General Orders No. 11 is perhaps the most draconian act committed by the US Government against its own people in American history. Following the Lawrence (Kansas) Massacre of August, 1863, several Missouri counties bordering Kansas were burned from the face of the earth. A sanctuary for the guerrillas ... that was the official reason given for destroying the area; revenge for years of strife along the state line was the unofficial reason. Millions of dollars in property were destroyed or stolen, scores, perhaps hundreds, of civilians were killed, and an entire people were cast from their homes, never to return.
The author and executioner of the edict was Thomas Ewing, Jr. The author and expert of a new book on General Ewing is Ronald D. Smith. Smith, a Kansas attorney, knows his subject. Although the above mentioned disaster was perhaps the singular event in Ewing's life, the book covers the gamut. A foster brother (and later a brother-in-law) of William Tecumseh Sherman, a Kansas supreme court justice, a brave and very capable Union officer in the American Civil War, a defender of the conspirators at the Lincoln assassination trial, an Ohio politician, Tom Ewing not only lived through stirring times, but played an active role in them.
Thomas Ewing, Jr.: Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General: Check it out at amazon.com, or order through your bookstore.
__________________________________________
Art of the Day
