the fugitive slave law. Clay's compromise bill, reported a bill for the establish- ment of a branch mint in California, and advo- cated a reduction of postage, and the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He re- tired from public life in 1851, and again resumed his law-practice in Lancaster. He was a delegate to the peace congress of 1861. During the civil war he gave, through the press and by correspondence and personal interviews, his coimsel and influence to the support of the National authorities. While he devoted much of his time to political subjects, the law was his favorite study and pursuit. He early won and maintained throughout his life unques- tioned supremacy at the bar of Ohio : and ranked in the supreme court of the United States among the foremost lawyers of the nation. In 1829, just after his father's death, Gen. William T. Sherman, then a boy nine years of age, was adopted by Mr. Ewing, who afterward appointed him to the U. S. military academy, and in 1850 he married Ellen, the daughter of his benefactor. — His son, Hugh Boyle, soldier, b. in Lancaster, Ohio, 31 Oct., 1826, was educated at the U. S. military academy. At the time of the gold fever, in 1849, he went to California by way of New Orleans and Texas, and travelled extensively through that country, going to the High Sierra in an expedition sent by his father, then secretary of the interior, to rescue emigrants from the snows. In 1852 he returned by way of Panama, as bearer of despatches to Washington. He then went to Lancaster and completed his law studies, began the practice of his profession in St. Louis m 1854. and two years later opened an office with his brother Thomas in Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1858 he removed to Ohio, in order to assume charge of his father's salt-works. In April, 1861, he was appointed bri- gade-inspector of Ohio volunteers, with the rank of major, and took part in the early combats in the mountains of West Virginia under McClellan and Rosecrans. He commanded the 30th Ohio regiment in August, 1861, was appointed brigadier- general, 29 Nov., 1862, and brevetted major-general in 1865. He led a brigade at Antietam, and at the siege of Vicksburg, and a division at Chicka- mauga, which formed the advance of Sherman's army, and which, in a desperate battle, carried Mission Ridge. He was afterward ordered to North Carolina, and was preparing a secret joint military and naval expedition iip the Roanoke, when the war came to an end. In 1866 he was ap- pointed U. S. minister to Holland, where he served for four years. After his return he bought a small estate near his native town, wJiere he has since resided. Gen. Ewing has travelled widely in this country and abroad, and is author of " The Grand Ladron, a Tale of Early California," and "A Castle in the Air" (1887). — Another son, Thomas, lawyer, b. in Lancaster, Ohio, 7 Aug., 1829 ; d. in New York city, 21 June, 1896, was educated at Brown university. He was private secretary to President Taylor from 1849 till 1850, and subsequently studied law in Cincinnati, where he began to practise his profession. In 1856 he removed to Leavenworth, Kansas, and became a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention of 1858, and in 1861 became the first chief-justice of the state. He was a delegate to the Peace conference of 1860. He resigned his judgeship in 1862, recruited the 11th Kansas regiment, was made its colonel, and served with distinction in the civil war. taking part in the battles of Fort Wayne. Cane Hill, and Prairie Grove. He was made brigadier-general, 13 March, 1863, for gallantry at the last-named battle, commanded the district of the border, and subsequently at Pilot Knob, 28 Sept., 1864. with a thousand men, held his position against the repeated assaults of the Confederates under Price, thus checking the invasion of Missouri. He made a retreat to Rolla in 1864, and in 1865 was brevetted major-general of volunteers. After the war he practised law in Washington, D. C, but returned to Lancaster in 1871, and in 1877-'81 was a member of congress, where he prepared a bill to establish a bureau of labor statistics. He also actively supported the measures that stopped the use of troops at the polls, advocated the remonetization of silver, and the retention of the greenback currenc3^ In 1879 he was the unsuccessful candidate for governor of Ohio. At the close of his last term in congress he declined a renomination, and removed to New York city, where he practised till his death. — Another son, Charles, soldier, b. in Lancaster, Ohio, G March, 1835 ; d. in Washington, D, C, 20 June,