James Henry Howe

Born on December 5, 1827, in Turner, Maine,{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/historyofbenchba02berr |title= History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin |volume= 2 |year= 1898 |last= Berryman |first= John R. |publisher= H. C. Cooper, Jr. |location= Chicago |pages= 7–8 |accessdate= June 11, 2020 }} Howe received a general education and proceeded to read law, first with Bradley & Eastman in Saco, Maine, then with his uncle, Timothy O. Howe, at Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory. He was admitted to the bar at Green Bay in 1848. He began practicing law in partnership with his uncle, but the partnership was terminated when the elder Howe was elevated to a Wisconsin circuit court judgeship in 1851. James Howe went on to partner with William H. Norris until 1860.

He was elected Attorney General of Wisconsin in 1859 and was the first Republican to hold that office. He was re-elected in 1861, but resigned office in October 1862 to volunteer with the Union Army for service in the American Civil War. During his second term as Attorney General, Howe led the state delegation to recover the body of Governor Louis P. Harvey, who had drowned while on a visit to the wounded soldiers from the Battle of Shiloh.{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo00quin/ |title= The military history of Wisconsin |year= 1866 |publisher= Clark & Co. |location= Chicago |last= Quiner |first= Edwin Bentley |pages= 119–121, 800–803 |accessdate= June 11, 2020 }}

Howe was commissioned as a colonel and placed in command of the 32nd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, which was being organized at Camp Bragg in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The regiment departed Wisconsin on October 30 and marched to Chicago, they then traveled by river to Memphis, Tennessee, via Cairo, Illinois. They reached Memphis on November 3, 1862, and were attached to General William Tecumseh Sherman's XV Corps.

They marched out with Sherman's Corps on maneuvers toward Jackson, Mississippi, in support of General Ulysses S. Grant's movement against Vicksburg, Mississippi. They stopped at the Union supply depot in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and were en route to Oxford, Mississippi, when a messenger reached them of the Confederate raid on Holly Springs. The 32nd Wisconsin was the first regiment to reach Holly Springs after the raid, and immediately proceeded on a forced march toward Grand Junction, Tennessee, which was also under threat. After arriving at Grand Junction, they were ordered to pursue Nathan Bedford Forrest. They ultimately returned to Memphis on February 2, 1863, and quartered there on provost duty through most of 1863, with an eye toward deterring Forrest, who was still attempting raids in the area.

Near the end of January 1864, the 32nd Wisconsin headed down the Mississippi River from Memphis to Vicksburg. There, they were attached to the 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, XVI Corps. By seniority, Colonel Howe was placed in command of the brigade. They then set out on the Meridian campaign. After routing the rebels at Jackson, they proceeded to Meridian, Mississippi, and occupied the city.

On March 11, 1864, the 32nd Wisconsin, along with XVI Corps, returned to Cairo on maneuvers to link up with General Grant on his operations in northern Alabama and Georgia. At Cairo, the 32nd, along with other regiments, was diverted to Union City, Tennessee, to again deal with a raid by Nathan Bedford Forrest. En route to the city however, they received word that they were too late and the defenders had surrendered. They then proceeded to Paducah, Kentucky, where it was believed Forrest would next attack, but, again, were unable to lure the Confederates into battle.{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1864/04/01/archives/forrests-raid-the-capture-of-union-city-the-repulse-at-paducah.html |title= FORREST'S RAID.; The Capture of Union City The Repulse at Paducah. |newspaper= The New York Times |date= April 1, 1864 |accessdate= June 11, 2020 }}

After another series of maneuvers attempting to trap Forrest, they again abandoned the chase and proceeded south into Alabama. They arrived at Decatur, Alabama, on April 10, where their brigade was renumbered to the 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, with Colonel Howe remaining in command. On May 27, the Brigade marched west and skirmished with elements of General Phillip Roddey's brigade. Roddey refused to give battle and retreated to the west. They remained on picket duty for the next month.

On July 6, 1864, Colonel Howe resigned his commission and set out to return to Wisconsin.

After the war Howe was General Counsel [Solicitor] for the Chicago & North Western Rwy. beginning in 1864, https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=iKwVAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA44

and General Manager in 1872-73. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=iKwVAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA92 By 1875-1878 he was a Director of that road,https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=iKwVAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA90 this after an appointment to the federal court by President Grant. He moved to Kenosha and from 1876 to 1892 was Solicitor for the Chicago, St. Paul and Omaha Railway Co.https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS8867

Howe was nominated by President Ulysses S. Grant on December 9, 1873, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin vacated by Judge Andrew G. Miller. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 11, 1873, and received his commission the same day. He did not enjoy judicial duties and resigned after only a year of service, on January 1, 1875.

Following his resignation from the federal bench and railroad work, Howe served for a time on the board of the J. L. Perry Manufacturing Company. During a bitter fight among the state Republican Party over the United States Senate election in 1878-1879, with Howe's uncle Senator Timothy Howe facing a difficult re-election, several Republican officials floated the compromise of replacing Timothy Howe with James Howe, but the idea never came to fruition and Howe was instead replaced by Matthew H. Carpenter.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53255123/us-senate-election-1879/ |title= The Senatorship |newspaper= The Daily Milwaukee News |location= Milwaukee, Wisconsin | date= January 8, 1879 |page= 2 |accessdate= June 11, 2020 |via= Newspapers.com }}

Judge Howe hosted his uncle's funeral in 1883. After his uncle's death, an effort was made by Wisconsin's senators, Angus Cameron and Philetus Sawyer, to have James Howe appointed as his replacement as United States Postmaster General, but the effort was unsuccessful.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53254301/howe-postmaster-1883/ |title= A dispatch from Washington |newspaper= Janesville Daily Gazette |date= April 3, 1883 |location= Janesville, Wisconsin |accessdate= June 11, 2020 |via= Newspapers.com }}

He died on January 4, 1893, in Boston, Massachusetts, after a period of incapacitation.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53253487/james-h-howe-obit-1893/ |title= Death of Col. James H. Howe |location= Green Bay, Wisconsin |newspaper= Green Bay Weekly Gazette |date= January 11, 1893 |accessdate= June 11, 2020 |page= 5 |via= Newspapers.com}}

Howe was the nephew of U.S. Senator and U.S. Postmaster General Timothy O. Howe, and was said to be "like a son" to him.

Howe married Ms. Mary G. Cotton in 1857. They had at least three children.

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Attorney General Election, 1859{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53190982/wisconsin-state-election-results-1859/ |title= The Result of the State Canvass |newspaper= Wisconsin State Journal |date= December 3, 1859 |page= 1 |accessdate= June 11, 2020 }}}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 8, 1859

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = James Henry Howe

|votes = 60,569

|percentage = 53.71%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = Samuel Crawford

|votes = 52,209

|percentage = 46.29%

|change = -3.93%

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 8,360

|percentage = 7.41%

|change = +6.96%

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 112,778

|percentage = 100.0%

|change = +26.54%

}}

{{Election box gain with party link |

|winner = Republican Party (United States)

|loser = Democratic Party (United States)

|swing = 7.86%

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Attorney General Election, 1861{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57123078/wisconsin-election-canvass-1861/ |title= Statement of the State Board of Canvassers |newspaper= Wisconsin State Journal |location= Madison, Wisconsin |date= December 3, 1861 |page= 2 |accessdate= August 11, 2020 }}}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 5, 1861

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = James Henry Howe (incumbent)

|votes = 55,367

|percentage = 55.86%

|change = +2.16%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = Philo A. Orton

|votes = 43,647

|percentage = 44.04%

|change = -2.26%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party =

|candidate = Scattering

|votes = 97

|percentage = 0.10%

|change =

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 11,720

|percentage = 11.83%

|change = +4.41%

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 99,111

|percentage = 100.0%

|change = -12.12%

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no swing |

|winner = Republican Party (United States)

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{FJC Bio|1106|nid=1382461|name=James Henry Howe}}
• {{Find a Grave|151359822|Judge James Henry Howe}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-mil}}

|-

{{s-non|reason = Regiment created}}

{{s-ttl|title = Command of the 32nd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment|years= September 25, 1862{{spaced ndash}}July 6, 1864}}

{{s-aft|after = Col. Charles Henry De Groat}}

{{s-ppo}}

{{s-bef|before = Mortimer M. Jackson}}

{{s-ttl|title = Republican nominee for Attorney General of Wisconsin|years=1859, 1861}}

{{s-aft|after = Winfield Smith}}

{{s-legal}}

{{s-bef|before = Gabriel Bouck}}

{{s-ttl|title = Attorney General of Wisconsin|years=1860{{spaced ndash}}1862}}

{{s-aft|after = Winfield Smith}}

{{s-bef|before = Andrew G. Miller}}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nobreak|United States District Judge}} for the {{nobreak|Eastern District of Wisconsin}}|years=1873{{spaced ndash}}1875}}

{{s-aft|after = Charles E. Dyer}}

{{s-end}}

{{Wisconsin Attorneys General}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, James Henry}}

Category:1827 births

Category:1893 deaths

Category:People from Turner, Maine

Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War

Category:Wisconsin attorneys general

Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Category:United States federal judges appointed by Ulysses S. Grant

Category:United States Army officers