Volney Howard

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Volney Erskine Howard (October 22, 1809 – May 14, 1889) was an American lawyer, statesman, and jurist.

Career

Howard commenced law practice in Brandon, Mississippi. He was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1836; reporter of the supreme court of the State of Mississippi; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh Congress and editor of the Mississippian.

He moved to Texas during the Republic of Texas and Howard was appointed the first Attorney General of the State of Texas in 1846. He served in that role for only 6 months. He represented Texas's District 2 in the U.S. Congress from 1849 to 1853.

Appointed attorney to the Land Commission of California by President Franklin Pierce, Howard left Texas to move to California. He resigned after a few months to practice law in San Francisco. In 1856, he was appointed Adjutant General of California, following the resignation of William T. Sherman during the time of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance. His attempt to oppose the Committee by force failed. Afterward he moved to Sacramento in 1858. In 1861 he moved to Los Angeles, where he was the District Attorney of Los Angeles, California from 1864–68, and a superior court judge beginning in 1879. He served only one term, due to the ill health that also forced him to refuse a potential nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Howard died in Santa Monica, California and is buried at Fort Hill in Los Angeles, California. Howard County, Texas was named in his honor.

External links

Column (approx. 2,000 words) on Howard as major-general in charge of state efforts to crush vigilantes' control of San Francisco in 1856

Legal offices
Preceded by New Position	Texas Attorney General 1846	Succeeded by John W. Harris
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Timothy Pilsbury	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 2nd congressional district 1849–1853	Succeeded by Peter H. Bell

v t e Attorneys General of Texas

	Republic of Texas (1836 - 1845)	Collinsworth Henderson Grayson Birdsall Thurston Watrous Webb Morris Terrell Allen Ochiltree

	State of Texas (1846 - Present)	Howard Harris Brewster Hamilton Allen Jennings Willie Graham Flournoy Shelley Tarver Alexander Walton Turner Alexander Clark Boone McLeary Templeton Hogg Culberson Crane Smith Bell Davidson Lightfoot Walthall Looney Cureton Keeling Moody Pollard Bobbitt Allred McCraw Mann Sellers Daniel Shepperd Wilson Carr Martin Hill White Mattox Morales Cornyn Abbott

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 48928986 LCCN: no2003123629

Persondata
Name	Howard, Volney E.
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	October 22, 1809
Place of birth
Date of death	May 14, 1889
Place of death

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