O. O. Howard: mathematics professor no more (LOC - LC-DIG-cwpbh-00893)
From The New-York Times May 29, 1861:
ELECTION OF COLONEL.
AUGUSTA, Me., Tuesday, May 28.
Lieutenant OLIVER O. HOWARD, of the regular army, now one of the Professors at West Point, was to-day elected Colonel of the Third Regiment of Maine Volunteers.
An 1854 West Point graduate, Oliver Otis Howard fought in Florida in 1857 during the Third Seminole War:
It was in Florida that he experienced a conversion to evangelical Christianity and considered resigning from the Army to become a minister. His religious proclivities would later earn him the nickname “the Christian general.” Howard returned to West Point in September 1857 to become an instructor of mathematics and the following year he was promoted to first lieutenant. As the Civil War began with the surrender of Fort Sumter, thoughts of the Ministry were put aside and he decided to remain in the service of his country.
Kennebec Arsenal, Augusta Maine - where O.O. served after graduating from West Point
Fort Sumter changed a lot.
