Portrait of a soldier
McHenry Howard's war
In September 1814, Francis Scott Key of
Maryland wrote a poem as he watched British
ships bombard Fort McHenry in the harbor
of Baltimore. When an actor sang Key's 'The
Star-Spangled Banner' to the tune of an old
drinking song, it at once became a popular
patriotic air, and many years later the official
national anthem of the United States.
Francis Scott Key's grandson, McHenry
Howard, did not hesitate about going to war
against the Star-Spangled Banner when
Northern troops invaded his hometown of
Baltimore in 1861. Federal authorities simply
threw into jail those of Maryland's elected
legislators who would not do as they were
told. Howard and thousands of other young
men from the state hurried southward, eager
to fight for restoration of self-government.
Their purpose, Howard wrote, was 'not
merely to aid the cause of the Confederacy
as it was constituted, but believing that they
were serving their own State - in subjection
- in the only way that was left to them.'
Francis Scott Key had about 60 descendants
living in 1860, and 'every man, woman and
child was Southern,' Howard recalled,
although 'I cannot recall that any owned
slaves in 1861.'
When war interrupted Howard's civilian
pursuits, he had been studying law after
graduating from Princeton University. The
22-year-old lawyer in training belonged to a
volunteer organization, the 'Maryland
Guard,' that served purposes at least as much
social as military. The guardsmen affected
gorgeous uniforms of the 'Zouave' variety,
modeled after the outfits of French colonial
troops who had caught the popular fancy in
North America. Howard later described his
garb with amusement provided by hindsight:
The full dress was a dark blue jacket, short
and close fitting and much embroidered with
yellow; a blue flannel shirt with a close row of
small round gilt buttons (for ornament merely,)
down the front, between yellow trimming; blue
pantaloons, very baggy and gathered below the
knee and falling over the tops of long drab
gaiters; a small blue cap, of the kepi kind, also
trimmed with yellow; and, finally, a wide red
sash ... kept wide by hooks and eyes on
the ends.Private Howard would soon discover, in
the world of a real soldier in the field, that
'this gaudy dress, which made a very
brilliant effect on street parade ... was totally
unsuitable for any active service.'
For nearly a year Howard served (more
suitably attired, of course) in the ranks as an
enlisted man with the 1st Maryland Infantry,
Confederate States Army, made up of
1,000 young men who had escaped across
the Potomac River to join the Southern
cause. In the spring of 1862 he won a
commission as lieutenant and aide-de-camp
to fellow Marylander General Charles S.
Winder. Lieutenant Howard remained at that
lowest of the commissioned ranks for the
final three years of the war. In his staff role,
he had an opportunity to observe much of
the conflict's most dramatic events, and
many of its most significant leaders. After a
Federal shell killed General Winder at Cedar
Mountain in August 1862, Howard did staff
duty with Generals Isaac R. Trimble, George
H. Steuart, and George Washington Custis
Lee, son of army commander General
Robert E. Lee.
When Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
headed north after the Battle of
Chancellorsville, Lieutenant Howard
followed as a supernumerary. His chief,
General Trimble, had not reported back to
the army after convalescing from a bad
wound. That left Howard without a role, but