Military officer; born in
Leeds, Me., Nov. 8, 1830; graduated at Bowdoin College in 1850, and at
West Point in 1854; entered the ordnance corps, and became instructor in mathematics at
West Point in 1857.
He took command of the 3d Maine Regiment in June, 1861, and commanded a brigade at the
battle of Bull Run.
In September he was made a brigadier-general.
At the
battle of fair Oaks, or
seven Pines (q. v.), he lost his right arm. After the battle of
Antietam (q. v.) he commanded
Sumner's corps; and while
Hooker led the Army of the Potomac, in 1863, he was in command of the 11th Corps.
He was conspicuous at
Gettysburg (q. v.),
Lookout Valley, and
Missionary Ridge; also in the relief of
Knoxville, late in the year.
In 1864 he was in command of the Army of the Tennessee, and was in all of the battles in the
Atlanta campaign.
The right of
Sherman's army, on its march to the sea, was commanded by him, as well as in the march through the Carolinas afterwards.
In December, 1864, he was made a brigadier-general in the regular army, and was afterwards brevetted major-general.
At the conclusion of the war
General Howard was made commissioner of the
Freedmen's Bureau, and held the office until the bureau was closed, in June, 1872.
Trustee and president of Howard University, he resigned in April, 1873.
In 1877 he commanded the expedition against the
Nez
Perces Indians; in 1878 the campaigns against the Bannocks and Piutes; in 1880-82 was superintendent of the Military Academy; in 1886 was promoted to major-general; and, Nov. 8, 1894, was retired.
