HOWARD, OLIVER OTIS. 1830-1909.

HOWARD, OLIVER OTIS. 1830-1909.
6 Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed ("O.O. Howard"), to William E. Dodge, Jr, primarily on the subject of an ambassadorship to Turkey, 9 pp total, mostly 105 x 135 mm, one on lined paper, dated Boston, February 10th, 1866, the others on personal letterhead, February 15, 1897, to March 24, 1897, one with a newspaper clipping affixed to one, one with tear upper corner.
WITH: 2 Autograph Letters Signed and two partial Typed Letters Signed ("O.O. Howard"), one on Headquarters Department of the East, Governor's Island, dated April 9, 1894, some creasing, small tear.

Major General Oliver Otis Howard won the Medal of Honor after losing his right arm at the Battle of Fair Oaks in 1862. He would go on to lead Sherman's right flank during his March to the Sea before heading the Freedman's Bureau during Reconstruction and playing a major role in the founding of Howard University (named for him). These letters primarily deal with a potential ambassadorship to Turkey in 1897 (and the Olney-Paunceforth Arbitration Treaty), a post he was eventually denied, aggrieving him even though he is seen to be less than thrilled at the prospect. There is also an earlier letter dated 1866, where he is seen to be visiting William Dodge in New York. Howard and Dodge remained friends, and Dodge was an early supporter of Howard University, establishing a scholarship fund in the name of his father in 1883.