Henry Lewis Ewing

EWING, HENRY LEWIS (1835-1924) Henry Lewis Ewing was born in present day Nacogdoches County, Texas on November 12, 1835. He was the tenth child of Wilson Edly and Hanna D'Spain Ewing. The Ewing family migrated from Tennessee to Texas, which was still a part of Mexico, in 1833.

On June 15, 1861, Ewing enlisted in the Confederate Army. He was mustered into Company K of the 1st, or McCulloch's, Texas Cavalry, which was also called the 1st Mounted Rifleman. This regiment served in the Department of Texas on the northwestern frontier from Camp Colorado to the Red River and was primarily used for protection against marauding Indians from the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. The majority of the soldiers enlisted for only one year and the regiment was disbanded at Fort Mason in April, 1862, upon the expiration of their service. Those, whose service did not expire, were organized into the 8th, or Taylor's, Texas Cavalry Battalion.

Ewing, who served in Company D of this regiment, only fought with the 8th Texas Battalion for about a year before it was merged with the 3rd , or Yager's Cavalry Battalion, in May, 1863, to form the 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment, which was also known as the 1st Texas Mounted Rifles. Ewing served in Company I under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William O. Yager and Colonel Augustus Buchel, who is also buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

Ewing served throughout the remainder of the war with this regiment and participated in the Battle of San Lucas Springs, Texas, along with several other skirmishes, including Caney Bayou, the Red River Campaign and Pleasant Hill.

After the war, Ewing married Marzee Bradley, of Greenville, Texas, in 1866. Together, they had ten children, one son and nine daughters. They lived in Hopkins and Delta Counties until 1890, when Marzee and some of her daughters moved to Dallas. Ewing, a farmer, continued to live in Hopkins County, as he successfully applied for a Confederate Pension from the State of Texas there on June 29, 1899. It is believed that Ewing moved to Dallas in 1922, most likely to live with his daughter, Mrs. S. A. Capers.

On September 9, 1923, Ewing, now a widower, moved to Austin to live in the Confederate Men's Home, where he died on December 29, 1924. He was buried in the Texas State Cemetery the next day.

Information taken from: Materials provided by descendant, Jean Good; Compiled Military Service Records; National Park Service website, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss; "MCCULLOCH, HENRY EUSTACE." The Handbook of Texas Online. [Accessed Tue Aug 26 11:57:08 US/Central 2003].; 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment website, http://www.bauer.uh.edu/~parks/tex/crg001a.html; 1st Texas Confederate Cavalry Regiment website, http://www.cba.uh.edu/~parks/tex/crg0010/html; Confederate Pension Application # 2010; Confederate Home Roster; and Death Certificate # 40530.