Robert Howe (Continental Army officer)

Robert Howe (Continental Army officer)

Robert Howe was a Continental Army general from the Province of North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. Howe served in the colonial militia during the French and Indian War and commanded Fort Johnston at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. He had numerous affairs, fathering an unknown number of children in and out of wedlock, and was widely considered a womanizer and sympathizer and diarist. Howe died in December 1786 while en route to a session of the North Carolina House of Commons.

About Robert Howe (Continental Army officer) in brief

Summary Robert Howe (Continental Army officer)Robert Howe was a Continental Army general from the Province of North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. Howe was one of five generals, and the only major general, in the Continental Army from that state. Howe served in the colonial militia during the French and Indian War and commanded Fort Johnston at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Howe’s career as a military commander was consumed primarily by conflict with political and military leaders in Georgia and South Carolina. He was accused of attempting to defect to the British, but the accusations were cast aside at the time as having been based in a British attempt to cause further discord in the Revolutionary Army. Howe died in December 1786 while en route to a session of the North Carolina House of Commons. He is survived by his wife, Sarah Grange, who was heiress to a large fortune, and a son, Robert; two daughters, Mary and Ann; and up to four additional daughters whose mothers’ names are not recorded. He had numerous affairs, fathering an unknown number of children in and out of wedlock, and was widely considered a womanizer and sympathizer and diarist. In 1772, Howe recorded his support for the revolution; by 1772 he became estranged from Grange and the two separated of their formal separation. He died in North Carolina in 1786; he is buried in Mount Airy, North Carolina, with his wife and two daughters. He leaves behind a daughter, Mary Howe, and two sons, Robert and Robert II, all of whom were mentioned in Job Howe’s will.

Job Howe was the grandson of colonial Governor James Moore. Job was also a descendant of Governor John Yeamans. Job’s ancestors had been planters and political figures in South Carolina during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He may have been Job’s first wife Martha, the daughter of colonial North Carolina jurist Frederick Jones. Job died in 1748, leaving his estate and the wealth of his parents to Robert. Howe had two brothers and two sisters, all- whom were mentioning in Job’s will, and all-of whom were also mentioned in his will. He also served as a colonel of Royal Governor William Tryon’s artillery during the War of the Regulation. He sat as a senior officer on the court-martial board that sentenced to death John André, a British officer accused of assisting Benedict Arnold in the latter’s plot to change allegiance and deliver West Point to the UK. Howe also played a role in putting down several late-war mutinies by members of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Lines in New Jersey and Philadelphia and returned home in 1783. He later became active in state politics, but died in October 1786. His son Robert II was born in 1732 and grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, where his family owned more than 80,000 acres of farmland on it by the 1730s. His father was a member of the extended Moore family, formerly of South Carolina and settled the lower Cape Fear river.