March 13, 1863, for his leadership at the Battle of Prairie Grove. He was given command of the District of the Border, which comprised Kansas and western Missouri. Ewing was responsible for General Order № 11, issued in retaliation for William Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, where 450 raiders shot and killed 150 men and boys. The order commanded that civilians with southern sympathies living in four Missouri counties be expelled, and if they did not leave voluntarily, they would be forced out by Union cavalry. While this was part of an effort to suppress bushwhackers in the region it left a black mark on his legacy. In September and October 1864, as deputy commander of the St. Louis district under William Rosecrans, Ewing played a major part in thwarting Sterling Price's invasion of Missouri by commanding a successful defense at Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob, Missouri. His command of 1500 heavily outnumbered soldiers (900 effectives) and a few black civilians fought off repeated attacks from a force of about 15,000 Confederates, buying additional time for the Union army to strengthen the defenses around St. Louis. Instead of surrendering, Ewing and his men successfully eluded Price's force during the night and fought a fighting withdrawal to Rolla, Missouri. On February 23, 1865, Ewing resigned to return to civilian life, tendering his resignation directly to his good friend, the President, a month before Lincoln's assassination. On February 24, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Ewing for appointment to the brevet rank of major general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865 and the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination on May 4, 1866. Postbellum career Although a staunch friend and ally of Abraham Lincoln, when Edwin Stanton engaged in a post-assassination flap with Ewing's brother-in-law William T. Sherman over final surrender terms to the Southern armies, Ewing agreed to represent two of John Ford's (of Ford's theater) employees in the Lincoln conspiracy trials. Through Orville Browning, Ewing's Washington law partner, Dr. Samuel Mudd's family also sought Ewing's legal help. Ewing also represented Samuel Arnold and Edmund Spangler during the trial. Ewing's efforts kept all three men from the gallows, but other conspirators were hanged. For their roles in the assassination, Mudd, Arnold and Spangler were sentenced to federal prison at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas off Key West, Florida. From 1865 to 1870, Ewing practiced law in Washington, D.C., helping southern