Howard, Oliver Otis (1830–1909), a United States army officer. As commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, 1865–72, he helped establish Howard University for blacks. The school was named for him and he served as its president, 1869–73. He also raised funds to found Lincoln Memorial University at Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1895. Howard was born in Leeds, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1850 and from West Point in 1854. During the Civil War, he led the Army of the Tennessee on Sherman's march through Georgia to the sea. Howard fought in the Indian wars in the Northwest, 1877–78. He retired as a major general in 1894.