Robert Lee Howze

Few American cavalry officers served across as many battlefields, commands, and eras as Major General Robert Lee Howze. From the final U.S. Army campaigns on the western frontier to Cuba, the Philippines, Mexico, France, and the occupation of Germany, his thirty-eight-year career followed the transformation of the United States Army from a small frontier force into a modern world power. A Medal of Honor recipient, twice cited for gallantry with Silver Citation Stars, a World War I division commander, and the first commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division, Howze became one of the most prominent American cavalry officers of his generation.

Robert Lee Howze was born in Overton, Texas, on 22 August 1864. After graduating from Hubbard College in 1883, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1888 and was commissioned into the cavalry, transferring shortly afterward to the 6th U.S. Cavalry. His early service took him to Fort Wingate, New Mexico, where he performed frontier duty and commanded Indian scouts before joining the Sioux Campaign of 1890-1891.

On 1 January 1891, Second Lieutenant Howze was serving with Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry, during an engagement at White River, South Dakota. His conduct in the action brought him the nation's highest military decoration. The official Medal of Honor citation was characteristically brief: "Bravery in action." The Medal of Honor was issued to him on 25 July 1891. It was the first major distinction in a career that would repeatedly place Howze in difficult field commands.

War with Spain carried him from the American frontier to Cuba. During the Spanish-American War, Howze served in the Santiago Campaign as Assistant Adjutant General of the 1st Cavalry Brigade and participated in operations against Santiago de Cuba. His conduct at the Battle of Santiago on 1 July 1898 later earned a Silver Citation Star for gallantry in action against Spanish forces.

The Philippine-American War produced an even more dramatic chapter in his career. Appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 34th U.S. Volunteer Infantry, Howze served in the Philippines from 1899 to 1901 and took part in a succession of expeditions and engagements across northern Luzon. During operations from 4 to 18 December 1899, he commanded troops pursuing the superior forces of Filipino General Manuel Tinio through extremely difficult country. The pursuit involved severe hardship and exposure and ultimately forced Tinio's forces to release twenty-two American prisoners. For this service Howze received his second Silver Citation Star. Together, his Santiago and Luzon citations represented two separate acts of recognized gallantry and were the historical predecessors of the later Silver Star Medal.

Howze's Philippine record extended well beyond those two citations. He commanded troops at Tangnadan Pass and in actions at Lapaz, Dunlas, Banna Canyon, Camarine, Mananting, and Gaset. His forces also participated in the recovery of American and Spanish prisoners, and he later exercised military command and civil authority in Ilocos Norte. After returning from the Philippines, he served in Puerto Rico, first with the Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry and later as commander of the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry at San Juan.

In June 1905, Howze returned to West Point as Commandant of Cadets, a position he held until February 1909. His appointment placed an experienced combat cavalry officer in direct responsibility for the discipline and military development of future Army officers. After subsequent cavalry, staff, and War College assignments, he returned to active campaigning in 1916 when he joined Brigadier General John J. Pershing's Punitive Expedition into Mexico. Serving with the 11th Cavalry, Howze took part in the campaign against Francisco "Pancho" Villa and commanded selected mounted troops during the pursuit.

America's entry into World War I brought rapid advancement. Howze commanded the 2nd Cavalry Brigade at Fort Bliss and the El Paso District before receiving promotion to Major General in the National Army on 8 August 1918. Later that month he was assigned to command the 38th Division and traveled with it to France. His official service record places him personally in the Meuse-Argonne operations from 21 to 29 October 1918.

The Armistice did not end Howze's most important World War I command. On 19 November 1918 he assumed command of the veteran 3rd Division and led it on the march into Germany. From late November to early December the division advanced to the Rhine, after which Howze commanded it in the Coblenz bridgehead as part of the American Army of Occupation until August 1919.

His leadership of the 3rd Division earned the Army Distinguished Service Medal under War Department General Orders No. 89 of 1919. The citation recognized his exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility. It specifically praised him as an "energetic and capable" commander who displayed "superb qualities of leadership" during the march to the Rhine and occupation of German territory, while maintaining an unusually high standard of efficiency within his division.

France also recognized Howze's wartime service. He was appointed an Officer of the Legion of Honor and received the French Croix de Guerre with palm, the palm signifying a citation at army level. These foreign distinctions accompanied the American recognition of his leadership during the closing phase of World War I and the occupation that followed.

Returning to the United States in 1919, Howze again commanded the El Paso District. In September 1921 he became the first commanding general of the newly organized 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, a particularly fitting appointment for an officer whose professional identity had been shaped by cavalry service since his graduation from West Point. He remained with the division until June 1925 and received permanent promotion to Major General in the Regular Army on 30 December 1922.

In July 1925, Howze assumed command of the Fifth Corps Area at Columbus, Ohio. That same year he entered one of the most famous military controversies of the interwar period when he served as president of the court-martial of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, whose outspoken criticism of American air policy had brought him into open conflict with senior military leadership.

Howze never retired from active service. He died in Columbus, Ohio, on 19 September 1926, at the age of sixty-two, while still commanding the Fifth Corps Area. He was buried at the United States Military Academy Cemetery at West Point, New York.

Major General Robert Lee Howze's military career connected remarkably different eras of American warfare. He began as a young cavalry lieutenant on the western frontier, fought in Cuba and the Philippines, rode into Mexico during the Punitive Expedition, served in the Meuse-Argonne campaign, and ended World War I commanding American troops on the Rhine. His Medal of Honor citation, two Silver Citation Stars, Distinguished Service Medal citation, and French recognition preserve the record of an officer repeatedly trusted with difficult responsibilities in combat and senior command. His career stands as one of the clearest examples of the generation of U.S. Army cavalry officers who bridged the frontier Army and the modern American military establishment.