George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe
Encyclopedia
George Augustus Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe (c. 1725 – 6 July 1758) was a career officer and a Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. He was described by James Wolfe
James Wolfe
Major General James P. Wolfe was a British Army officer, known for his training reforms but remembered chiefly for his victory over the French in Canada...

 as "the best officer in the British Army". He was killed in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

 in a skirmish the day before the Battle of Carillon
Battle of Carillon
The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War...

, an ultimately disastrous attempt by the British to capture French-controlled Fort Carillon
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century fort built by the Canadians and the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York in the United States...

.

Background

Howe's father was Emanuel Scrope Howe
Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe
Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe was a British politician and colonial administrator. He was member of parliament for Nottinghamshire from 1722 to 1732. From 1733 to 1735 he served as Governor of the West Indian colony of Barbados where he died of disease...

, 2nd Viscount Howe, and mother was Mary Sophia von Kielmansegg
Charlotte Howe, Viscountess Howe
Charlotte Howe, Viscountess Howe was a British courtier and politician.-Early life:Born Baroness Sophia Charlotte Mary von Kielmansegg , she was the eldest daughter of the Baron and Baroness von Kielmansegg (Mary Sophia) Charlotte Howe, Viscountess Howe (23 September 1703 – 13 June 1782) was a...

 (A niece of King King George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....

), and he had two notable younger brothers, Richard Howe
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...

, Earl Howe and William Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence...

, 5th Viscount Howe, as well as seven other siblings. George was born either on the Howe estate at Langar, Nottinghamshire
Langar, Nottinghamshire
Langar is a small village about four miles south of Bingham in Nottinghamshire and the Vale of Belvoir.-Geography:To the south of the parish of Langar cum Barnstone, on Langar Airfield, it borders Clawson, Hose and Harby, the district of Melton and Leicestershire. At Hose Lane it meets Colston...

, or at the Howe home on Albemarle Street
Albemarle Street
Albemarle Street is a street in Mayfair in central London, off Piccadilly. It has historic associations with Lord Byron, whose publisher John Murray was based here, and Oscar Wilde, a member of the Albemarle Club, where an insult he received led to his suing for libel and to his eventual imprisonment...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Early career

Howe joined the army as an Ensign
Ensign
An ensign is a national flag when used at sea, in vexillology, or a distinguishing token, emblem, or badge, such as a symbol of office in heraldry...

 of the 1st Foot Guards in 1745 and saw service during the Flanders campaign of the War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession  – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...

. In 1746 he was made an aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

 to the Duke of Cumberland who led the Allied Army in Flanders. In 1747 Howe fought at the Battle of Laufeld. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 in 1749 following the end of the war.

Ticonderoga campaign reforms

In 1758, in preparation for the attack on the French fort at Ticonderoga, which controlled access from Lake George
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...

 to Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...

, Lord Howe set about reforming General James Abercrombie's army for warfare in North America. He used his own 55th Regiment as an example for the rest of the army to follow. Howe had uniforms cut short, so that they came just to the men's waists, and all lace was removed from the coats as well. The cumbersome tricorn hats worn by the soldiers were cut down to brims of 2.5 inches (6.4 cm), resembling derby hats. Infantrymen were issued leggings
Leggings
Leggings are a type of fitted clothing covering the legs, which can be worn by both men and women.Originally leggings were two separate garments, one for each leg....

 made of wool, in place of their linen and hemp canvas gaiters
Gaiters
Gaiters are garments worn over the shoe and lower pant leg, and used primarily as personal protective equipment; similar garments used primarily for display are spats....

. Excess uniforms and equipment were done away with. The men's hair was cut short, Dr. Richard Huck wrote; "we are an army of round heads." Officers were not immune to his changes either, and he made himself an example of this, cutting his hair short. He washed his own clothes, and took very little baggage into the field.

His changes did not only affect the uniforms of the army but its tactics as well. In the fall of 1757, Lord Howe had accompanied the famous ranger Major Robert Rogers
Robert Rogers (soldier)
Robert Rogers was an American colonial frontiersman. Rogers served in the British army during both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution...

 on a scouting expedition. In the spring he again met with Rogers to discuss warfare and tactics in the North American theater. He began instructing the troops in Abercrombie's army in the manner of marching, forming, and fighting in the woods. One observer stated that Lord Howe had trained his 55th Regiment so well that they were as "dexterious as rangers."

Many historians have credited Lord Howe with the creation of light infantry, and have called the 55th Regiment as light infantry regiment, however that was not the case. While Lord Loudoun
John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun
Major-General John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun was a British nobleman and army officer.-Early career:Campbell inherited the peerage on the death of his father in 1731, becoming Lord Loudoun. The earl raised a regiment of infantry that took part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 on the side of the...

 contemplated creating light infantry companies in each redcoat battalion, the idea was scrapped when Colonel Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage
Thomas Gage was a British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as military commander in the early days of the American War of Independence....

 proposed to raise a regiment of Light Armed Foot, that became Gage's 80th Regiment
80th Regiment of Light-Armed Foot
The 80th Regiment of Light-Armed Foot was the first light infantry regiment in the British Army.-History:The regiment was created in 1758 by Colonel Thomas Gage, and was known as Gage's Light Infantry or "leathercaps"...

. They wore brown uniforms, instead of red and were the first British light infantry regiment. At the Siege of Louisbourg
Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
The Siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal battle of the Seven Years' War in 1758 which ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led directly to the loss of Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year.-Background:The British government realized that with the...

, General Jeffery Amherst ordered his regiments to create light infantry companies. Those companies were then placed into a light infantry battalion under the command of Colonel George Scott of the 40th Regiment
40th (2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot
The 40th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1717 and amalgamated into The Prince of Wales's Volunteers in 1881.-Formation:...

. The following year, as Commander-in-chief in North America, Amherst ordered each regiment in North America to create a light infantry company.

Seven Years War

On 2 February 1757, Howe was appointed Colonel, 3rd Battalion of the 60th Foot (the Royal Americans, later the King's Royal Rifle Corps
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...

), but transferred to command the 55th Regiment of Foot
55th Regiment of Foot
The 55th Regiment of Foot was a British Army infantry regiment which existed from 1755 to 1881. After 1782 it had a county designation added, becoming known as the 55th Regiment of Foot. or simply the Westmorland Regiment...

 on 28 September 1757 while at Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

. In December he was promoted to Brigadier General.

In 1758 he and the regiment were part of General James Abercrombie's failed attack at Ticonderoga. England's Prime Minister William Pitt had wanted Howe in command of this expedition rather than Abercromie, but Abercrombie had more political contacts and seniority, so Howe was made second-in-command. On 6 July Abercrombie's force marched north from the shore of Lake George
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...

 in four columns. Howe led one of these columns, with the 55th regiment accompanied by a unit of Connecticut
Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English...

 militia, with Major Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam was an American army general and Freemason who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War...

 as a scout and guide. They made contact with a French unit of 350 that had been separated from the main force and a sharp skirmish ensued. They fought well, taking 148 prisoners, and causing an estimated 300 enemy casualties with limited losses to their own number. But one of those casualties was General Howe, who died in Putnam's arms.

Aftermath

Howe was widely mourned on both sides of the Atlantic. The Massachusetts
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in North America. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England and Scotland...

 Assembly (or general court) later voted £250 to place a monument in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

, something for which Howe's brothers were extremely grateful.

Genealogy

George Augustus was brother to Admiral Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, 4th Viscount and Sir William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence...

. The Family of Hoge quotes The Encyclopaedia Britannica as having this to say about the Howes:
"The friendliness of the brothers, Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe, to the colonies led to their selection for the command of the British forces in the Revolutionary War. It was thought that they could negotiate a settlement with the American forces."

External links

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