The O. O. Howard House

The O. O. Howard House. . This Italianate-Revival style home was built in 1878 for General Oliver Otis Howard, Commanding General of the Department of the Columbia from 1874 until 1880., This gracious home was considered ”the finest dwelling house north of the Columbia.” It was home to many social events and hosted several famous guests, including Ulysses S. Grant in 1879 and U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880., After the Marshall House was built as the new department commander’s home in 1886, the Howard House became the local post commander’s residence. It then served as a Non-Commissioned Officers’ (NCO) Club from 1934 until it was surplused after a fire in 1986., Notable Civil War General Howard was lauded for his work with African Americans when he was Commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau from 1866 until 1872, and for helping to found Howard University, an all African American institution. However, Howard’s reputation for his role in the Indian Wars campaigns against Native American groups resisting pressure to move to reservations was not as positive. The most famous of these campaigns was the 1877 Nez Perce War, in which Chief Joseph led his people in an unprecedented five-month flight from northeastern Oregon to Montana, until their capture by Howard and his soldiers. Howard also unjustly incarcerated Nez Perce Chief Temme Ilppilp (Red Heart) and thirty-two of his people at Fort Vancouver for eight months in 1877.