Howard, OLIVER OTIS

Howard, OLIVER OTIS, an American general, was born at Leeds, Maine, 8th November 1830, graduated at West Point in 1854, took command of a regiment of Maine volunteers in 1861, and was made brigadier-general for gallantry at the first battle of Bull Run. He lost an arm at Fair Oaks in 1862, but afterwards was in several actions, and in 1864 commanded the Army of the Tennessee in the invasion of Georgia. He commanded the right wing of Sherman's army in the march to the sea and through the Carolinas. He was commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau from 1865 until its abolition in 1874, and was the first president of Howard University (see WASHINGTON, D.C.), which was named in his honour. He conducted two Indian campaigns, in 1877 and 1878; in 1886 he was promoted to major-general, and received the command of the division of the Pacific; in 1889 he was transferred to that of the Atlantic. General Howard is a cavalier of the Legion of Honour (1884). He has published several books, including Chief Joseph (1881), an account of his campaign against the Nez Percés.