Gen. O.O. Howard will be depicted on horseback in new monument at Lincoln Memorial University, which he helped found

The Howard monument (Lincoln Memorial University)

Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., next month will dedicate a monument honoring Civil War Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, who was instrumental in the creation of the school.

”It was a conversation with (President) Lincoln about the loyal unionists in East Tennessee that inspired Howard to help turn the Harrow School into a university,” Michael Lynch, the director of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum at LMU, told TV station WVLT.

Howard, known for leading the Freedmen’s Bureau after the war and co-founding Howard University in Washington, D.C, became involved after touring the mountainous Cumberland Gap area in 1896.

Construction of the monument base (Lincoln Memorial University)

“There he met with Reverend A.A. Myers who had founded the Harrow Academy for underprivileged mountain families,” Lincoln Memorial said in a news release.

“Howard agreed to help raise money for the school if Myers would expand its scope to include higher education. A year later, Lincoln Memorial University was founded as a living memorial to President Abraham Lincoln. Howard remained dedicated and involved with LMU through the end of his life in 1909.”

Sculptor Omri Amrany is making the 20-foot monument of Howard, depicted on horseback. The statue is the second memorial of Howard on the campus. A bust (below) sits outside Chinnock Chapel.

(Courtesy of Lincoln Memorial University)

The new monument, which will be placed in Alumni Park, will be dedicated at 11 a.m. Oct. 13 during homecoming celebrations.

Lincoln Memorial University, a private institution, has about 5,400 students. It covers 1,000 acres near Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

Howard, an ardent abolitionist, participated in numerous Civil War campaigns and battles, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Atlanta. He lost his right arm during the battle of Seven Pines in Virginia but returned to service. He later fought in the Indian Wars and served as superintendent at West Point for two years.

The American Battlefield Trust said of Howard:

“Known as ‘the Christian General,’ Oliver Otis Howard is a unique figure in Civil War history.  Despite lackluster performances by troops under his command, Howard’s reputation as an efficient and personally courageous officer would lead to command of an army by the war’s end.”