Howell

the counterpoise type. He was the author of
several publications: The Mathematical Theory
of the Deviations of the Compass Arranged for
the Use of the Cadets at the U. S. Naval Acad-
emy (1879); Observations for Dip Taken on the
U. S. Steamer "Adams" . . . off the Coasts of
California, Mexico and Peru (1882); "Report
of the Armor Factory Board," House Document
No. PS, 55 Cong., 2 Sess. (1897). In May 1867
Howell married Arabella R Krause of St. Croix,
W. L, and at his death in Warrenton, Va., where
he lived following: his retirement, he was sur-
vived by a son and two daughters.

[Army and Navy Reg., Jan. 12, 1918; Army and
Navy Jour., Jan. 19, 1918; U. S. Navy records; Pat.
Off. records; Who's Who in America, 1916-17 ; Wash-
ington Post and Evening Star, Jan. u, 1918.]

C.W.M.

HOWELL, RICHARD (Oct. 25, 1754-Apr.
28, 1802), Revolutionary patriot, governor of
New Jersey, was a son of Ebenezer Howell,
whose parents came from Wales to Delaware
about 1724; his mother was Sarah (Bond)
Howell. With his twin brother, Lewis, he went
to school in Newcastle, then followed the family
to Cumberland County, N. J., near Bridgeton,
where he studied law. On Nov. 22, 1774, he
helped burn tea landed from the brig Greyhound
at Greenwich, N. J,, and in November of the fol-
lowing year became captain in the New Jersey
militia, then brigade major. From Greenwich in
December 1775 his company, "soldiers, captain
and all, went in the dead of night off, on foot, to
get clear of their creditors" (Ebenezer Elmer's
Journal, quoted in L. Q. C. Elmer, post, p. 103).
They took part in the attack on Quebec where, as
Howell wrote his brother, he "had the honor to
fire the first gun on the plains of Abram, before
the retreat" (Ibid., p. 104). He fought through
the campaigns of Maxwell's brigade, notably at
Brandywine and Monmouth, and repelled Tory
raids along the Delaware. Years later he wrote
an inscription for Maxwell's tombstone.

Resigning his commission Apr. 7,1779, to en-
gage in intelligence work for Washington, he
was licensed attorney in that month. In No-
vember he married Keziah Burr, daughter of
Joseph Burr of Burlington County. They had
nine children and left numerous descendants; a
grand-daughter, Varina Howell, became Mrs.
Jefferson Davis. Arrested for treason and brought
before Judge David Brearly, Howell showed his
secret orders which secured his discharge and
the erasure of the minutes. On Sept. 18,1782, he
was chosen United States judge advocate but de-
clined the position. In September 1788 he suc-
ceeded William Churchill Houston [q.v.'] as
clerk of the New Jersey supreme court. He took

Howell

an active part in Federalist affairs, writing for
Washington's reception, Apr. 29, 1789, at the
Assanpink bridge, the ten-line ode, "Welcome,
mighty chief! once more Welcome to this grate-
ful shore" (Lee, post, II, 428-29). The nine four-
line stanzas to Washington, "Let venal poets
praise a King," published in the New Jersey
Gazette, Aug. 18, 1779, are probably his (Ar-
chives of the State of New Jersey, 2 ser., Ill,
1906, p. 558). He was a vestryman of St.
Michael's Church, Trenton, and on May u, 1791,
was one of the lawyers who petitioned with suc-
cess against the rule requiring "Bands and Bar-
gowns." Upon the resignation of William Pater-
son [g.t/.] from the governorship, Howell was
elected to that office by the legislature, on June
3, 1793. Despite party fluctuations he was re-
elected annually—unopposed, save in 1799—un-
til he retired in favor of his friend Joseph
Bloomfield in 1801.

He was a member of the Society of the Cin-
cinnati, and his military and patriotic interest
was unflagging. He took a leading part in send-
ing four companies of New Jersey troops (325
men) to join St. Clair's ill-fated forces in Ohio.
As governor he headed the New Jersey troops
sent against the Whiskey Insurrection, and
Washington had him command the right wing of
the army. At this time he wrote a song, "Dash
to the mountains, Jersey Blue," immensely popu-
lar and long sung on the Princeton campus. Re-
turning to the practice of law after his governor-
ship, he died suddenly at the age of forty-eight.
Of easy and popular manner, though stern in
discipline and command, fond of athletics and
good horses, Howell was much loved in his day.
Someone wrote beneath his portrait four lines
(quoted by Elmer, p. 112), ending: "The soul of
honor, friend of human kind."

[Besides the "Centennial Sketch 1876 by a Grandson"
(scarce), the best accounts of Howell are in L. Q. C.
Elmer, The Constitution and Govt. of the Province and
State of N. J. (1872), being vol. VII of the N. J. Hist.
Soc. Colls.; and in Hamilton Schuyler, A Hist, of St.
Michael's Church, Trenton (1926). See also Archives
of the State of N. /., 2 ser., vols. I-III (1901-06);
Proc. N. J. Hist. Soc., vol. Ill (1849) ; W. S. Stryker,
Official Reg. of the Officers and Men of N. J. in the
Revolutionary War (1872) ; Jours, of the Continental
Cong., vol. XXIII (1914), pp. 586, 629; F. B. Lee, N.
J. as a Colony and State (1902), vols. II and III; A.
D. Mellick, Jr., The Story of an Old Farm (1889), p.
219; Thomas Gushing and C. E. Sheppard, Hist, of the
Counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland, M /.
(1883), p. 548; J. G. Leach, Geneal. and Biog. Me-
morials of the Reading, Howell, Yerkes, Watts, Latham
andElkins Families (1898), p. 139; Phila. Gazette and
Daily Advertiser, May 5, 1802.] W.L.W—y.

HOWELL, ROBERT BOYTE CRAW-
FORD (Mar. 10, i8oi-Apr. 5, 1868), Baptist
clergyman, was born in Wayne County, N. C, the
son of Ralph and Jane (Crawford) Howell. He

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