Background
Howell was born in Newark, Delaware, in 1754. He was a son of Ebenezer Howell, whose parents came from Wales to Delaware about 1724; his mother was Sarah (Bond) Howell.
Howell was born in Newark, Delaware, in 1754. He was a son of Ebenezer Howell, whose parents came from Wales to Delaware about 1724; his mother was Sarah (Bond) Howell.
With his twin brother, Lewis, he went to school in Newcastle, then followed the family to Cumberland County, N. J. , near Bridgeton, where he studied law.
On November 22, 1774, he helped burn tea landed from the brig Greyhound at Greenwich, N. J. , and in November of the following year became captain in the New Jersey militia, then brigade major. From Greenwich in December 1775 his company, "soldiers, captain and all, went in the dead of night off, on foot, to get clear of their creditors" (Ebenezer Elmer's Journal, quoted in L. Q. C. Elmer, post, p. 103). They took part in the attack on Quebec where, as Howell wrote his brother, he "had the honor to fire the first gun on the plains of Abram, before the retreat" (Ibid. , p. 104). He fought through the campaigns of Maxwell's brigade, notably at Brandywine and Monmouth, and repelled Tory raids along the Delaware. Years later he wrote an inscription for Maxwell's tombstone. Resigning his commission April 7, 1779, to engage in intelligence work for Washington, he was licensed attorney in that month.
Arrested for treason and brought before Judge David Brearly, Howell showed his secret orders which secured his discharge and the erasure of the minutes. On Sept. 18, 1782, he was chosen United States judge advocate but declined the position. In September 1788 he succeeded William Churchill Houston as clerk of the New Jersey supreme court. He took an active part in Federalist affairs, writing for Washington's reception, April 29, 1789, at the Assanpink bridge, the ten-line ode, "Welcome, mighty chief! once more Welcome to this grateful shore" (Lee, post, II, 428-29). The nine fourline stanzas to Washington, "Let venal poets praise a King, " published in the New Jersey Gazette, Aug. 18, 1779, are probably his (Archives of the State of New Jersey, 2 ser. , III, 1906, p. 558).
He was a vestryman of St. Michael's Church, Trenton, and on May 11, 1791, was one of the lawyers who petitioned with success against the rule requiring "Bands and Bargowns. " Upon the resignation of William Paterson from the governorship, Howell was elected to that office by the legislature, on June 3, 1793. Despite party fluctuations he was re-elected annually – unopposed, save in 1799 – until he retired in favor of his friend Joseph Bloomfield in 1801.
He took a leading part in sending four companies of New Jersey troops (325 men) to join St. Clair's ill-fated forces in Ohio. As governor he headed the New Jersey troops sent against the Whiskey Insurrection, and Washington had him command the right wing of the army. At this time he wrote a song, "Dash to the mountains, Jersey Blue, " immensely popular and long sung on the Princeton campus.
Returning to the practice of law after his governorship, he died suddenly at the age of forty-eight.
He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and his military and patriotic interest was unflagging.
Of easy and popular manner, though stern in discipline and command, fond of athletics and good horses, Howell was much loved in his day.
Quotes from others about the person
Someone wrote beneath his portrait four lines (quoted by Elmer, p. 112), ending: "The soul of honor, friend of human kind. "
In November, 1779, he married Keziah Burr, daughter of Joseph Burr of Burlington County. They had nine children and left numerous descendants; a granddaughter, Varina Howell, became Mrs. Jefferson Davis.