Oliver Otis Howard: Be resilient.

The following was written by Joseph Mieczkowski, who is a  Licensed Battlefield Guide and a member of the faculty of the Lincoln Leadership Institute in Gettysburg. Joe gives us his interpretation of the lessons we can learn from O.O. Howard.
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Oliver Otis Howard was born on November 30, 1830, at Leeds, Maine.

Howard entered The US Military Academy at West Point in the autumn of 1850 and graduated four years later. Many admired Howard's character--he was widely known, and by most of his colleagues, for his Christian behavior. He was, by all accounts, a genuinely good man.When the American Civil War erupted, Howard was elected as colonel of the 3rd Maine Volunteers on May 28, 1861.

Howard's regiment traveled to Washington, DC in June 1861. On July 6, the organization crossed into Virginia. The next day, Howard learned that he had been selected to lead a brigade during the Battle of Bull Run I. Howard's brigade broke ranks and retreated in panic back toward Washington following a late-afternoon Confederate counterattack.

During the Peninsula Campaign in 1862, Howard commanded the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the Army of the Potomac's 2nd Corps. At approximately 8:10 on the morning of the second day of the Battle of Seven Pines (May 31-June 1, 1862) Howard received severe wounds to his right arm, doctors amputated Howard's arm.  

Howard went on sick leave from June 2 through August 27, 1862 to recover from his wound. He returned to active duty and he participated in the failed Union assault on Marye's Heights at the Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-15, 1862).

At the Battle of Chancellorsville, May 1863, Howard's corps formed the right flank of the Army of the Potomac. Howard failed to heed warnings from General Joseph Hooker that his position was "in the air". On May 2, 1863, Confederate "Stonewall" Jackson marched his corps of approximately twenty-eight thousand men twelve miles via roundabout roads and flanked Howard's position. Late in the afternoon, Jackson's troops slammed into Howard's men. Hooker's entire right flank collapsed within one quarter of an hour, forcing the federal army to retreat. Afterwards, Hooker blamed Howard for the Union rout.

One month later, at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-4, 1863), Howard suffered another costly military setback. On the first day of battle, General Jubal Early's division exploited a salient in Howard's defensive line north of town. Early's attack sent the Howard and 11th Corps fleeing back through Gettysburg to the high ground on Cemetery Hill south of town.

Howard's men recovered, and Early's follow-up assault the next day failed to dislodge them from their new position. Union artillery fire from Cemetery Hill on the third day of battle contributed greatly to the failed Confederate assault (known as Pickett's Charge) on Cemetery Ridge. On January 28, 1864 Howard received the "Thanks of Congress" for the decision to hold and defend Cemetery Hill (S. Res. 3).

On November 25, 1863, Howard's Corps participated in the successful assault on Missionary Ridge that forced Bragg's retreat into Georgia.
Major General William T. Sherman selected him to lead the 4th Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. Sherman admired Howard's character and his skills as an administrator. Howard served in that position throughout the Atlanta Campaign.

On July 27, 1864, Sherman appointed Howard to command the Army of the Tennessee. Howard continued in that capacity throughout the campaign known as Sherman's March to the Sea. Howard was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army, effective December 21, 1864.

Howard's men played an important role at the Battle of Bentonville (March 19-21, 1865), and Howard was present when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his forces to Sherman at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina, on April 26, 1865.

Howard would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Following the war, President Johnson selected Howard as the commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. Under Howard's leadership, the Bureau provided a plethora of services to freedmen and some poor whites in the South, with varying levels of success. During his time as commissioner, Howard was also instrumental in the founding of Howard University in Washington, DC.

In 1882, he served as Superintendent of the U. S. Military in 1882.
Howard retired from active service on November 8, 1894, at the age of sixty-four years.

After leaving the army, Howard fulfilled a pledge that he made to Abraham Lincoln to organize an institution of higher learning for Appalachian residents of the Cumberland Gap area. With the help of locally prominent citizens, Howard helped found Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.

 The seventy-eight-year-old general died from a stroke on October 26, 1909 at his home in Burlington, Vermont. He was buried in that city.

On November 12, 1932, the State of Maine dedicated an equestrian statue of Howard on Cemetery Hill at the Gettysburg National Military Park. The inscription of the statue reads:
Erected to the memory of
Major General Oliver Otis Howard
and the citizens of Maine
who served their country in the Civil War

                                                               Gettysburg Lessons

Be resilient.

Never, never, never give up. 
Winston Churchill

Persevere and adhere to your principles.

Learn from your mistakes. As a young General Howard made errors as a result of inexperience, he would learn from his mistakes and would later be recognized.

Howard persevered throughout his career despite many setbacks and continued to grow as a commander. He continued to live his life according to his principles, and continued to be the dutiful subordinate willing to do almost anything.
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Copyright 2014 Joseph Mieczkowski
for Gettysburg Lessons

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