Squire E. Howard

Braved Confederate fire to save a trapped Union Navy gunboat

Squire Edward Howard earned the Medal of Honor by carrying a critical message through Confederate gunfire at Bayou Teche, Louisiana, on 14 January 1863. Serving with the 8th Vermont Infantry, he volunteered to summon Union troops to rescue the endangered gunboat USS Calhoun. His Civil War service later took him to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where he commanded a company before severe wounds at Cedar Creek ended his military career.

Born on 15 May 1840 in Jamaica, Vermont, Howard was the son of Nathan Howard and Calista Bills Howard. He was a student when he enlisted in Company H, 8th Vermont Infantry, on 19 November 1861. He entered as a private and became first sergeant on 18 February 1862. His regiment travelled to Louisiana, where Union forces were establishing control over New Orleans and the surrounding waterways.

Howard experienced combat wounds and illness early in his service. During an attack at Bayou des Allemands in September 1862, he continued helping direct defensive fire despite being wounded. Malaria subsequently forced him to spend several weeks recovering before he returned to duty. George N. Carpenter, ⁠History of the Eighth Regiment Vermont Volunteers⁠, pp. 30, 59–60⁠.

During the Bayou Teche campaign, the gunboat Calhoun came under dangerous enemy fire. Howard volunteered to go ashore and carry a message requesting assistance from nearby Union soldiers. His passage through Confederate fire brought the help needed to save the vessel. The Medal of Honor record identifies him as First Sergeant, Company H, and recognizes his voluntary delivery of that vital message.

His responsibilities expanded during the remainder of the war. Howard served as acting regimental quartermaster during the advance toward Alexandria and the siege of Port Hudson in 1863. He subsequently led a recruiting party in Vermont before becoming captain of Company C in July 1864. In Virginia, he commanded the company at Third Winchester, also called Opequon, and Fisher’s Hill. At the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864, he suffered severe wounds that led to his honourable discharge on 9 December.

After the Civil War, Howard married Helen in Boston in 1868. They had three children, although only their daughter Pauline survived to adulthood. His civilian life included two years in South Carolina and ten in Wyoming, where he worked as secretary of a cattle company. He later served in the Massachusetts legislature. Committed to preserving his fellow soldiers’ experiences, he helped produce the 8th Vermont Infantry’s regimental history, preparing statistical tables and contributing an account of the fighting at Winchester. Carpenter, prefaces and p. 261⁠.

Captain Squire Edward Howard received the Medal of Honor on 29 January 1894, more than thirty years after his courageous action. He died in West Newton, Massachusetts, on 26 November 1912, aged 72, and was buried in Newton Cemetery.