Howard, Oliver Otis (1830–1909)

US soldier. Stonewall Jackson's famous flank attack routed Howard's XI Corps at Chancellorsville (May 1863), and his command gave way before Confederate assaults on the first day at Gettysburg two months later. Transferred to the West, he led a wing of General William Sherman's army in the March to the Sea in 1864. An officer of strong humanitarian and religious convictions, Howard headed the Freedman's Bureau 1865–72. He helped found Howard University in Washington, DC, which is named after him, and was its first president 1869–74. He took part in the Nez Percé Indian war in 1877 and was superintendent of West Point 1881–82.

Born in Leeds, Maine, he graduated from Bowdoin College and then West Point in 1854. After retiring from the army in 1894, he was involved in various educational and religious projects. He also wrote on historical and military subjects and published a two-volume autobiography.