(November 8, 1830–1909), was a Union General during the Civil War. He served as Superintendent of West Point Academy, and was appointed by President Lincoln to lead the Freedmen’s Bureau, assisting former slaves after the war, 1866–72. In 1867, he founded Howard University for freed slaves, serving as its president, 1869–73, and later founded Lincoln Memorial University, Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. General Oliver Otis Howard, whose understanding of the Gospel created controversy when he integrated a church, also served as the Chairman of the American Tract Society. He was known by his soldiers as the “Old Prayer Book,” as he never drank, smoke or swore. In 1869, as Superintendent of West Point, he personally presented each incoming cadet with a Bible, initiating the practice.
In 1863, Major-General Oliver Otis Howard addressed the officers and troops of the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteers:
I am glad to see so many of you out to hear preaching this Sabbath morning, and I would to God, that all the men of my command were true followers of Christ Jesus, the Lord. Soldiers, allow me to express, with your chaplain, the sincere desire of my heart, that we may meet at the right hand of the Great Judge in that day, which he has described to us.2669
Major-General Oliver Otis Howard declared:
I go to the Scriptures daily for spiritual food, and have done so for thirty-five years. God, as revealed to me in the crucified, the risen, and the ascended Christ, meets all my personal wants.2670
At a Union camp chapel service, a missionary in the Christian Commission recorded General Howard’s message:
The General spoke of the Saviour, his love for Him and his peace in His service, as freely and simply as he could have spoken in his own family circle.2671