Born August 10, 1729
London, England
Died July 12, 1814
Plymouth, England

Commander-in-chief of the British army in North America

"My going thither [to America] was not of my seeking. I was ordered, and could not refuse, without incurring the odious name of backwardness to serve my country in distress."
Portrait: William Howe. Reproduced courtesy of the Library of Congress.

William Howe was the British general given credit not for losing the war against the American rebels, but for failing to win it. Howe was an excellent soldier but a less-than-adequate commander-in-chief. On many occasions he won battles against the Americans but failed to suppress the rebellion early in the war when he did not pursue and decisively defeat the army of General George Washington (see entry).

William Howe was born on August 10, 1729, in London to Emanuel Scrope Howe and his wife, Mary Sophia, the eldest daughter of Baron Kielmansegge...