★ ★  MOH Howard, Oliver O.

Oliver Otis Howard

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Howard.jpg


Born:
November 8, 1830

Birthplace: Leeds, Maine

Father: Rowland Bailey Howard 1795 – 1840
(Buried: Leeds Center Cemetery, Leeds, Maine)​

Stepfather: Colonel John Gilmore 1790 – 1864
(Buried: Union Cemetery, Leeds, Maine)​

Mother: Eliza Otis 1804 – 1888
(Buried: Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Chicago, Illinois)​

Wife: Elizabeth A. Waite 1832 – 1911
(Buried: Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, Vermont)​

Married: February 14, 1855 in Portland, Maine

Children:

Major Guy Howard 1855 – 1899​
(Buried: Prospect Hill Cemetery, Omaha, Nebraska)
Howard 2.jpg
Grace Ellen Howard Gray 1857 – 1949​
(Buried: River View Cemetery, Portland, Oregon)​
Chancey Otis Howard 1863 – 1934​
(Buried: Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, Vermont)​
Harry Stinson Howard 1869 – 1960​
(Buried: Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, Vermont)​
Elizabeth Ann Howard Bancroft 1871 – 1941​
(Buried: Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, Delaware)​

Signature:
Howard Signature.png


Education:

Attended Monmouth Academy in Monmouth, Maine​
1850: Graduated from Bowdoin College​
1854: Graduated from West Point Military Academy – (4th in class)​

Occupation before War:

1854 – 1855: Brevet 2nd Lt. United States Army, Ordinance​
1855 – 1857: 2nd Lt. United States Army, Ordinance​
1857 – 1861: 1st Lt. United States Army, Ordinance​
1857 – 1861: Assistant Math Professor, West Point Military Academy​
1861: Resigned from United States Army on June 7th​

Civil War Career:

1861: Colonel of 3rd Maine Volunteers Infantry Regiment​
1861: Temporarily Commanded a Brigade at 1st Battle of Bull Run​
1861 – 1862: Brigadier General Union Army, Volunteers​
1862: Participated in the Virginia Peninsula Campaign
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1862: Builder of Wharves and Roads during Peninsula Campaign​
1862: Wounded twice Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia
1862: Wounded in right arm causing amputation of right arm​
1862: Participated in the Battle of Centreville, Virginia​
1862: Covered the retreat to Washington, D.C.​
1862: Brigade Commander at Battle of Antietam, Maryland​
1862 – 1869: Major General Union Army, Volunteers​
1862: Participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia​
1863: Commander of 11th Army Corps Army of the Potomac​
1863: Corps Commander at Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia​
1863: Corps Commander at Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania​
1863 – 1864: Commander of 11th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland​
1863: Corps Commander Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee​
1864 – 1865: Commander Army of the Tennessee​
1864: Led his troops in the Atlanta, Georgia Campaign​
1864: Wounded during Battle of Pickett’s Mill, Georgia​
1864: Leader of right-Wing during Sherman’s march to the sea​
1864: Served in the fighting at Griswoldville, Georgia​
1864 – 1886: Brigadier General United States Army​
1865: Leader of right-Wing during Carolina’s Campaign​
1865 – 1874: United States Commissioner of Freedmen’s Bureau
Howard 1.jpg
1869: Mustered out of volunteer service on January 1st​

Occupation after War:

1864 – 1886: Brigadier General United States Army​
1865 – 1874: United States Commissioner of Freedmen’s Bureau​
Leader in the founding of Howard University​
1872: Special Indian Commissioner to hostile Apaches in N.M. Terr.​
1874 – 1881: Commander U.S. Army, Department of Columbia​
1877: Served against hostile Nez Perces Indians led by Chief Joseph​
1881 – 1882: Superintendent of West Point Military Academy​
1882 – 1886: Commander U.S. Army, Department of the Platte​
1884: Made Chevalier of Honor by the French Government​
1886 – 1894: Major General United States Army
Howard 3.png
1886 – 1888: Commander U.S. Army, Department of California​
1888 – 1894: Commander U.S. Army, Department of the East​
1893: Recipient of Medal of Honor for role at Battle of Fair Oaks, VA.​
1894: Retired from United States Army on November 8th​
Visited Soldiers camps during Spanish American War​
Delegate of Army and Navy Christian Commission​
President American Tract Society​
President Congregational Home Missionary Society​
Author of Autobiography and Life Among Hostile Indians
Lecturer on his experiences in the Army​
Died: October 26, 1909

Place of Death: Burlington, Vermont

Cause of Death: Stroke

Age at time of Death: 78 years old

Burial Place: Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, Vermont


Medal of Honor
Citation
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Brigadier General Oliver Otis Howard, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 1 June 1862, while serving with U.S. Volunteers, in action at Fair Oaks, Virginia. Brigadier General Howard led the 61st New York Infantry in a charge in which he was twice severely wounded in the right arm, necessitating amputation.
 
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Nice write up. There's a news anchorwoman on channel 9 here in the D.C. broadcast area (CBS affiliate) that was a Howard U. graduate. She's tops, Leslie Foster, check her out. Also the PBS affiliate is WHUT, channel 32 (Washington Howard University Television). Howard may have visited my GG uncle while he was at Santiago de Cuba in a hospital after the Kettle and San Juan Hill engagements. Quite a few of the 1rst District of Columbia Volunteers (a local national guard unit) came down with nasty cases of malaria while in Cuba. The SAW is really interesting, especially if you have an ancestor that served in it. Howard certainly had an amazing career. Thanks for sharing this.
 
Interesting thing about Howard is that he seemed to overcome his flawed command of the XI Corps at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, when the Corps, under his command, essentially folded under enemy pressure.
 
You too? I've even had one come in upside down. But only on this forum. What am I doing wrong?
when you find out, let me know! LOL
I still can't figure out why it does that, I believe it's a compatibility issue with the iPhone, which I'm assuming you used to take your pictures.

The iPhone always orients the photo one way, but then the forum reads the exif data in the photo, which is supposed to tell the forum which direction is UP, it always gets it wrong. I've tried to correct the problem several times with no success....
 
I also found it interesting that his marker lists the 61st NY as his regiment. He began the war as the Col. of the 3rd Maine before being bumped up to brigade and division command.
 
I also found it interesting that his marker lists the 61st NY as his regiment. He began the war as the Col. of the 3rd Maine before being bumped up to brigade and division command.

I found that interesting, as well. I think it is on his grave marker because that was his command at the Battle of Fair Oaks, and thus the source of his Medal of Honor.
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Howard is one of those men whom I have a more complicated opinion of. I respect his political beliefs, for the most part. His civil accomplishments postwar were all noble efforts.
That said, as a general, he has no real gold moments of brilliance after being promoted to corps command. Chancellorsville was a preventable disaster he could have prevented, but didn't; his actions at Gettysburg weren't great either; and Pickett's Mill was one of the worst defeats Sherman suffered during the Atlanta Campaign. He repulses Hardee at Jonesborough August 31st, but does nothing September 1st to keep Confederate troops pinned, letting a total victory for Sherman slip away. He wasn't well liked by his men, often being given assignments to men who find his particular beliefs to be frustrating (whether its from an agnostic German revolutionary or a conservative soldier or officer of the Army of the Cumberland).
I wonder what would have happened if he was given command of USCT troops, I feel his disposition makes it so he "gets" them better than other officers assigned to command them.
 
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