The New International Encyclopædia/Howard, Oliver Otis

HOWARD, Oliver Otis (1830—). An American soldier. He was born in Leeds, Maine; graduated at Bowdoin in 1850, and at West Point in 1854; served as chief of ordnance during the Seminole troubles of 1857; and was assistant professor of mathematics at West Point from 1857 to 1861. Leaving the Regular Army in June, 1861, he became colonel of the Third Maine Volunteers, and commanded a brigade in the first battle of Bull Run. He was promoted to be brigadier-general of United States volunteers in September; participated in the Peninsular campaign; and in the battle of Fair Oaks (June 1, 1862) received a wound which necessitated the amputation of his right arm. After a short leave of absence he rejoined the Army of the Potomac; took a prominent part in the battle of Antietam; was promoted to be major-general of volunteers in November; and was engaged in the battle of Fredericksburg (December 13th). In April, 1863, he was placed in command of the Eleventh Army Corps, and as such took a conspicuous part in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He then served in the Chattanooga, campaign, taking part in the battle of Chattanooga, and accompanying Sherman on his march for the relief of Knoxville. From April to July, 1864, he commanded the Fourth Army Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, and during the march to the sea and the campaign in the Carolinas commanded the Army of the Tennessee, which constituted the right wing of General Sherman's army. In December, 1864, he was appointed brigadier-general in the Regular Army, and in March, 1865, was brevetted major-general for services at Ezra Church and during the Atlanta campaign. From May, 1865, to July, 1874, he was commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Within less than three years 1400 schools (not including 700 Sabbath schools) had been established, and many of the freedmen had been enabled to buy and maintain homesteads of their own. (See Freedmen's Bureau.) In 1874 Howard was placed in command of the Department of the Columbia, and in this capacity conducted the operations against the Nez Percés Indians in 1877, and against the Bannocks in 1878. He subsequently was superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point (1881-82), and commanded successively the departments of the Platte, of California, and of the East. In 1886 he was appointed major-general in the Regular Army, and in November, 1894, retired from the service. In 1895 he founded the Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tenn. Besides numerous magazine articles, his publications include: Donald's School Days (1879); Chief Joseph, or the Nez Percés in Peace and War (1881); General Zachary Taylor (1892), in the “Great Commanders Series;” Isabella of Castile (1894); Fighting for Humanity; and Henry in the War. Consult Stowe, Men of Our Times (New York, 1868).