James Henry Howe

James Henry Howe (December 5, 1827January 4, 1893) was an American lawyer and Republican politician. He served one year as United States district judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Earlier in his career, he was the 7th Attorney General of Wisconsin and served as a Union Army colonel in the American Civil War. He was a nephew of U.S. Senator Timothy O. Howe, and was said to be "like a son" to him. Education and career Born on December 5, 1827, in Turner, Maine, Howe received a general education and proceeded to read law, first with Bradley & Eastman in Saco, Maine, then with his uncle, Timothy O. Howe, at Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory. He was admitted to the bar at Green Bay in 1848. He began practicing law in partnership with his uncle, but the partnership was terminated when the elder Howe was elevated to a Wisconsin circuit court judgeship in 1851. James Howe went on to partner with William H. Norris until 1860. He was elected Attorney General of Wisconsin in 1859 and was the first Republican to hold that office. He was re-elected in 1861, but resigned office in October 1862 to volunteer with the Union Army for service in the American Civil War. During his second term as Attorney General, Howe led the state delegation to recover the body of Governor Louis P. Harvey, who had drowned while on a visit to the wounded soldiers from the Battle of Shiloh.