

HUMPHREYS, ANDREW A. 



433 



his State. He also voted in favor of John- 

 son's impeachment. He supported the Silver 

 Bill. He was in effect a radical Republican in 

 his political views, and uniformly voted to ex- 

 tend the suffrage to negroes. Although, per- 

 haps, not strictly to be called an orator, lie was 

 always impressive and forcible, and was par- 

 ticularly ready and fluent. President Grant 

 offered him a judgeship in the Supreme Court, 

 but Senator Howe declined it. He denounced 

 President Hayes on the subject of civil-service 

 reform as applied to the Southern States, and 

 he spoke against the Anti-Chinese bill. 



When the third-term question came up, Mr. 

 Howe had left the Senate ; but he favored the 

 scheme, as regarding Gen. Grant, and in 1880 

 spoke strongly in its support. In 1881 he was 

 appointed one of the delegates to the Inter- 

 national Monetary Conference in Paris. He 

 returned home in July, before the close of the 

 conference, in consequence of his wife's illness. 

 When Cabinet changes took place, after Presi- 

 dent Garfield's murder, Mr. Howe was appoint- 

 ed, in December, 1881, Postmaster-General. 

 His service in this office was but little more 

 than a year, but much was done during that 

 time in post-office affairs. Postal notes were 

 issued; reduction of postage was also effected, 

 though the head of that department did not 

 favor the measure. Other measures, such as 

 postal savings-banks and postal telegraphs, he 

 urged with great force. 



It was while he was on a visit to the State 

 of bis adoption that his life was suddenly 

 brought to its close. He left Washington in 

 excellent spirits, and with assured health and 

 strength ; but having been exposed to a driving 

 winter storm, and having taken a severe cold, 

 he was violently attacked with pneumonia, and 

 died in full consciousness that the end had 

 come. Judge Howe's wife died in August, 

 1881. He left one son and one daughter. 



HUMPHREYS, Andrew Atkinson, an American 

 soldier, born in Philadelphia, Nov. 2, 1810 ; 

 died in Washington, D. C., Dec. 27, 1888. He 

 was graduated from the Military Academy at 

 West Point in 1831. His first service was 

 with the artillery. After the Florida war 

 he resigned from the army, and was em- 

 ployed by the Government as a civil en- 

 gineer, assisting Major Bache on plans of the 

 Brandy wine Shoal light-house, and the Crow 

 Shoal breakwater in Delaware Bay. On July 

 7, 1838, he re-entered the service as first lieu- 

 tenant of Topographical Engineers. From that 

 date until May 31, 1848, when he was pro- 

 moted to be captain in the same corps, he as- 

 sisted in many important engineering works, 

 and after his promotion was placed in charge 

 of several topographical and hydrographic sur- 

 veys. He greatly distinguished himself, with 

 Major Abbot, by the survey of the Missis- 

 sippi, which gave those two officers a wide 

 reputation as engineers. Humphreys was pro- 

 moted to the rank of major in August, 1861, 

 and was employed on the staff of Gen. McClel- 

 TOL. xxm. 28 A 



Ian as Chief of Topographical Engineers of the 

 Army of the Potomac. He was advanced to 

 the rank of colonel of volunteers, March 5 

 1862, and participated in all the actions of the 

 Army of the Potomac, up to and including the 

 battle of Malvern hill, in which he commanded 

 a division, having previously been appointed a 

 brigadier- general of volunteers, April 28, 1862. 

 He continued in the command of troops dur- 

 ing the Maryland campaign which culminated 

 at Antietam, and in the Rappahannock cam- 

 paign, including Fredericksburg and Chancel- 

 lorsville, receiving the brevet of colonel in the 

 regular army for his' services in the former 

 battle. He was made a lieutenant-colonel, 

 Corps of Engineers, March 3, 1863, and served 

 as chief of Gen. Meade's staff from that date 

 until July 8th, when he received a commission 

 as major-general of volunteers. He was with 

 Meade at Gettysburg, and remained with him 

 until the surrender at Appomattox. On March 

 13, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general 

 in the regular army for gallant services at the 

 battle of Gettysburg, and brevetted major- 

 general on the same day for gallantry and 

 meritorious conduct at the battle of Sailor's 

 Creek, Va. He was mustered out of the 

 volunteer service August 31, 1866, promoted 

 to the rank of brigadier-general in the regu- 

 lar army, and assigned to duty as chief of en- 

 gineers, which office he filled until June 30, 

 1879, when he was retired at his own request. 



In a general order announcing his death, 

 Secretary Lincoln pays : " In the discharge of 

 his military duties Gen.' Humphreys displayed 

 great zeal, intelligence, and conspicuous gal- 

 lantry. Those who served under him had the 

 highest confidence in his capacity to command, 

 and the greatest admiration of his soldierly 

 qualities." In 1882 he published u The Vir- 

 ginia Campaigns of 1864 and 1865," followed 

 by another work, "From Gettysburg to the 

 Rapidan." His personal observations, the fa- 

 cilities which his residence in Washington af- 

 forded him of examining the archives of the War 

 Department, and the simplicity and strength of 

 his style of writing, have produced works that 

 will prove of great value to the future historian 

 of the war. His latest literary labors were sev- 

 eral letters concerning his grandfather, Joshua 

 Humphreys, who designed the six frigates con- 

 structed under a law approved by Washington, 

 as President, in 1794. This valuable material 

 was sent to Gen. J. G. Wilson, as a contribu- 

 tion to his "History of the Frigate Constitu- 

 tion," better known as " Old Ironsides." 



Gen. Humphreys was a member of the Amer- 

 ican Philosophical Society of Philadelphia; the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of " 

 Boston ; the National Academy of Sciences, of 

 which latter he was a corporator ; and he 

 was also an honorary member of the Imperial 

 Royal Geographical Institute of Vienna, and 

 the Royal Institute of Science and Art of 

 Lombardy. 



HUXGikY. See AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



