{{Short description|American Navy admiral (1819–1892)}} {{Distinguish|John Adams Howell}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person | name = John Cummings Howell | image = John C. Howell.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1819|11|24}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1892|9|12|1819|11|24}} | birth_place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], US | death_place = [[Folkestone]], England | burial_place = Cheriton Road Cemetery,<br/>Folkestone, England | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | nickname = | allegiance = United States | branch = [[United States Navy]] | service_years = 1836–1881 | rank = [[Rear Admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] | service_number = | unit = | commands = *{{USS|Tahoma|1861|6}} *{{USS|Nereus|1863|6}} *[[Naval Rendezvous Philadelphia]] *[[League Island Navy Yard]] *[[Portsmouth Navy Yard]] *[[North Atlantic Squadron]] *[[European Squadron]] | battles = {{Plainlist| [[American Civil War]] :[[Union blockade]] :[[Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries]] :[[First Battle of Fort Fisher]] :[[Second Battle of Fort Fisher]] }} | battles_label = | awards = | relations = | other_work = | signature = Signature of John Cummings Howell (1819–1892).png }}
'''John Cummings Howell''' (November 24, 1819 – September 12, 1892) was an officer in the [[United States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. He rose to the rank of [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]] and late in his career was commander-in-chief of the [[North Atlantic Squadron]] and then of the [[European Squadron]].
==Early life==
Howell was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], on November 24, 1819.<ref name="hamersly29">Hamersly, p. 29.</ref>
==Naval career==
===Early career===
Howell was appointed as a [[midshipman]] on June 9, 1836.<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="officers">[https://web.archive.org/web/20150217000813/http://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/organization-and-administration/historical-leadership/navy-and-marine-corps-officers-1775-1900/navy-officers-1798-1900-h.html Naval History and Heritage Command: Navy Officers 1798–1900: H]</ref> His first tour of duty was aboard the new [[sloop-of-war]] {{USS|Levant|1837|6}} in the [[West Indies Squadron (United States)|West Indies Squadron]] from 1837 to 1841. He was promoted to [[passed midshipman]] on July 1, 1842, and served aboard the new [[frigate]] {{USS|Congress|1841|6}} in the [[Mediterranean Squadron (United States)|Mediterranean Squadron]] from 1842 to 1844. From 1844 to 1845 he served aboard the [[brig]] {{USS|Perry|1843|6}} in the [[East India Squadron]], after which he was Naval [[Storekeeper]] at [[Macao]] from 1846 to 1848.<ref name="hamersly29"/>
Promoted to [[Master (naval)|master]] on February 21, 1849<ref name="officers"/> and to [[lieutenant]] on August 2, 1849,<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="officers"/> Howell returned to sea for a tour aboard the frigate {{USS|Raritan|1843|6}} in the [[Home Squadron]] from 1849 to 1850. He next served aboard the sloop-of-war {{USS|Saratoga|1842|6}} in the East India Squadron from 1851 to 1853. A tour aboard the [[receiving ship]] at Philadelphia followed from 1854 to 1856, after which he returned to the Mediterranean Squadron to serve aboard the steam frigate {{USS|Susquehanna|1850|6}} from 1856 to 1858. Then he had a second tour aboard the receiving ship at Philadelphia – which by then was {{USS|Princeton|1851|6}} – from 1859 to 1860.<ref name="hamersly29"/>
===American Civil War===
The [[American Civil War]] broke out in April 1861, and that year Howell reported aboard the steam frigate {{USS|Minnesota|1855|6}}, which was assigned to the [[North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]] to take part in the [[Union blockade]] of the [[Confederate States of America]]. While aboard ''Minnesota'' he saw action in the [[Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries]] on the [[Outer Banks]] of [[North Carolina]] on August 28–29, 1861.<ref name="hamersly29"/>
Howell detached from ''Minnesota'' later in 1861 to become the first [[commanding officer]] of the new [[gunboat]] {{USS|Tahoma|1861|6}}, which was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on December 20, 1861, and assigned to the [[East Gulf Blockading Squadron]], with which she remained throughout her career.<ref name="DANFSTahoma">[https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/tahoma-i.html ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'': Tahoma]</ref> Under his command, ''Tahoma'' enjoyed many successes. On April 26, 1862, she chased a Confederate [[schooner]] until it ran aground, then destroyed it. In June 1862, she raided [[St. Mark's, Florida|St. Mark's]], [[Florida]], where she burned a barracks and destroyed a [[Artillery battery|battery]] of Confederate [[artillery]]. Off [[Mexico]]'s [[Yucatán Peninsula]], she captured the [[blockade runner]] ''Uncle Mose'', a schooner carrying 115 bales of [[cotton]], after ''Uncle Mose'' mistakenly sailed up to her on July 7, 1862.<ref name="DANFSTahoma"/> Nine days later, Howell was promoted to [[Commander (United States)|commander]] on July 16, 1862.<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="officers"/>
''Tahoma'' joined the gunboat {{USS|Somerset|1862|6}} in putting 111 men ashore in eight boats at [[Seahorse Key]] to destroy three Confederate [[salt]] works on October 6, 1862. She went on to capture the [[sloop]] ''Silas Henry'', which was running the blockade with a cargo of cotton, at [[Tampa Bay]], Florida, on January 8, 1863; the British schooner ''Margaret'' off [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St, Petersburg]], Florida, on February 1, 1863; and the [[yacht]] ''Stonewall'' off [[Pea Creek]], Florida, on February 22, 1863. She exchanged fire with a Confederate shore battery at [[Gadsden's Point]], Florida, on April 2, 1863, and then returned to her pursuit of blockade runners, capturing the schooner ''Crazy Jane'', carrying a cargo of cotton and [[turpentine]], near Gadsden's point on May 5, 1863, and the schooner ''Statesman'' and her cargo of cotton in Tampa Bay on June 6, 1863. On June 18, she both captured the British schooner ''Harrietton'' off [[Anclote Key]] and destroyed the blockade runner ''Mary Jane'' at [[Clearwater, Florida|Clearwater]], Florida. On October 17, 1863, she joined the gunboat {{USS|Adela}} in landing an expeditionary force at [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], Florida, and burned the steamer ''Scottish Chief'' and the sloop ''Kate Dale''.<ref name="DANFSTahoma"/> Howell detached from ''Tahoma'' later in 1863.<ref name="hamersly29"/>
Howell's next tour was as the first commanding officer of the schooner-rigged steamer {{USS|Nereus|1863|6}}, which was commissioned on April 19, 1864, and assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Under his command, ''Nereus'' escorted the steamer SS ''North Star'' from [[New York City]] to [[Aspinwall, Panama|Aspinwall]], Colombia, on the [[Isthmus of Panama]], and the [[Monitor (ship)|monitor]] {{USS|Dictator|1863|6}} on a voyage from New York City to [[Hampton Roads]], [[Virginia]]; towed the monitor {{USS|Saugus|1863|6}} from [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], Virginia, to [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], [[North Carolina]], for operations against Confederate [[Fort Fisher]]; and took part in the [[First Battle of Fort Fisher]] of December 23–27, 1864 and the [[Second Battle of Fort Fisher]] of January 13–15, 1865. She then towed the monitor {{USS|Mahopac|1863|6}} from Wilmington to [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]], for operations against the Confederate defenses of [[Charleston Harbor]]. Howell and ''Nereus'' ended the war searching the [[Bahamas]] and the [[Caribbean]] for the [[Confederate States Navy]] commerce raider [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']].<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref>[https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/nereus-i.html ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'': Nereus]</ref>
===Post-Civil War===
Promoted to [[Captain (United States)|captain]] on July 25, 1866,<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="officers"/> Howell's first post-war tour was as commanding officer of the Naval Rendezvous at Philadelphia from 1866 to 1868. He returned to sea in 1869 as a member of the staff of the [[European Squadron]], serving as the squadron's fleet captain from 1869 to 1870 and as chief of staff to its commander-in-chief, Rear Admiral [[Charles S. Boggs]], in 1871. He commanded [[League Island Navy Yard]] in Philadelphia from 1871 to 1872.<ref name="hamersly29"/> Promoted to [[Commodore (United States)|commodore]] on January 29, 1872,<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="officers"/> he commanded the [[Portsmouth Navy Yard]] in [[Kittery, Maine|Kittery]], [[Maine]], from 1872 to 1874<ref name="hamersly29"/> and was the chief of the U.S. Navy's [[Bureau of Yards and Docks]] from September 22, 1874<ref name="officers"/> to 1878.<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="rentfrow35">Rentfrow, p. 35.</ref> He was promoted to rear admiral during this tour on April 25, 1877.<ref name="officers"/>
In September 1878, Howell became commander-in-chief of the [[North Atlantic Squadron]],<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="rentfrow35"/> with the steam frigate {{USS|Powhatan|1850|6}} as his [[flagship]]. The squadron was considered the most prestigious seagoing command in the U.S. Navy at the time,<ref>Rentfrow, pp. 4–5</ref> but the Navy had shrunk so dramatically since the conclusion of the Civil War in April 1865 that the squadron consisted of only two ships, ''Powhatan'' and the screw sloop-of-war {{USS|Plymouth|1867|6}}, during his tenure as its commander-in-chief. When an insurrection broke out on the Caribbean island of Santa Cruz in the [[Danish Virgin Islands]] (now [[St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. Croix]] in the [[United States Virgin Islands]]), the [[United States Department of the Navy]] ordered Howell to intervene with his squadron. Unfortunately, ''Powhatan'' was in [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Postmouth]], [[New Hampshire]], and too far away from Santa Cruz to influence events there, and ''Plymouth'' was not provisioned and unable to get underway. A [[French Navy]] warship got to Santa Cruz first, landed troops, and quelled the rioting there, but not before the rioters had burned the American [[consulate]]. Despite the limited means at Howell's disposal – a squadron consisting of only two ships with which to carry out the responsibility for all U.S. Navy operations off eastern [[Canada]], along the entire [[United States East Coast]] and [[United States Gulf Coast]], and in the entire [[Gulf of Mexico]] and [[Caribbean Sea]] – the Department of the Navy reprimanded him for having neither of his ships ready to deploy to Santa Cruz on short notice and in a timely manner.<ref name="rentfrow35"/>
In January 1879, Howell turned command of the North Atlantic Squadron over to Rear Admiral [[Robert H. Wyman]]. He became commander-in-chief of the European Squadron<ref name="rentfrow35"/> in February 1879, serving in that capacity until relieved by Rear Admiral [[James W. Nicholson]] on September 16, 1881. He retired from the Navy upon reaching the statutory retirement age of 62 on November 24, 1881.<ref name="hamersly29"/><ref name="officers"/>
==Death==
Howell died at [[Folkestone]], Kent, England, on September 12, 1892.<ref name="officers"/> He is buried at Cheriton Road Cemetery in Folkestone. <!-- ==Notes== {{Reflist|group=note}} -->
==See also== {{Portal bar|Biography|American Civil War}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008369507 Hamersly, Lewis Randolph. ''The Records of Living Officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, Fourth Edition''. Philadelphia: L. R. Hamersly & Co., 1890.] *Rentfrow, James C. ''Home Squadron: The U.S. Navy on the North Atlantic Station''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-61251-447-5}}.
{{S-start}} {{S-mil}} {{succession box|title=Commander-in-Chief, [[North Atlantic Squadron]]|before=[[Stephen Decatur Trenchard|Stephen D. Trenchard]]|after=[[Robert H. Wyman]]|years=September 1878–January 1879}} {{succession box|title=Commander-in-Chief, [[European Squadron]]|before=[[William E. Le Roy]]|after=[[James W. Nicholson]]|years=February 1879–16 September 1881}} {{S-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, John C.}} [[Category:1819 births]] [[Category:1892 deaths]] [[Category:Military personnel from Philadelphia]] [[Category:People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Union navy officers]] [[Category:United States Navy admirals]]