O.O. Howard

Oliver Otis Howard was a career Army soldier, nicknamed the “Christian General” because he tried to base all policy and military strategy on his deep religious belief. Howard rose through the Army ranks to become a Brevet Major General. During the Civil War, he fought in the Union Army at Bull Run, Fair Oaks, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chattanooga, and in General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March through Georgia. He lost his right arm at Fair Oaks, which later earned him a Medal of Honor.

After the Civil War, Howard moved to DC to accept an appointment as commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (from 1865 to 1873). He was a leader in promoting higher education for freed slaves, founding Howard University and serving as its first president from 1867 through 1873. Originally called the Howard Normal and Theological Institute for the Education of Preachers and Teachers, the school was open to students of both sexes and was highly controversial in its early years.

After 1874, Howard served in the Indian Wars, in campaigns against Apache, Nez Perce, and Paiute warriors. His appointments included: commander of the Department of the Columbia, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, commander of the Department of the Platte, commander of the Division of the Pacific, and commander of the Division of the East.

Howard was the author of: The Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard (1907), My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians (1907), and Famous Indian Chiefs I Have Known (1908), as well as biographies of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, General Richard Taylor, and Queen Isabella I of Castile. He also wrote occasional poems and made English translations of literature from French.