The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1907-12-26
GEN. TOWARDS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

Civil War puts forth his long anticipat.
cd autobiography. We have the stories
Of the lives of Grant, Sherman and
Sheridan from their own pens, fund
of information concerning the most i'm
nortant crisis through which our coun
trv has ever passed, of the greatest
value to the historian who seeks to
study the story of that period. These
two thick volumes, of more than six
hundred pages each, contain the life
story of General Howard. In less than
one hundred he relates the incidents
Of his childhood and youth-his earliest
wears, his fathers death, the subse-
1uent marriage of his mother, his
school days, his college life at Bowdoin,
lis appointment to a cadetship at West
POINT at graduation, his life at the
Academy, his brief service in the Semi
mole War, his appointment to an in
structorship at West Point. All these
various experiences are rapidly told,
but simply and in a manner which
holds the attention.
The insight which General Howard
gives us into the social and political
conditions at West Point, and especial
ly the attempt which was made, during
his cadetship, to ostracize him, mainly
for the reason that he was believed to
be an Aboitionist, pre-fgure the events
to follow. few years later.
At the outbreak of the Civil War
General Howard was first lieutenant
in the United States army, detailed as
an assistant professor of mathematics
At the Military Academy at West
Point With wife and two children
he was comfortably settled in pleas
am cottage within the reservation.
President Lncoln's call for troops for
the defence of Washington had been
Sent out the bloody affair in which the
Massachusetts, Sixth Regiment was in
yolyed had occurred in the streets of
Baltimore, and the mails were laden
with letters from southern cities, adj
dressed to cadets and officers from the
south. d. manding their return home to
engage n the proposed aggressive Op-
eratious against the administration at
Wasi IngtOn. All was excitement, in
the midst of which came a summons to
Lieutenant Howard to accept the COM
mand of Maine regiment, now nearly
ready to leave for the front. 1t was
appropriate that he should lead the
frs regiment to be sent out from his
native State and the summons was not
one to be denied. Resigning his CON-
mission in the regular army, that he
might be unhampered by the red tape
of the War Department, he babe fare
wei to his wife and family, repaired at
once to Augusta, took command of the
regiment and i'll few days was on his
way TO the front, at its head. In less
thai two months he was in command of
brigade, soon after was commissioned
as d bTigader general, and on the 10th
of March, 1868, he was commissioned
major general of volunteers.
General Towards story of the war;
and especially of the great battles in
which ne took part, is told in great de-
tail and with wonderful brilliancy. He
was at Bull Run, on the Peninsula, at
Yorktown, at Williamsburg, at Fair
Oaks, where he left his right arm; at
the second Bull Run, at South Noun
tain, at Antletam, where he succeeded
SedgWick in command of division;
at Fredericksburg, at Charlottesville,
at Gettysburg, at Wauhatchie, at Mis-
slonary Ridge, at Resaca, Cassville and
PlcketC's Mill, Kolb's Farm and Kene-
saw, at Peach Tree Greek, at Jones'
boIo, on the March to the Sea, at
Columbia and Savannah, and so on, un-
til the end of the strife. There is not
dull page in the entire narrative, nor
trace of egotism. Very modestly, for
example. is told the story of Fair Oaks,
OF the shattered arm, and of the ampu-
tatlon which followed, and the reader
can but wonder at the recuperative
power Of the man, who at once set out
On homeWard Journey upon brief
&c, and returned to his post, a few
eks later, to fight it out until the
i'd.
The war was scarcely over; indeed,
the army was still in the field when
General Howard was summoned to
Washington and there placed in charge
of the Freedmen's Bureau the estab-
lishment of which had been authorized
by Congress, 1t is interesting to learn
that the selection of General Howard
for this position had been made by
President Lincoln but a few days be
fore his assassination. The work of
this Bureau was especially congenial to
General Howard, who was of highly
philanthropic nature, but the days of
the Reconstruction were by no means
conducive to sympathetic action toward
those who had been recently freed from
Slavery. The problem of satisfactory
provision for them was one exceeding
ly difficult OF solution and one which
has never yet been fully solved. The
settlement of the land question, the
status OF the freedmen before the
courts, the establishment of schools
all were questions of the gravest mo-
ment in the discussion of which Gen
eral Howard had a part. Indeed, as is
well known, the amelioration of the
condition of these people and the en-
deayor TO place them upon proper
plane OF citizenship have since been
the work OF General Towards life. The
task was by no means easy There
came the dlssenslons between President
johnson and Congress upon the ques-
tion OF reconstruction. There was a
threatened famine in the South, which
called tor relief; and the outrages of the
Ku-Klux Khan combined to render the
labor OF uplifting the blacks by no
| means easy.
General Howard believed the solution
of the problem to be in education. and
from this thought sprang the resolve
which resulted in the beginnings of
Howard University and of the other
institutions of learning for the colored
people throughout the South. The op
position which General Howard encoun-
tered in the conduct of the Freedmen's
Bureau led 70 many undeseryed and
untruth1ui charges against him, which
were considered in court of inquiry.
called at MS request. The result of this