October 26, 1909 Major General Oliver Otis Howard passed away in Burlington, VT. He lost his arm to wounds from the Battle of Fair Oaks. His actions that day earned him the Medal of Honor. After the war, he worked in the Freedman’s Bureau and founded Howard University in Washington D.C.Submitted by Unionforever1865 t3_ye03w2 in washingtondc
RallyPigeon t1_itv8ves wrote
Fun morbid tidbit: Howard's friend Phil Kearny, also a Union general who had lost his left arm in the Mexican-American War, visited Howard shortly after Fair Oaks and said "General, we will have to buy gloves together!" as their missing hands made such a thing practical.
Unfortunately, Kearny died a few months later at the Battle of Chantilly (which is a small but easily accessible battlefield park in NoVa today) and was buried at Arlington. No record of the two going glove shopping together exists.
goalie_fight t1_itxhny4 wrote
The really sad thing is that Fair Oaks Mall was built to house specialty glove shops and neither of them lived to see it finished.
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