John Eager Howard

John Eager Howard was the son of Cornelius Howard and Ruth (Eager) Howard, of the Maryland planter elite and was born at their plantation "The Forest" in Baltimore County, Maryland. Howard grew up in an Anglican slaveholding family. Howard joined a Baltimore lodge of Freemasons. ==Military career==

Commissioned a captain at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Howard rose in 1777 to the rank of colonel in the Maryland Line of the Continental Army, In September 1781, he was wounded in a bayonet charge at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Major General Nathanael Greene wrote that Howard was "as good an officer as the world affords. He has great ability and the best disposition to promote the service....He deserves a statue of gold." At the conclusion of the war, Colonel Howard was admitted as an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland. He went on to serve as the vice president (1795–1804) and president (1804–1827) of the Society in Maryland. ==Political life==

Following his army service, Howard held several electoral political positions: elected to the Confederation Congress in 1788; fifth Governor of Maryland for three one-year terms from 1788 through 1791; later as State Senator from 1791 through 1795; and elector in the presidential election of 1792. He declined an offer from George Washington in 1795 to serve as Secretary of War. He subsequently joined the newly organized Federalist Party and was elected to the Senate of the Fourth Congress by the General Assembly of Maryland to serve the remainder of the term of Richard Potts, who had resigned. He was elected to a Senate term of his own in 1797, serving until March 3, 1803, and briefly served as president pro tempore of the Senate in November 1800. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815. In the 1816 presidential election, he received 22 electoral votes for Vice President ==Marriage and family==

Howard married Margaret ("Peggy") Chew, daughter of Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Benjamin Chew, in 1787. They had nine children: • John Eager Howard Jr. (1788–1822), Maryland State Senator. • George Howard, Governor of Maryland. • Benjamin Chew Howard (1791–1872), US Representative and Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. • Dr. William Howard (1793–1834), civil engineer for the War Department. • Juliana Howard McHenry (1796–1821) • James Howard (1797–1870) • Sophia Howard Read (1800–1880) • Charles Howard (1802–1869), father of Frank Key Howard. • Mary (February–May 1806) ==Death and legacy==

Howard died in 1827. He is buried at Old Saint Paul's Cemetery in Baltimore. • In 1904, the city of Baltimore commissioned an equestrian statue of Howard by Emmanuel Frémiet and installed it at Washington Place in Mount Vernon. • Three streets in Baltimore are named for Howard: John Street, Eager Street, and Howard Street. ==References==