Oliver O. Howard

Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) was a career U.S. Army officer and general in the American Civil War, also noted for his post-Civil War battles against the Western Indian tribes. His most famous campaign was against the Nez Perce tribe. He was instrumental in the founding of Howard University.

Early years

Howard was born in Leeds, Maine. He attended North Yarmouth Academy, was educated at Bowdoin College, then later attended the U.S. Military Academy, graduating in 1854 as a second lieutenant of ordnance. After two years in the army, he returned to civilian life as a mathematics instructor at West Point. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned a colonel in the 3rd Maine Infantry. He commanded a brigade at the First Battle of Bull Run and then joined George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac for the Peninsula Campaign.

Civil War

On June 1, 1862, while commanding a Union brigade in the Fair Oaks, Howard was wounded twice in his right arm, which was subsequently amputated. (He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1893 for his heroism at Fair Oaks.) General Philip Kearny, who had lost his left arm, visited Howard and joked that they would be able to shop for gloves together. Howard recovered quickly enough to rejoin the army for the Battle of Antietam, in which he rose to division command in the II Corps. He was promoted to major general in November 1862 and assumed command of the XI Corps the following April. In that role, he replaced General Franz Sigel. Since the corps was composed largely of German immigrants, many of whom spoke no English, the soldiers were resentful of their new leader and openly called for Sigel's reinstatement.

At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Howard suffered the first of two significant military setbacks. On May 2, 1863, his corps was on the right flank of the Union line, northwest of the crossroads of Chancellorsville. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson created an audacious plan in which Jackson's entire corps would march secretly around the Union flank and attack it. Howard was warned by Major General Joseph Hooker, now commanding the Army of the Potomac, that his flank was "in the air", not anchored by a natural obstacle, such as a river, and that Confederate forces might be on the move in his direction. Howard failed to heed the warning and Jackson struck before dark, routing the XI Corps and causing a serious disruption to the Union plan.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, the XI Corps, still chastened by its humiliation in May, arrived on the field in the afternoon of July 1, 1863. Poor positioning of the defensive line by one of Howard's subordinate division commanders, Francis Barlow, was exploited by the Confederate Corps of Richard S. Ewell and once again the XI Corps was routed, forcing it to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg, leaving many prisoners behind. On Cemetery Hill, south of town, Howard quarreled with Major General Winfield S. Hancock about who was in command of the defense. Hancock had been sent by Major General George G. Meade with written orders to take command, but Howard insisted that he was the ranking general present. Eventually he relented. He started circulating the story that his corps' failure had actually been triggered by the collapse of Abner Doubleday's I Corps to the west, but this excuse was never accepted at the time or by history—the reverse was actually true—and the reputation of the XI Corps was ruined. Howard should get some credit for the eventual success at Gettysburg because he wisely stationed one of his divisions (Adolph von Steinwehr) on Cemetery Hill as a reserve and critical backup defensive line. For the remainder of the three-day battle, the corps remained on the defensive around Cemetery Hill, withstanding assaults by Jubal Early on July 2 and participating at the margin of the defense against Pickett's Charge on July 3.

Howard and his corps were transferred to the Western Theater to become part of the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee. In the Battle of Chattanooga, the corps joined the impulsive assault that captured Missionary Ridge and forced the retreat of Braxton Bragg. In July 1864, following the death of General James B. McPherson, Howard became commander of the Army of the Tennessee, fought in the Atlanta Campaign, and led the right wing of William Tecumseh Sherman's famous March to the Sea, through Georgia and then the Carolinas.

Post-civil war

From May 1865 to July 1874, General Howard was commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. He was placed in command of the Department of the Columbia in 1874, went west to Oregon's Fort Vancouver, where he fought in the Indian Wars, particularly against the Nez Perce, with the resultant surrender of Chief Joseph. Subsequently, he was superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1881–82. He retired from the United States Army in 1894 with the rank of major general.

Howard University

General Howard is also remembered for playing a role in founding Howard University, which was incorporated by Congress in 1867. The school is nonsectarian and is open to both sexes without regard to race. As commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, Howard was known for promoting the welfare and education of former slaves, freedmen, and war refugees. On November 20, 1866, ten members, including Howard, of various socially concerned groups of the time met in Washington, D.C., to discuss plans for a theological seminary to train colored ministers. Interest was sufficient, however, in creating an educational institute for areas other than the ministry. The result was the Howard Normal Institute for the Education of Preachers and Teachers. On January 8, 1867, the Board of Trustees voted to change the name of the institution to Howard University. Howard served as president from 1869 to 1874. He also founded Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1895 for the education of the "mountain whites."

Author

Howard was the author of numerous books after the war, including Donald's School Days (1878), Nez Perce Joseph (1881), General Taylor (1892), Isabella of Castile (1894), Autobiography (1907), and My Life and Experiences among Our Hostile Indians (1907).

Death and memorialization

Oliver Howard died in Burlington, Vermont, and is buried there in Lake View Cemetery.

A bust of Howard designed by artist James E. Kelly is on display at Howard University. An impressive equestrian statue is on East Cemetery Hill on the Gettysburg Battlefield. A dormitory at Bowdoin College is named for Howard.

The Oliver O. Howard Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic provided funds to help destitute former Union soldiers and to support worthy public causes. It contibuted money and the design for the State Flag of Utah in 1922.

Film portrayal

In the 1950 film Broken Arrow, General Howard is a character played by Basil Ruysdael that the hero Tom Jeffords (played by Jimmy Stewart) has heard of as "the Christian General". The Howard character says that his troops call him "Bible-reading Howard". On questioning by Jeffords about the biblical implications for the Indians, Howard condemns racism, saying that the Bible "says nothing about pigmentation of the skin".

James Whitmore portrayed General Howard in the 1975 television film, "I will Fight No More Forever", about the US Army campaign against the Nez Perce and the surrender of Chief Joseph in 1877

References

Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J.: Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.

External links

Biography by Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission

Oliver Otis Howard

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