Howe

of Sacred Theology in Dartmouth College and
minister of the college church; but in 1830, fear-
ing tuberculosis, he resigned and sailed for
Charleston, S. C. In January 1831, he became
identified with Columbia Theological Seminary
as professor of Biblical literature. This position
he held for more than half a century. Declining
a professorship in Union Theological Seminary
in 1836, he wrote: "It appears still my duty to
cast in my lot ... with the people of the South
. . . though the field of my endeavor must be
small, and I must live on in obscurity."

He took no part in nullification or secession,
but his sons George and William enlisted with
the Confederacy. Although a slaveholder, he be-
lieved in the spiritual unity of the human race,
and advocated evangelical work among the slaves
through missionaries. He was also active in for-
eign and domestic missions and for many years
was president of the Columbia Bible Society. In
1849 the Synod of South Carolina appointed him
to write the history of the Presbyterian Church
in that state, and he completed it just before his
death. It was published in two volumes, History
of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina
(1870-83). Though faulty in organization and
discursive in style, it remains the standard refer-
ence for local Presbyterian records and is a mine
of information for the student of South Carolina
history. Traditions are preserved, but citations
are from authoritative sources and the work is
scholarly. He also wrote A Discourse on Theo-
logical Education (1844) and numerous eulogies,
sermons, and addresses, besides articles in the
Southern Presbyterian Review. He was twice
married: first on Aug. 25, 183i, to Mary, daugh-
ter of Rev. Jedediah Bushnell of Cornwall, Vt,
who died in 1832; and second, on Dec. 19, 1836,
to Mrs. Sarah Ann (Walthour) McConnell,
daughter of Andrew Walthour of Walthourville,
Ga., who survived him. By purchase and by in-
heritance, he and his second wife owned several
plantations in Liberty County, Ga.; and the
modest but comfortable estate he devised his fam-
ily testifies to his business ability.

[Howe Geneals. . . . Abraham of Roxbury (1929);
J. L. Girardeau, in Memorial Vol. of the Semi-Centen-
nial of the Theol. Sem. at Columbia (1884); H. A.
White, So. Presbyt. Leaders (1911); George Howe,
Hist, of the Presbyt. Ch. in S. €., addendum, vol. LI
(1883); W. C. Robinson MS. "Hist, of Columbia Theo-
log. Sem/'; Cat. of the Officers and Students of Middle-
bury Coll (1917); J. 1C Lord, A Hist, of Dartmouth
Coll., vol. II (1913) ; The News and Courier, Charles-
ton, S. C., Apr. 16, 1883.] A. K. G.

HOWE, GEORGE AUGUSTUS (c. 1724-
July 6,1758), third Viscount Howe, British brig-
adier-general, was the son of Emanuel Scrope
Howe, of Laugar, Nottingham, governor of Bar-

Howe

bados from 1732 to 1735, and Maria Sophia
Charlotte, a daughter of Baron von Kielmansegge
and his wife, who was half-sister of George I
and created by him Countess of Darlington.
George Augustus succeeded to the tide, in the
Irish peerage, in 1735, and in 1747-58 followed
in his father's footsteps by representing Notting-
ham borough in Parliament. In March 1745 he
entered as ensign the ist Foot Guards (the
Grenadier Guards), became lieutenant and cap-
tain in May 1746, served as aide-de-camp to the
Duke of Cumberland in 1746 and 1747, fought at
Laufeldt, and got his company with the army
rank of lieutenant-colonel in May 1749. His rapid
promotion was due to his high connections, to his
own natural aptitude for the military profession,
and to a personality unusually winning; there
were those, before the Seven Years' War, who
called him the best soldier in the British army.

Appointed colonel of the 3rd Battalion of the
Royal Americans (6oth) early in 1757, Howe
joined his men at Fort Edward three days after
Montcalm had invested Fort William Henry. In
September he became colonel of the 55th, sta-
tioned in upper New York. Both Abercromby
and Loudoun [qq.v.'] placed reliance on his abil-
ity. He commanded the reinforcement sent to
the belated relief of German Flats in Novem-
ber, and led an abortive winter expedition against
Ticonderoga in February 1758. Refusing to mix
in army politics, he set himself to learn the pe-
culiarities and demands of war in the American
wilderness, and studied open-mindedly the meth-
ods of the ranger Robert Rogers [q.v.]. Pro-
moted to a brigadier-generalship in December
1757, he was named by Pitt as second in com-
mand in Abercromby's expedition against Ticon-
deroga the following summer. From April to
July 1758 he practically changed the appearance
of the British army in the field by cropping their
hair and cutting down their hats and coats, and
he sacrificed his personal luxuries in such a man-
ner as to win the love and admiration of pro-
vincials and regulars alike, and to earn for him-
self Wolfe's dictum that he was "formed by
nature for the war in this country."

Early on the morning of July 6, after the army
had been transported to the foot of Lake George
and had been formed into columns for the march
to Ticonderoga, Howe, at the head of his own
column, ran into a French skirmishing party and
fell at their first volley. In him, says Mante, the
soul of the army seemed to expire. His body was
carried to Albany, and buried there in St. Peter's
Church. Four years later the Province of Mas-
sachusetts Bay paid him the great and unique
tribute of erecting to his memory a tablet in

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