Samuel M. Howard Biography This biography appears on pages 1712-1714 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. A photo of Samuel M. Howard faces page 1712. SAMUEL M. HOWARD.—The honored subject of this sketch, who is now nearing the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, is one of the honored citizens and able and prominent lawyers of Potter county, retaining his residence in Gettysburg and being at the time of this writing incumbent of the office of state's attorney of the county. He is a scion of a family whose name has been long and conspicuously identified with the annals of American history, while the same has ever stood for exalted integrity and lofty patriotism. He is a direct descendant of General Howard, who renders so brilliant service in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution, and the General was descended from one of the name who laid out the city of Baltimore, Maryland the original American ancestors having settled in the patrician old dominion state, Virginia, in the early colonial epoch. Charles Howard, an uncle of the subject, served with distinction in the war of 1812, and died in Fulton county, Illinois, of which state he was a pioneer, as was also the father of the subject, who was numbered among the earliest settlers in Fulton county, Illinois. Samuel M. Howard was born in Fulton county, Illinois, on the 2d of July, 1838, being a son of Samuel and Anna (Alderman) Howard. The former was born in the state of Virginia, and the latter in New York. In 1831 the father and mother removed from Ohio to Fulton county, Illinois, and there remained until his death, having been a farmer by vocation. He upheld the military prestige of the name by taking an active part in the Black Hawk war, and he died in 1840, at which time the subject was a child of about three years, while the devoted wife and mother passed away in 1882. At the age of three years the orphan boy was bound out to a farmer named Lorenzo Hitchcock, of Peoria county; Illinois, and in his home was reared with kindness and consideration, being afforded the advantages of the common schools and an excellent academy in Cuba, Fulton county, that state. Shortly after leaving school Mr. Howard, at the advice of Hon. William P. Kellogg, who was afterward governor of Louisiana, as well as United States senator from that state, and who is now a venerable resident of the city of Washington, and a millionaire, decided to take up the study of law and prepare himself for the active work of the profession. He had as preceptor E. G. Johnston, of Peoria, one of the leading members of the Illinois bar at the time, and under his able direction made rapid progress, being admitted to the bar of the state in 1859, upon examination before the supreme court, but not received his certifying papers until it had been his portion to render valiant and protracted service in defense of the integrity of the nation. Mr. Howard was among the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for volunteers after the thundering of rebel guns against the ramparts of old Fort Sumter had voiced the tocsin | of civil war. On the 14th of August, 1861, the subject enlisted as a private in Company H, Twenty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Amary K. Johnston, and after the expiration of his term he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, serving in all four years and nine months, covering somewhat more than the entire period of the war, as will appear in following statements. His command was first assigned to the Army of the Tennessee and took part in all the operations under General Grant in the Mississippi valley, from Cairo to Mobile. Among the engagements in which Mr. Howard participated may be mentioned the following: Belmont, which was General Grant's first battle; capture of Forts Herman, Henry and Donelson; battles of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh; the engagement at Davis Crossing of the Hatchie river, being a part of the battle of Corinth; and the siege and capture of Vicksburg, Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely and the city of Mobile. After the surrender of General Lee, Mr. Howard accompanied his regiment to Texas, to assist in driving Maximilian out of Mexico, and the command encamped at Brownsville, that state, until March 16, 1866, when its members were mustered out and finally disbanded at Springfield, Illinois, May 14, 1866. Mr. Howard then returned to Illinois, and, at Springfield, received his honorable discharge on the 6th of April, 1866. The following day he made requisition for and secured his certificate of admission to the bar, and shortly afterward located in Knoxville, Illinois, where he was actively engaged in the practice of his profession for the ensuing twelve years, gaining success and prestige. He then removed to the city of Chicago. where he accepted a position on the editorial staff of the old Chicago Times, whose founder, the late Wilbur F. Story, was at the time in control, being one of the strongest, though most eccentric, figures in the newspaper history of the great western metropolis. Mr. Howard retired from his editorial position two years later and shortly afterward came to what is now the state of South Dakota, arriving in Redfield, Spink county, in March, 1882, and there remaining until May of the following year, when he came to Potter county and here took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land, to whose improvement he at once directed his attention, being there engaged in farming and stock raising until 1892, when he located in the county seat, Gettysburg, where he has since been established in the practice of his profession, being a man of broad and exact knowledge of the law and having long held a place of honor and priority, being practically the Nestor of the bar of the county. He is now serving his third term as state's attorney, and has proved a most discriminating and successful public prosecutor. He is held in high esteem in the community and his genial personality has gained to him a host of friends in the state of his adoption. In politics Mr. Howard is an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the Republican party, while fraternally he manifests his abiding interest in his old comrades in arms by retaining membership in Meade Post, No. 32, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is a prominent and honored comrade. He has attended the national encampments of this noble organization in Chicago, Washington City and San Francisco, and on each occasion has met with most grateful reunions and fraternal experiences. Mr. Howard has never been married, and has never belonged to any other fraternal organization.