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Oliver Otis Howard | |
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 Howard during theCivil War | |
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| Born | (1830-11-08)November 8, 1830 Leeds, Maine, U.S. |
| Died | October 26, 1909(1909-10-26) (aged 78) Burlington, Vermont, U.S. |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance | United States (Union) |
| Service | |
| Years of service | 1854–1894 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Commands |
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| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | |
| Alma mater | |
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| Signature |  |
Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) was a careerUnited States Army officer and aUniongeneral in theCivil War. As a brigade commander in theArmy of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men againstConfederate forces at theBattle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines in June 1862, an action which later earned him theMedal of Honor. As a corps commander, he suffered a major defeat atChancellorsville and his performance was of question atGettysburg in May and July 1863.[1] However, he recovered from possible career setbacks as a successful corps and later army commander, commanding theArmy of the Tennessee from July 27, 1864, until May 19, 1865, leading the army in the battles ofEzra Church,Battle of Jonesborough,Sherman's March to the Sea, and theCarolinas campaign in theWestern Theater.
Known as the "Christian General" because he tried to base his policy decisions on his deep,evangelical piety,[2] he was given charge of theFreedmen's Bureau in mid-1865, with the mission of integrating the former slaves into Southern society and politics during the second phase of theReconstruction Era. Howard took charge of labor policy, setting up a system that required freed people to work on former plantation land under pay scales fixed by the Bureau, on terms negotiated by the Bureau with white land owners. Howard's Bureau was primarily responsible for the legal affairs of the freedmen. He attempted to protect freed blacks from hostile conditions, but lacked adequate power, and was repeatedly frustrated by PresidentAndrew Johnson.
Howard's allies, theRadical Republicans, won control of Congress in the 1866 elections and imposed Radical Reconstruction, with the result that freedmen were given the vote. With the help and advice of the Bureau, freedmen joined Republican coalitions and won at the ballot boxes of most of the southern states. Howard was also a leader in promoting higher education for freedmen, most notably in foundingHoward University in Washington, D.C., and serving as its president 1867–73; and aided in the charter of Howard University and Atlanta University (nowClark Atlanta University) in 1867.
After 1874, Howard commanded troops in theWest, conducting afamous campaign against theNez Perce tribe, led byChief Joseph. Utley (1987) concludes that his leadership against theApaches in 1872, Nez Perce in 1877,Bannocks andPaiutes in 1878, and theSheepeaters in 1879 all add up to a lengthy record, although he did not fight as much asGeorge Custer orNelson Miles.[3]
Oliver Howard was born inLeeds, Maine, the son of Rowland Bailey Howard and Eliza Otis Howard. His great-grandfather, Rogers Stinchfield and great-granduncle Thomas Stinchfield founded Leeds. Rowland, a farmer, died when Oliver was 9 years old.[4] Oliver attendedMonmouth Academy inMonmouth,North Yarmouth Academy inYarmouth,[5]Kents Hill School inReadfield,[6] and graduated fromBowdoin College in 1850 at the age of 19. He then attended theUnited States Military Academy, graduating in 1854, fourth in his class of 46 cadets, as abrevetsecond lieutenant of ordnance. He served at theWatervliet Arsenal nearTroy, New York, and was the temporary commander of theKennebec Arsenal inAugusta, Maine. In 1855, he married Elizabeth Anne Waite, with whom he would have seven children. In 1857 he was transferred to Florida for theSeminole Wars. It was in Florida that he experienced a conversion toevangelical Christianity and considered resigning from the Army to become a minister. His religious proclivities would later earn him the nickname "the Christian general." Howard was promotedfirst lieutenant in July 1857, and returned to West Point the following September to become an instructor of mathematics. As the Civil War began with the surrender ofFort Sumter, thoughts of the ministry were put aside and he decided to remain in the service of his country.[7]
Howard was appointedcolonel of the 3rd Maine Infantry regiment[8] and temporarily commanded a brigade at theFirst Battle of Bull Run. He was promoted tobrigadier general effective September 3, 1861, and given permanent command of his brigade. He then joinedMaj. Gen.George B. McClellan'sArmy of the Potomac for thePeninsula Campaign.
On June 1, 1862, while commanding aUnion brigade in theFair Oaks, Howard was wounded twice in his right arm, which was subsequently amputated. (He received theMedal of Honor in 1893 for his heroism at Fair Oaks.) Brig. Gen.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 theBattle of Antietam, in which he rose to division command in theII Corps. He was promoted tomajor general in November 1862 and assumed command of theXI Corps the following April, replacing Maj. Gen.Franz Sigel. Since the corps was composed largely ofGerman immigrants, many of whom spoke no English, the soldiers were resentful of their new leader and openly called for Sigel's reinstatement.
At theBattle 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 andLt. Gen.Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson devised an audacious plan in which Jackson's entire corps would march secretly around the Union flank and attack it. Howard was warned by Maj. Gen.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 plans.
At theBattle 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, Brig. Gen.Francis C. Barlow, was exploited by the Confederate corps of Lt. Gen.Richard S. Ewell and once again the XI Corps collapsed, forcing it to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg, leaving many men behind to be taken prisoner. OnCemetery Hill, south of town, Howard quarreled with Maj. Gen.Winfield S. Hancock about who was in command of the defense. Hancock had been sent by Maj. Gen.George G. Meade with written orders to take command, but Howard insisted that he was the ranking general present. Eventually he relented. Controversy centers on three points: 1) Howard's choice of Cemetery Hill as the key to defense; 2) the timing of Howard's mid-afternoon order to abandon positions north and west of town; and 3) Howard's reluctance to recognize that Hancock, his junior, had superseded him. HistorianJohn A. Carpenter holds that Howard alone had wisely selected Cemetery Hill, that the order to withdraw was probably a sound one, and that the conflict between Howard and Hancock might have been avoided had Meade himself gotten onto the field.[9]
Howard started circulating the story that his corps' failure had actually been triggered by the collapse of Maj. Gen.Abner Doubleday'sI Corps to the west, and this was a partial reason for Doubleday's removal from command of the corps. However, this excuse was not accepted by history—the reverse was actually true—and the reputation of the XI Corps was ruined. Some argue that Howard should get some credit for the eventual success at Gettysburg because he wisely stationed one of his divisions (Maj. Gen.Adolph von Steinwehr's) on Cemetery Hill as a reserve and critical subsequent defensive line. For the remainder of the three-day battle, the corps remained on the defensive around Cemetery Hill, withstanding assaults by Maj. Gen.Jubal Early on July 2 and participating at the margin of the defense againstPickett's Charge on July 3. Also at Gettysburg, Howard's younger brother, MajorCharles Henry Howard, served as his aide-de-camp.[10]
Howard and XI Corps were transferred to theWestern Theater with fellow general Henry Slocum's XII Corps to become part of theArmy of the Cumberland inTennessee; they were commanded once again by "Fighting Joe" Hooker. In theBattles for Chattanooga, the corps joined the impulsive assault that captured Missionary Ridge and forced the retreat of Gen.Braxton Bragg. In July 1864, following the death of Maj. Gen.James B. McPherson, temporary command of theArmy of the Tennessee was given by order ofWilliam Tecumseh Sherman to the ranking officer on the field that day, Major GeneralJohn A. Logan. Shortly after the success at the Battle of Atlanta, Sherman (who favored granting command to a West Point graduate) appointed Howard to permanent command of the Army of the Tennessee. At the closing of his "After Action Report" filed by Major General John A. Logan on September 10, 1864, Logan referred to his having served as Commander of the Army of the Tennessee for a scant four days. Logan's detailed report ended with: "I withdrew the Army of the Tennessee the night of the 26th, and moved it along the rear of the center and right of the army to a position across Proctor's Creek. After putting the army in position that night I was relieved by Maj. Gen. Howard." Howard subsequently led the right wing of Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's famousMarch to the Sea,[11] throughGeorgia and then theCarolinas. Sherman, having favored Howard over Logan for permanent command of the Army of the Tennessee, recognized Logan's success at Atlanta. In recognition of the outstanding leadership Logan displayed at Atlanta, Sherman asked Howard to allow Logan to ceremonially lead the Army in the May 1865 Grand Review in Washington. Howard agreed when Sherman appealed to him as a Christian gentleman. Ultimately, by the war's end, Gen. Sherman would commend Howard as a corps commander of "the utmost skill, nicety and precision".[10]
From May 1865 to July 1874, General Howard was commissioner of theFreedmen's Bureau (the Army's Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands), where he played a major role in theReconstruction era, and had charge of integrating freedmen (former slaves) into American society. Howard devised far-reaching programs and guidelines including social welfare in the form of rations, schooling, courts, and medical care. Howard often clashed with PresidentAndrew Johnson, who strongly disliked the welfare aspects of the Freedman's Bureau, and especially tried to return political power to Southern whites. However, Howard had the support of theRadical Republicans in Congress. When the Radical Republicans gained power in 1867, they gave blacks the right to vote in the South and set up new elections, which the Republican coalition offreedmen, northern Republicans who came south and were referred to derogatorily ascarpetbaggers, and southerners who supported Reconstruction, nicknamedscalawags, won (except in Virginia). The Bureau was very active in helping blacks organize themselves politically, and therefore it became a target of partisan hostility.[12]
President Johnson called Howard a fanatic.[13] Reconstruction's opponents alleged that, in abusing both civil and military power, theBureau became a centralized dictatorship.[citation needed] Howard described the extent of his enormous powers as:
...Almost unlimited authority gave me scope and liberty of action... Legislative, judicial and executive powers were combined in my commission.[14]
Andrew Johnson reacted to the meaning of such unlimited scope of action against civilians:
The power thus given to the commanding officer over all the people ... is that of an absolute monarch ... He alone is permitted to determine the rights of persons and property ... It places at his free disposal all the lands and goods in his district, and he may distribute them without let or hindrance to whom he pleases. Being bound by no State law, and there being no other law to regulate the subject, he may make a criminal code of his own; and can make it as bloody as any in history ... Everything is a crime which he chooses to call so, and all persons are condemned who he pronounces to be guilty.[15]
The limited ideological framework of General Howard and his aides encouraged their attempt at radical reconstruction of southern society without realizing the need for essential legislation. They thought that the elimination of all statutory inequalities—for instance, Black court testimony—would be enough to assure protection. Southern states pretended to comply with this point in order to end the threat of the Freedmen's Bureau courts' system.[16]
In 1872, Howard, accompanied by 1st LtJoseph A. Sladen, who served as his aide, was ordered toArizona Territory to negotiate a peace treaty withCochise, resulting in a treaty on October 12.[17] This episode of American history was dramatized in the movie "Broken Arrow" (seebelow)He was placed in command of theDepartment of the Columbia in 1874, went west toWashington Territory'sFort Vancouver, where he fought in theIndian Wars, particularlyagainst theNez Perce inIdaho andMontana territories in 1877, with the resultant surrender ofChief Joseph. He was criticized by Chief Joseph as precipitating the war by trying to rush the Nez Perce to a smaller reservation, with no advance notice, no discussion, and no time to prepare. Joseph said, "If General Howard had given me plenty of time to gather up my stock and treatedToo-hool-hool-suit as a man should be treated, there would have been no war."
Subsequently, Howard wassuperintendent of theU.S. Military Academy atWest Point in 1881–1882. He served as commander of theDepartment of the Platte from 1882 to 1886 and theMilitary Division of the Pacific from 1886 to 1888. From 1888, his final command was of theDepartment of the East (Military Division of the Atlantic) atFort Columbus onGovernors Island in New York Harbor, encompassing the states east of the Mississippi River. He retired from the U.S. Army at that posting in 1894 with the rank ofmajor general. The French government made him a chevalier of theLegion of Honor in 1884 and he was subsequently promoted to the ranks of officer and commander.[18]
General Howard is also remembered for playing a role in foundingHoward University, which was incorporated by Congress in 1867.[19] The school is nonsectarian and is open to both sexes without regard to race. On November 20, 1866, Howard was among 10 members of various socially concerned groups of the time who met in Washington, D.C., to discuss plans for a theological seminary to train black ministers. Interest was sufficient, however, to create an educational institute for areas other than the ministry. The result was the Howard Normal and Theological 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 was quoted as saying "[t]he opposition to Negro education made itself felt everywhere in a combination not to allow the freed men any room or building in which a school might be taught. In 1865, 1866, and 1867, mobs of the baser classes at intervals and in all parts of the South occasionally burned school buildings and churches used as schools, flogged teachers or drove them away, and in a number of instances murdered them."[20] He also foundedLincoln Memorial University inHarrogate, Tennessee, in 1895, for the education of the "mountain whites."
General Howard was a member of theSociety of the Cincinnati, theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and theGrand Army of the Republic.
Oliver Howard died inBurlington, Vermont on October 26, 1909, and is buried atLakeview Cemetery in Burlington. At his death, Howard was the last surviving Union Army general to have held the permanent rank of a general in the regular U.S. Army.
A bust of Howard designed by artistJames E. Kelly is on display at Howard University.[21] An equestrian statue is on East Cemetery Hill on theGettysburg Battlefield.[22] A dormitory atBowdoin College is named for Howard.[23]
The Oliver O. Howard Relief Corps of theGrand Army of the Republic provided funds to help destitute former Union soldiers and to support worthy public causes.[citation needed] It contributed money and the design for the State Flag of Utah in 1920.[24] An Army Reserve Center was named after him inAuburn, Maine, and is still used today by severalU.S. Army Reserve units.[25]
Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Delaware, is named in his honor,[26] as isHoward County, Nebraska[27] and theHoward School of Academics and Technology, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.Howard, Kansas is named in his honor.[28]
The O. O. Howard House, located onOfficers Row within theFort Vancouver National Historic Site was built in 1878 upon General Howard's order at a cost of $6,938.20 (~$192,366 in 2023). Completed in 1879, the building suffered a fire in 1986 and was left vacant until renovated by theCity of Vancouver in 1998. The building serves as the headquarters of the Fort Vancouver National Trust.[29]
InPortland, Oregon, on the 150th Anniversary of Howard's acts of valor on June 1, 1862, while leading his troops at theBattle of Fair Oaks, a commemorative wreath was laid by theOregon Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission[30] at the site of General Howard's former residence in downtown Portland at the corner of SW 10th and Morrison. The month of June 2012 was dedicated to Howard with a lecture and programs by the Oregon Civil War Sesquicentennial spotlighting General Howard's activities in Portland and at Fort Vancouver, Washington; and his post-war achievements at theFreedmen's Bureau,Howard University andLincoln Memorial University and the Indian Wars. In aNew York Times interview given the day after Howard retired from the Army on November 8, 1894, at the age of 64, it was reported that he was traveling West to stay at his daughter's house inPortland, Oregon, where he planned to start writing his memoirs.
Howard was the author of numerous books after the war, including:
He wrote an account of the Civil War's Atlanta campaign inCentury Magazine for July 1887.[18]
He translated:
In the 1950 filmBroken Arrow, Howard is played byBasil Ruysdael oppositeJames Stewart, who portrays Tom Jeffords. In the 1956 filmThe Last Wagon, he was portrayed byCarl Benton Reid. Both of these films were written and directed byDelmer Daves.
James Whitmore portrayed General Howard in the 1975 television film,I Will Fight No More Forever, about the U.S. Army campaign against the Nez Perce and the surrender of Chief Joseph in 1877. In episode 6 ofThe West, he was portrayed in voiceovers byEli Wallach and is the protagonist ofWilliam T. Vollmann's novelThe Dying Grass (2015).[citation needed]
| Insignia | Rank | Date | Component |
|---|---|---|---|
| No insignia | Cadet, USMA | 1 September 1850 | Regular Army |
 | Second Lieutenant | 1 July 1854 (brevet) 15 February 1855 (permanent) | Regular Army |
 | First Lieutenant | 1 July 1857 | Regular Army |
 | Colonel | 4 June 1861 | Volunteers |
 | Brigadier General | 3 September (accepted 5 September) 1861 | Volunteers |
 | Major General | 29 November 1862 | Volunteers |
| Brigadier General | 21 December 1864 | Regular Army |
| Major General | 19 March (accepted 2 April) 1886 | Regular Army |
In the citation for Howard'sMedal of Honor – issued June 1, 1862, atFair Oaks, Virginia – he was described as "Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers". The citation reads:
Led the 61st New York Infantry in a charge in which he was twice severely wounded in the right arm, necessitating amputation.
Media related toOliver O. Howard at Wikimedia Commons
Texts on Wikisource:| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Commander of theII Corps January 26, 1863 – February 5, 1863 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theIV Corps April 10, 1864 – July 27, 1864 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theXI Corps April 2, 1863 – July 1, 1863 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theXI Corps July 1, 1863 – September 25, 1863 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theXI Corps (Army of the Cumberland) September 25, 1863 – January 21, 1864 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander of theXI Corps (Army of the Cumberland) February 25, 1864 – April 10, 1864 | Succeeded by none |
| Preceded by | Superintendents of the United States Military Academy 1881–1882 | Succeeded by |
