USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Leeds > History of the town of Leeds, Androscoggin County, Maine, from its settlement June 10, 1780 > Part 20
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Gen. Howard received the brevet of major-general in the regular army, conferred 13th of March, 1865. His march on Lovejoy Station was so rapid as to secure for the enemy a divided force ; the enemy, so divided, attacked Howard there and was defeated, and Howard's and Thomas' commands completed the victory. It was a division of his army under Gen. Corse that fought the brilliant action of Allatoona Pass. In the march to the sea Sher- man gave Howard his right wing, Slocum his left. Howard marched via Gordon, leaving Macon to his right. A division of his, Charles R. Woods' under his supervision fought the succes- ful battle of Griswoldville; Walcutt's brigade doing most of the fighting. He moved on successfully on that route towards Savannah, while Slocum passed through Milledgeville, north- ward. Howard successfully marched three columns to the vicin- ity of Savannah, sending his scouts down the Ogeechee River to successfully communicate with the fleet ; he chose and sent the division of Hazen to attack Fort McAllister, and was with Sher- man observing that brilliant operation. Gen. Howard was made a brigadier-general in the regular army Dec. 21, 1865. After the taking of Savannah, about the 23d of December, 1864, Sherman chose Howard's command to begin Jan. 1, 1865, and move by water from Savannah, Ga., to Beaufort Island, S. C., to cross to the main land and sweep northward through Garden's Corner, Pocotaligo, across the branches of the Salkehatchie and the Edisto, via Orangeburg, up the Congaree, across the Saluda and the Broad, and into Columbia ; while Slocum's left wing crossed the Savannah, and so kept abreast further northward. After Columbia had fallen, and Charleston, with the forts along the coast, Howard's wing passed across the Carolinas, joining with Slocum to finish very successfully the battle of Bentonville, March 19, 20 and 21, 1865; a little later, after Joseph E. Johnston's surrender, April 26, 1865, Howard marched his command from 20 to 25 miles a day from Raleigh to Washington, via Peters- burg and Richmond ; he himself being ordered, while his officers continued the march from Richmond, to proceed from Richmond to Washington by water in accordance with a request which Mr. Lincoln had left with his secretary, Mr. Stanton. Gen. Howard was assigned to duty in the War Department, the 12th of May, 1865, as Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands ; he had charge of this bureau for the next seven years, and though it was much complained of at times, he was abundantly successful in its administration, particularly in its industrial and its educational features, having founded many per- manent institutions of learning -- such as Howard University, Hampton Institute, Atlanta University, Lincoln, Fiske, Straight and others.
In 1872, he was chosen by Gen. Grant, then the President, and
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sent to make peace with the only Indian tribe then at war with the government namely the Chiricaua Apaches; and also to settle numerous difficulties with other tribes in Arizona and New Mex- ico : all this Gen. Howard thoroughly accomplished without arms. On complaints about his administration of the Freedmen's Bureau there were two investigations; one in 1870 by a committee of Congress, which ended in a vote of thanks to him by the House of Representatives ; the other was by a court of inquiry composed of seven general officers of the army; this ended in complete acquittal of all the charges preferred against him, and in unre- stricted commendation. He had hardly completed this Bureau work when he was assigned to command the Department of the Columbia, August, 1874. During the next six years he, in com- mand, passed through two Indian wars-one called the Nez Perce war, 1877; the other the Piute and Bannock, 1878. He brought these wars, after many battles and long, fatiguing cam- paigns, to a successful termination. In the spring of 1879, another Indian tribe called the "Sheepeaters" becoming rebellious in points near the Salmon River, he sent out and captured them en masse, brought them in as prisoners, put them at work at Van- couver and their children at school. From the Department of the Columbia, in the winter of 1880-81 he was assigned to the com- mand of the West Point Military Academy, which he held for two years. July 13, 1882, he was assigned to command the Department of the Platte, to which he gave successful adminis- tration until his promotion to a major-general in the regular army, 19th of March, '86. He then passed to the military divis- ion of the Pacific, which included the Department of the Colum- bia, of California and Arizona. This division he administered to the satisfaction of the War Department and the President till November, 1888, when he was transferred to command the mili- tary division of the Atlantic. This division he held till the divis- ions were broken up; after that he commanded the Department of the East, which was substantially the same as the division of the Atlantic, until his retirement by law, Nov. 8, 1894. Removed to Burlington, Vt., where he has since resided. From 1897 to 1901 he was managing director of Lincoln Memorial University, an industrial school for whites at Cumberland Gap, Tenn.
For his work at Gettysburg he received the thanks of Con- gress dated Jan. 28, 1864; received the decoration of the Legion of Honor from the President of the French Republic, when on. temporary duty he was attending the French manouvers during an absence from his Department of the Platte, in 1884; elected honorary member of the Society of Army and Navy of Spain December, 1883; received the degree of A.M. from Bowdoin College, Me., and LL.D. from Bowdoin, Waterville College, Me., 1865, Shurtliffe College, Indiana, 1865, and Gettysburg Thelogi-
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cal Seminary, Pa., 1866. Howard is the author of the following books; Donald's School Days, Nez Perce Joseph, or the Nez Perces in Peace and in War ; published by Lee and Shepard, Bos- ton ; Agenor de Garparin, a Biographical Sketch, partly a trans- lation, by Putnam Sons, New York; "Gen. Taylor," in the Great Commander series, D. Appleton & Co., N. Y .; "Fighting for Humanity," Neely Co., N. Y .; in preparation, Personal Experi- ences Among the American Indians; Worthington & Co., Hart- ford, 1901 ; Isabella of Castile, a Biography, Funk & Wagnalls, N. Y. ; a series of monographs published extensively in the "National Tribune," Washington, D. C .; military articles in the United States Military Service Journal, Governor's Island; and numer- ous articles, a part of them of a military character, but the most on subjects of current interest, published in syndicates, monthlies and dailies, appearing at all times from 1865 to the present day. Gen. Howard has prepared lectures upon the lives of Grant, Sher- man, Thomas and Slocum, also upon war subjects and others of public interest, and delivered them with acceptance before large audiences ; in fact his lectures seem to be in greater demand than his writings, though the latter find ready publishers.
During the Spanish-American War, he served on the Y. M. C. A. Christian Commission, speaking in all the camps and visit- ing Santiago, Cuba.
(Addenda to Gen. O. O. Howard.)
A leaf in the history of General Howard is here turned back- ward to a more domestic part of life.
General Oliver Otis Howard was born in Leeds, Kennebec (now Androscoggin) County, Me., Nov. 8, 1830, on a portion of that vast section of land taken up by his great-grandfather, Roger Stinchfield, one of the two pioneer brothers-settled by his grandfather, Capt. Seth Howard, and now owned by A. J. Foss. He was the eldest of three brothers, viz .: Oliver Otis, Roland Bailey, Jr. and Charles H. His parents were Roland Bailey Howard, born in Bridgewater, Mass., July 29, 1795 and his wife, Eliza Otis, born in Leeds, Dec. 10, 1804. His paternal grand- parents were Capt. Seth Howard, born in Bridgewater, Mass.,. Nov. 21, 1762 and his wife, Desire Bailey, born Ibid. Jan. 23, 1762. His maternal grandparents were Oliver Otis, born in Scituate, Mass., Nov. 8, 1768 and his wife, Betsey Stinchfield, born in New Gloucester, April 14, 1774.
His early boyhood days were spent on the farm, and his edu- cation was actively begun in the district school from which he attended Monmouth Academy, where he took a college prepara- tory course. At the age of sixteen, he was enrolled at Bowdoin College. At the age of nineteen he graduated. Unsolicited, he received an appointment from Maine, as a cadet in the Military
REV. ROWLAND BAILEY HOWARD, Secretary American Peace Society.
Born 1834.
Died 1891.
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Academy at West Point, which he entered Sept. 1, 1850, and. from which he graduated, No. 4 in rank, in June, 1854.
Feb. 14, 1855, he married Elizabeth Ann Waite, born in Ban- gor, Me., in 1832. On the following day he was commissioned 2d Lieutenant of Ordnance and assigned to the Kennebec Arsenal, Me., to which place he removed his helpmeet. To them seven children were born, namely :
I. Guy, b. in Kennebec Arsenal, Augusta, Me., Dec. 16, 1855;
2. Grace E., b. in Leeds, Me., June 22, 1857 ;
3. James Waite, b. in West Point, N. Y., Dec. 1, 1860;
4. Chauncey Otis, b. in Augusta, Me., May 3, 1863; (second. day's battle at Chancellorsville.)
.
5. John, b. in Washington, D. C., June 15, 1867;
6. Harry Stinson, b. in Washington, D. C., July 25, 1869 ; 7. Bessie, b. in Washington, D. C., Sept. 19, 1871.
Of his children, Col. Guy Howard met his death while gal- lantly serving his country on the firing line in the Philippines in 1900. He was one of the ablest officers in the regular army and was greatly honored by all who knew him. His widow and two children survive him.
Grace Howard, eldest daughter of the General, married Capt. Gray, of Portland, Oregon, and has five children.
James W. Howard, second son of the General, is a civil engineer in New York. He is married and has one daughter.
Chauncey O. Howard, third son, is in the government service- in Washington, D. C., is married, and has four boys.
John Howard, fourth son, is a major in the United States- Army and is in service in the Philippines. He is married, but has no children.
Harry . S. Howard, fifth son, and Bessie Howard, the Gen- eral's youngest daughter, live with their parents in Burling- ton, Vt.
LIFE OF ROLAND BAILEY HOWARD.
Roland Bailey Howard was born in Leeds, Me., in 1834; died in Rome, Italy, in 1891. He prepared for college at Yarmouth Academy and was graduated from Bowdoin in the Class of 1856. After this he studied law in Troy, N. Y., then gave up the law for the ministry, for which he prepared in the Bangor, Me., Sem- inary. He married in 1860 Ella Patten, daughter of Capt. David Patten of Bath, Me., a large ship owner in his time. His first parish was the Old South Congregational Church, Farm- ington, Me., where he remained ten years, and where his first three children were born, after which he was pastor of the Con- gregational Church in Princeton, Ill., and later of the Grove
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Street Congregational Church, East Orange, N. J. His last pas- torate was in Rockport, Mass.
During and later his East Orange pastorate he was Eastern Editor of the "Chicago Advance" of which his brother Charles was Editor-in-Chief.
While in Rockport he became deeply interested in the cause of international arbitration and finally gave up all other work to become Secretary of the American Peace Society of Boston, the oldest society of this type in America, which position he held during the remaining years of his life. He found the Society in a disorganized condition, and through untiring effort placed it upon a solid basis for practical work in the advocacy of its great cause. He enlisted the sympathies of the leading public men in America and Europe in international arbitration, gaining their personal allegiance in a permanent manner. He attended three World Conferences in this interest in Europe and advocated an International Court to decide the differences existing between nations. For these services he was greatly honored by the friends of peace, especially in England and the United States, and he met his death through over-taxing his strength while at the International Peace Congress in Rome, his last address being an eloquent appeal for the establishments of international justice through a High Court of Appeal in place of the historic methods of war.
All through his ministerial experience he was greatly beloved from the fact of his large-hearted personality and broad sympa- thies with all people. He often said that he would rather minis- ter humbly to the needs of his parishioners than to be a great preacher. He combined, however, the personal charm with his public service and was a man of great eloquence when occasion demanded it.
He was present with his brother, General O. O. Howard, through the battle of Gettysburg and gained an impression at that time which resulted later in his strong stand against war.
He was a clear and forceful writer, contributing often to magazines and various publications, a great lover of books with a large library, and a deep student of all questions touching mankind.
His first wife died in Princeton, Ill., in 1872. He was mar- ried to Miss Helen G. Graves of Farmington, Me., in 1874.
He had three children by his first marriage, the eldest, David Patten Howard, born in 1861, a lawyer in Cripple Creek, Colo- rado, served nearly two years as Captain in the Ist Colorado Regiment in the Philippines during the Spanish War. His second son, Oliver Otis Howard, Jr., born in 1865, is a business man in San Francisco, Cal. The third, Francis Gilman Howard, born in 1869, is an artist in New York.
BREVET BRIG .- GENERAL CHARLES H. HOWARD.
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All three of above sons are married.
He had two children by his second wife, Rowland S. and Ella. who live with their mother in Farmington, Me.
Mr. David Howard has one daughter, Dorothy.
LIFE OF GEN. CHARLES H. HOWARD.
Charles H. Howard was born in Leeds, Me., in August, 1838; was fitted for college at Yarmouth Academy and Kent's Hill, Me., also at Topsham Academy. Graduated from Bowdoin in 1859, spent a year with his brother, then Lieut. O. O. Howard, at West Point, studying the various phases of army service. Then went to Bangor, Me., where he taught in the High School. Entered Bangor Seminary for preparation for the ministry but left in 1861 to assist his brother, then Col. O. O. Howard, to organize the 3d Maine Regiment of Volunteers. Enlisted him- self in the regiment and was detailed as secretary to his brother, and then as aide-de-camp, in which capacity he served in the Battle of Bull Run. He filled the posts of Adjutant-General and Corps Inspector-General at subsequent times. His first com- mission was as a Lieutenant, and while serving on the brigade staff at the Battle of Fair Oaks, he was wounded in the thigh and carried from the field at the same time that his brother, then General O. O. Howard, was being removed from the fight after having his right arm shot away by the enemy's fire.
Charles H. Howard was in active service in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He was again wounded by a bursting shell at Fredericksburg. In 1863 he was promoted to Major and was commissioned by Abra- ham Lincoln as aide-de-camp on the staff of the IIth Corps. After this he was in the battle of Lookout Valley and Missionary Ridge, receiving his orders direct from Gen. Grant and reporting direct to him.
During the Atlanta campaign he was Inspector-General of the 4th Army Corps of the Army of the Cumberland.
When Gen. O. O. Howard became commander of the Army of the Tennessee, Charles H. Howard became his senior aide, went with his army through to Savannah, and was the first officer to see Abraham Lincoln and report after the march of Sherman's army to the sea.
He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel for gallantry at Gettysburg, and was breveted Colonel for gallantry in the battle of Ezra Church. He was Inspector-General on the staff of Gen. Saxton and established freedmen's schools in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Became Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau until 1868. Then was appointed
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western secretary of American Missionary Association, with head- quarters in Chicago. Bought the land for Toogaloo University in Mississippi; erected the first buildings of Straight University, New Orleans.
In 1873, he became editor and proprietor of the Chicago Advance, a Congregational newspaper, and continued in this position till 1882.
President Garfield appointed him Inspector of Indian Agen- cies in 1882, and in 1884 he edited the National Tribune for one year, since which he has purchased the "Farm, Field and Stock- man," changing its name recently to the "Farm, Field and Fire- side," a monthly publication issued in Chicago, of which he is now editor.
Gen. Charles H. Howard has five sons and two daughters, none of whom are at present married.
Otis McGaw Howard, born 1868; is a lawyer and is president of the Howard Publishing Co., Chicago.
Burt Foster Howard, born 1871 ; is a physician in Bangor, Me. Nina Foster Howard, born 1873 ; is assistant editor of "Farm, Field and Fireside."
Arthur Day Howard, born 1874; is instructor in Northwest- ern University.
Lawrence Riggs Howard, born 1875 ; is a clergyman in Prov- idence, R. I.
Donald Charles Howard, born 1879; is steward of the Dakota Mission for the Indians.
Katherine Howard, born 1889; lives with her parents in Glen- coe, Ill., near Chicago.
BARNABUS HOWARD FAMILY.
Barnabus Howards, a brother of Capt. Seth Howard, was born in Bridgewater, Mass .; Aug. 22, 1770. He married Mary Hayward (later spelled Howard), who was born Jan. 14, 1778. They settled in that town and subsequently in Scituate. In these towns nine of their family of twelve children were born. In 1815, he removed with his family to Leeds, where he pur- chased of Marshfield Paul the place now owned and occupied by W. Henry Francis. This place, as well as that settled by his brother, Capt. Seth, which is that now owned by A. J. Foss, were parts of the original claims of Thomas and Rogers Stinch- field, which extended from the Lake to the Androscoggin River, and south to the south line of the farm of Oliver Otis, of which his land was a part. The house to which Barnabus moved his family was a frame house of the pattern of most of the colonial dwellings, and stood on a spot westerly and near his family cem- ยท etery. The season of 1816 was that known in history, with its
----
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sorrowful experiences of hunger and sufferings of the people, as the "Cold season." Raising few, if any crops, a large family, with a long winter before them, Barnabus, like all wise men, hied himself back to old Massachusetts where there was bread in plenty. But the following spring, with renewed courage, found them all back to Leeds again where they afterward remained and became important factors in the building of educational and religious structures, and their genial, pleasant manners and kindly greetings, won for them the esteem and friendship of their neighbors and many acquaintances. Barnabus Howard died Dec. 14, 1859, and his widow March 12, 1862. Their children were:
Luther Loomis, born April 29, 1796; Daniel, b. May 7, 1798; Jason, b. July 6. 1800; Anna, b. Dec. 28, 1802; Warren, b. Aug. I, 1805; Barnabus, Jr., b. March 7, 1808; Melvin, b. April 19, 1810; Mary Dunbar, b. April 25, 1812; Harriett Newall, b. March 19, 1815; Sewall, b. in Leeds, Aug. 2, 1817; Cornelia, Bradford, b. March 30, 1820: Laura Jane, b. April 14, 1822.
Luther Loomis married, March 30, 1823, Rhoda B. Mitchell, the fruit of which union was a son, Luther Loomis, second, born October 18, 1825. March 28, 1826, the husband and father died. (Mention of the widow and son will be made farther on.)
Daniel married, on June 1, 1840, Mary F. Crosby : settled in Belfast, Me., where he extensively engaged in the manufacture and sale of furniture. Having early learned the trade of cabinet maker, and possessed of native and acquired business ability, he became very successful and sustained a thriving business in the town where he so long lived, and later died.
Jason, the third child of Barnabus5, married Caroline A. How- ard, and settled in West Bridgewater, Mass. Of his family little has been learned, but his early death, which occurred Aug. 10, 1827, is reasonable proof that if he was a father, but few children were legitimately entitled to the right of calling him by that name.
Anna, the fourth child, who died July 8, 1824, at the age of 21 years, was unmarried.
Warren, the fourth son and fifth child of Barnabus5, was born in Scituate, Mass. He married, Feb. 28, 1828, Rhoda B. (Mitchell) Howard, the widow of his eldest brother, Luther Loomis, whose only child, Luther Loomis second, was tenderly cared for by him, never lacking for a father's love or parental guidance. Mrs. Howard was a faithful helpmeet and a kind and indulgent wife and mother. It was the lot of this couple to care for and administer to the wants of his parents in the years of their decline, and to tenderly lay them away in the family bury- ing place on the farm where their children were reared and from whence they had gone forth to participate in the various walks of life. Deacon Warren Howard was a man of sterling worth :
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his kindly nature and earnest piety won for him the respect and esteem of his townsmen. His large family of children were "reared in the fear and admonition of the Lord." He died March 12, 1876.
Their children were: Melvin Clark, born Aug. 28, 1828; Lucy Mitchell, b. Oct. 24, 1830; Marilla Mark, b. Nov. 19, 1832; Almina Augusta, b. Sept. 27, 1834; Mary Jane, b. June 6, 1838; Dexter Waterman, b. July 23, 1840; Hannah Lane, b. Jan. 23, 1843; Clara Cornelia, b. Aug. 17, 1845.
Barnabus, Jr., the sixth child of Barnabus5, married Eunice Gould April 9, 1834, and settled near Dead River, on the farm taken up and cleared by Joseph Knapp, Sen., the buildings on which stood about 60 rods northerly of those on the present town-farm. After selling this farm to the town of Leeds, he resided, for a term of years, on Quaker Ridge, and subsequently removed to Brockton, Mass., where both he and his wife died.
Their children, who grew to manhood, were Oren G., b. Aug. 21, 1835; Sewall P., b. Aug. 9, 1836, and Henry Harrison, b. Feb. 1, 1842.
Melvin, the next son of Barnabus5, and his sister, Mary D., both died young, the former, March 19, 1820; and the latter, July 8, 1830. Harriett Newall, his next child, married Ruggles Syl- vester on the 19th day of March, 1840. Mr. Sylvester died Dec. 24, 1852, leaving a widow and one daughter.
Sewall, the tenth child of Barnabus5, died April 26, 1832.
Cornelia B., whose numerical position was eleven, married Alvin Foss, July 30, 1837, who was born Nov. 12, 1816. She has been a resident of Leeds much of her long and useful life. Although for many years a widow since Oct. 22, 1869, she has lived to see her children and grandchildren grow up about her and to them has ever been a faithful and loving parent. Their children were:
Ann, born Nov. 6, 1838; Francis G., b. Jan. 3, 1842 ; Warren Howard, b. Nov. 3, 1847; Fred C., b. June 25, 1849; Minnie A., b. June 6, 1859, and Preston E., b. Jan. 12, 1862.
Laura Jane, the youngest child of Barnabus5, died Sept. 26, 1839, at the age of 17 years.
Luther Loomis second, the only child of Luther Loomis6 and Rhoda B. Mitchell, married Sarah P. Hussey of Mount Vernon, Me., who was born in that town Jan. 28, 1822. She had a twin sister, both of whose pictures recently appeared in the State and Massachusetts papers, together with their biographies. Her death, which occurred in Hallowell, Dec. 14, 1900, was deeply mourned by all who knew her.
Elder Howard (as he is called by his Leeds neighbors and friends), early espoused the cause of religion, and has made the Bible a life-long study. He is a worshiper of "The true and living
ELDER LUTHER LOOMIS HOWARD.
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God," and has, for many years, been a teacher and a preacher of the gospel. He is a firm believer and advocate of the faith of the second coming of Christ and the setting up of His kingdom on earth. Mr. Howard has spent many of his useful years in the town that gave him birth. and has a warm place in the hearts of the people. On account of declin- ing health, he removed to the home of a daughter, in Hallo- well, in 1899, where he now resides. The loss of his companion he deeply feels, yet silently endures his sorrow, and has a cheerful word for those who are likewise sorrowing. They had issue nine children, viz. : Melissa Almira, born in Hallo- well, Me., Jan. 28, 1847; Melvin Clark, second, b. Ibid. Dec. I, 1848; Luther Loomis, third, b. in Chelsea, Me., Nov. 24, 1850; Ella Marilla, b. in Augusta, April 3, 1853; Lizzie T., b. in West Poland, May 15, 1855 ; Sarah Florence, b. in West Poland, Aug. 5, 1857; Lot, b. Ibid. Feb. 24, 1861; Leander M., b. in Rome, Me., March 19, 1863, and Fred N., b. in Rome, April 6, 1866.
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