Medal of Honor Recipient
At the battle of Fair Oaks, Va., he received two serious wounds and had his right arm amputated!
11th Corps Commander at the battle of Gettysburg
(1830-1909) Howard was born in Leeds, Maine, and graduated #4 in the West Point class of 1846. Was appointed Colonel of the 3rd Maine Infantry, in June 1861, and saw action as a Brigade Commander at the 1st Battle of Bull Run. He was promoted to brigadier general on September 3, 1861, and fought at Yorktown, and Fair Oaks where he received two serious wounds and lost his right arm. Howard recovered quickly enough to rejoin the army for the Battle of Antietam, in which he rose to division command in the 2nd Corps. He was promoted to major general in November 1862, seeing action at Fredericksburg, and he was appointed as the commander of the 11th Corps in April 1863. He later fought in the battles of Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Howard and the 11th Corps were transferred to the Western Theater becoming part of the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee. In the Battles for Chattanooga, the corps joined the assault that captured Missionary Ridge, and they also participated in the Atlanta campaign. General Howard subsequently led the right wing of General William Tecumseh Sherman's infamous "March to the Sea," through Georgia and then the Carolina's. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Fair Oaks, and the Thanks of Congress for Gettysburg. Continuing in the Regular Army, he was peace commissioner to the Apaches, and he participated in Indian fighting. He founded Howard University for Negroes in Washington, D.C., and served as it's president from 1869-74. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy, 1881-1882. Oliver O. Howard died in Burlington, Vermont, on October 26, 1909, and is buried at Lakeview Cemetery, in Burlington. At his death, Howard was the last surviving Union Army general to have held the permanent rank of a general in the regular U.S. Army.
Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 1/2 x 4 card. Bust view in uniform with rank of brigadier general. Back mark: C.W. Woodward, Dealer, 126 State St., Rochester, N.Y. Very fine. |