from Burbridge, but he refused to give the pardon and the men were shot. In his autobiography, Ewing describes an incident in October 1862 with Colonel Augustus Moor, who had struck a member of Ewing's regiment with his sword when the enlisted soldier had fallen out of a march. Ewing immediately confronted Moor. In his own words: Colonel Moor quickly apologized. While General Ewing respected the discipline of the German regiment, he preferred a different atmosphere in his own command, better suited to Americans. He was capable of recognizing the military tradition of other units while accommodating the unique needs of his own. General Ewing was ordered to North Carolina in 1865, and was planning an expedition up the Roanoke river to co-operate with the Army of the James, when Lee surrendered. In 1864, Ewing suffered an attack of rheumatism, and received treatment several times thereafter, often being confined to his chair. He was likely prostrated with illness as Commander of Louisville during Burbridge's madness in Kentucky. He was made a brevet major general on March 13, 1865. After leaving the Army, he experienced painful attacks for the rest of his life, often bedridden for periods of up to forty days. Postbellum career President Andrew Johnson appointed Ewing as U.S. Minister to Holland, where he served from 1866 to 1870. This appointment may have drawn the ire of the Radical Republicans, for Speaker of the House James G. Blaine urged President Ulysses S. Grant that Ewing be recalled and replaced with his brother, Charles Ewing. Blaine told the President that Hugh was 'acting badly'. Blaine himself was disingenuous, having represented to prominent politicians in Ohio including Senator John Sherman that he was doing everything possible to nominate his close personal friend, former Ohio General Roeliff Brinkerhoff, for the post. Nonetheless, Blaine's request to recall General Ewing was never acted upon, possibly due to the influence of his sister, whose husband General Sherman was a very close friend to President Grant. Ewing was related to Blaine through Blaine's mother Maria Louise Gillespie Blaine. Upon his eventual return to the United States, Ewing retired to a farm near Lancaster, Ohio, where he died of old age. He was the author of: The Black List; A Tale of Early California (1887); A Castle in the Air (1887); The Gold Plague, and other works. See also List of American Civil War generals (Union) Louisville