Biographical Sketches of the Generals of the Continental Army of the RevolutionLeiter, Mary Theresa
History
Biographical Sketches of the Generals of the Continental Army of the Revolution
Leiter, Mary Theresa
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Biography
Robert Howe, born in Brunswick County, North Carolina, in 1732, was
of English descent. He married young, took his wife to England, and
lived for two years with some relatives. Returning to this country, he
was appointed in 1766 commander at Fort Johnson in North Carolina. At
the beginning of the Revolution, he was a member of the Committee of
Safety for his native county, and with General Woodford was in command
of Norfolk when that place was attacked and destroyed by Lord Dunmore,
on the 1st of January, 1776. Prosecuting the war with vigor, Howe drove
Dunmore out of Virginia. The Assemblies of North Carolina and Virginia
recognized his services by a vote of thanks; Congress appointed him
brigadier-general in the Continental army on the 1st of March, 1776;
and on the 5th of May following, General Clinton excepted him when
offering pardon in the king’s name to all Carolinians who would lay
down their arms and return to their allegiance. The next year he was
ordered to join the Southern army; and on the 20th of October, 1777,
he was raised to the rank of major-general, and intrusted with an
expedition against St. Augustine. After some successes, the destruction
of one fourth of his army by an epidemic compelled him to abandon
this project, and he was afterward assigned to duty in Georgia. Being
defeated here, he joined Washington on the Hudson, and remained in
active service at the North until the close of the war. In 1785, he
was appointed a commissioner to treat with the Western Indians, and
upon returning to his native State, was received with public honors and
shortly after elected to the Legislature. Before the time arrived for
him to take his seat, he died of fever on the 12th of November, 1785.
ALEXANDER McDOUGAL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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