Ohio Civil War » Civil War A-Z » E » Richard Stoddert Ewell

Richard Stoddert Ewell

February 8, 1817 – January 25, 1872

Richard Stoddert Ewell was a prominent Confederate general during the American Civil War who has been tarnished by questions about his performance on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Richard Stoddert Ewell was born in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., on February 8, 1817. Raised on his family's estate near Manassas, Virginia, Ewell was the third son of Dr. Thomas and Elizabeth Stoddert Ewell.

Ewell attended the United States Military Academy and graduated thirteenth in his class in 1840. He then received a commission as a second lieutenant with the 1st U.S. Dragoons. Ewell served the next six years on the western frontier, during which time he rose to the rank of first lieutenant. Like many future American Civil War officers, Ewell participated in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). He was brevetted to captain for his courage at the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco. Officials promoted Ewell to captain in 1849 and assigned him to the New Mexico Territory. In 1859, he was wounded in a skirmish with Apache Indians, who Cochise led.

In 1860, Ewell fell ill and returned to Virginia to recuperate. While there, his home state seceded from the Union. Forced to choose between his country and his state, Ewell resigned his commission in the United States Army on May 7, 1861 and joined the Virginia Provincial Army as a cavalry colonel. By June 17, he was a brigadier-general in the Confederate Army. Ewell served with General P.G.T. Beauregard's Army of the Potomac and saw limited action at the Battle of Bull Run I.

On January 24, 1862, Ewell attained the rank of major general and transferred to the Shenandoah Valley to serve under General Stonewall Jackson. Ewell performed well during Jackson's Valley Campaign and earned Jackson's trust as his most valuable subordinate. In June 1862, Ewell and his division transferred to the Richmond, Virginia area, where they participated in the Battles of Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, and the Seven Days' Battles during the Peninsula Campaign. After Major General George McClellan's Army of the Potomac retreated down the Peninsula, Ewell accompanied Jackson to Northern Virginia and defeated Major General Nathaniel Banks's Army of Virginia at the Battle of Cedar Mountain (August 9, 1862).

During the Manassas Campaign, Ewell was severely wounded at the Battle of Manassas II, on August 28, 1862. Doctors amputated Ewell's left leg below the knee, causing him to be away from his division for nine months. Ewell was eventually fitted with a wooden leg, which enabled him to return to service. During Ewell's absence, Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville (April 30–May 6, 1863). After Jackson's death on May 10, officials promoted Ewell to the rank of lieutenant general and gave him command of Jackson's Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia on May 23, 1863. Three days after the effective date of his promotion, Ewell married his first cousin, Lizinka Campbell Brown, who had nursed him back to health during his convalescence.

Ewell is, perhaps, most famous or infamous for his failure to attack Union troops on Cemetery Ridge during the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. His indecision gave the Union forces precious time to entrench themselves and enabled reinforcements to arrive. By the time Ewell's forces did attack on the second day of the battle, they were repulsed and badly defeated. Some historians claim that Ewell's indecision lost the Battle of Gettysburg for the South. Others have pointed out that General Robert E. Lee's instructions to Ewell were confusing, if not contradictory. Lee ordered Ewell "to carry the hill occupied by the enemy, if he found it practicable, but to avoid a general engagement until the arrival of the other divisions of the army."

After Gettysburg, Lee appeared to lose confidence in Ewell. At the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, on May 12, 1864, Lee personally assumed Ewell's position as field commander and sent Ewell to the rear to prepare for the defense of Richmond. As Federal troops approached Richmond toward the end of the war, they captured Ewell at the Battle of Sayler's Creek while he was retreating on April 8, 1865. They imprisoned the Confederate general at Fort Warren, Massachusetts until August 19, 1865.

After the Civil War, Ewell retired to his wife’s plantation in Maury County, Tennessee, near Spring Hill. He died there, of pneumonia, on January 25, 1872, just three days after his wife succumbed to the same ailment. Ewell was buried in the Old City Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.

Related Entries