Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/233

 PROAHNENT PERSONS

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Bladensburg, from 1865 to 1867; of St. Anne's Church, Middletown, Delaware, from 1867 to 1872, and of Trinity Church, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, from 1872 to 1875 ; the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by William and Mary College in 1855 ; he was the author of sev- eral poems, collected under the title of "Scraps" (1835), and he also contributed papers on colonial history to different per- iodicals ; his death occurred in Chambers- burg, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1875.

Ewell, Benjamin S., born in Washington City, June 10, 1810, son of Dr. Thomas Ewell and Elizabeth (Stoddert) Ewell, the latter a daughter of Benjamin Stoddert, first secretary of the United States navy. From the preparatory department of Georgetown C'ollege, he went to the United States Mili- tary Academy, from wihch he was gradu- ated in 1832, as lieutenant of artillery He v.as instructor in the academy until 1836, when he left the army, and became assistant engineer on the Central railroad, from Bal- timore, completing his work in 1839, when he was made professor of natural philosophy at Hampden-Sidney College. In 1847 he became the first professor of mathematics and military science at Washington College. In 1848 he was elected president and pro- fessor of mathematics at William and Mary College, Williamsburg; he declined the presidency, but acted as such pro ton until Bishop John Johns arrived. After Bishop Johns resigned, in 1854, Professor Ewell was made permanent president, and served until 1857, when the faculty was reorgan- ized, he being retained in his professorship but was soon recalled to the presidency. During his administration (in 1859) the col- lege building, library and scientific instru-

ments were destroyed by an accidental fire. In May, 1861, the college suspended. Presi- dent Ewell and nearly all the professors and students entering the Confederate army. Ewell was made colonel of the Thirty-sec- ond Virginia Regiment, and later became assistant adjutant-general to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who, in May, 1862, asked that Col. Ewell be made his chief-of-staff, with the rank of brigadier-general — a request not granted, because there was no law permit- ting a staff officer to hold such rank. Ewell, however, continued to act as chief-of-staff to Gen. Johnston to the end of the war, being finally commissioned brigadier-gen- eral. After the war he went to the assistance of William and Mary College, which had been burned by Federal troops, and opposed the removal of the institution to Richmond, and, in 1869 the faculty was again organ- ized, with him as president. The cost of repairs and operating expenses made a heavy drain on the endowment fund and in 1881 the college suspended. In 1888, Col. Ewell favored the scheme of applying to the legislature for an appropriation in con- nection with a normal department, but when the application was granted declined, on ac- count of advanced age, any active connec- tion with the college, and was elected presi- dent emeritus. His loyalty to the college in its darkest hours, won for him the admira- tion and love of everybody. He received the degree of LL. D. from Hobart College, and was a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He died June 19, 1894, aged eighty-foizr years, having retained almost to the last, his brilliant powers of conversation, and inexhaustible fund of cheerfulness and wit. liis remains were deposited in the college burying ground back of the main building.