FallReporter.com: Ceremony will honor Fond du Lac area Revolutionary War veteran
OAK CENTER — Although he’s been dead and gone for 163 years, veteran Andrew Howard is being remembered for his years of service in the Revolutionary War.
The Wisconsin Society of the Sons of the American Revolution will dedicate a new grave marker at the final resting place of Andrew Howard in the Oak Center Cemetery.
The service is set for 2 p.m. Sunday, June 12, and will commence with a color guard unit garbed in the attire of the Continental Army under Gen. George Washington assembling at Howard’s gravesite in the small rural cemetery located near the crossroads of Breakneck and Oak Center Roads. Words commemorating the Massachusetts native’s journey from the New England states to the Midwest will be shared by those in attendance as well as a solemn salute performed by the color guard.
A representative from the WISSAR will provide information about state and local programs benefitting veterans. The service will conclude with a gun salute by a local veterans firing squad and the playing of Taps.
Howard was among many patriots who moved west following the war and found their way into the Wisconsin Territory and helped build the state of Wisconsin. At the close of their lives, many were buried in small, rural cemeteries. According to historical records, Howard and 39 other veterans of the Revolutionary War are buried in 25 Wisconsin cemeteries.
According to records at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, Howard was born in Massachusetts in 1764. At the age of 16 he enlisted in Capt. Amos Cogswell’s Company in the 8th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Line for three years. He later transferred to Capt. John Hobby’s Company of the 3rd Massachusetts Continental Line, commanded by Col. Hugh Maxwell. After serving in the Hudson River Defense he was discharged in 1783.
In 1847 at the age of 83, Howard and his wife, Clarissa, came to Wisconsin to live with their son, Solomon, for two years before his death.
