Military officer; born in
Brunswick county,
N. C., in 1732; was in the legislature in 1773; was one of the
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earliest and most uncompromising of the patriots of the
Cape Fear region, and was honored with an exception, together with
Cornelius Harnett, when royal clemency was offered to the rebels by
Sir Henry Clinton, in 1776.
He was appointed colonel of the 1st North Carolina Regiment, and with his command went early into the field of Revolutionary strife.
In December, 1775, he joined
Woodford at
Norfolk, in opposition to Lord Dunmore and his motley army.
For his gallantry during this campaign, Congress, on Feb. 29, 1776, appointed him one of five
brigadier-generals in the
Continental army, and ordered him to
Virginia.
In the spring of 1776, British spite towards
General Howe was exhibited by
Sir Henry Clinton, who sent Cornwallis, with 900 men, to ravage his plantation near old
Brunswick village.
He was placed in chief command of the
Southern troops in 1778, and was unsuccessful in an expedition against
Florida and in the defence of
Savannah.
His conduct was censured, but without just cause.
Among others whose voices were raised against him was Christopher Gadsden, of
Charleston.
Howe required him to deny or retract.
Gadsden would do neither, and a duel ensued.
They met at
Cannonsburg, and all the damage either sustained was
a scratch upon the ear of
Gadsden by
Howe's ball.
Howe died Nov. 12, 1785.
In retaliation for incursions from
Florida (q. v.),
General Howe, at the head of 2,000
Americans, mostly militia of
South Carolina and
Georgia, attempted the capture of
St. Augustine.
He met with very little opposition before he reached the
St. Mary River, where the
British had erected a fort, called
Tonyn, in compliment to the governor of the province.
On the approach of
Howe they destroyed the fort; and, after some slight skirmishing, retreated towards
St. Augustine.
But the
Americans were driven back from
Florida by a fever which swept away nearly one fourth of their number, and rendered their retreat absolutely necessary.
