Note 127 — Chapter V
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"He was," says General Abercromby, "the first man that fell; and as he was, very deservedly, universally beloved and respected throughout the whole army, it is easy to conceive the grief and consternation his untimely fall occasioned."—Letter from the Right Honorable G. Grenville to Mr. Pitt, Wotton, August 23d, 1758.
"The great number of officers and men in the regular troops killed and wounded, and particularly the grievous loss we have sustained in the death of Lord Howe, are circumstances that would cloud a victory, and must therefore aggravate our concern for a repulse. I was not personally acquainted with Lord Howe, but I admired his virtuous, gallant character, and regret his loss accordingly. I can not help thinking it peculiarly unfortunate for his country and his friends that he should fall in the first action of this war, before his spirit and his example, and the success and glory which, in all human probability, would have attended them, had produced their full effect on our own troops and those of the enemy. You have a melancholy task indeed, affected as you justly are with this public and private sorrow, to communicate the death of Lord Howe to a brother that most tenderly loved him.
"I am ever your most affectionate brother, "George Grenville."
—Chatham Correspondence.
Even Graham admits that "Lord Howe exhibited the most promising military talents, and his valor, virtue, courtesy, and good sense, had wonderfully endeared him both to the English and to the Provincial troops. He was the first to encounter the danger to which he conducted others, and to set the example of every sacrifice which he required them to incur. He was the idol and soul of the army."—Vol. iv., p. 29. See Smollett's History of England, vol. iv., p. 306.
"Lord Howe's memory was honored by a vote of the Assembly of Massachusetts for the erection of a superb cenotaph at the expense of the province, among the heroes and patriots of Britain, in the collegiate church of Westminster."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 205.
"The popularity of his name has been, perhaps, impaired by the circumstance that his brother, Sir William Howe, commanded the British army in the Revolutionary war in America. It is still doubtful whether Lord Howe fell by the fire of the enemy, or by a misdirected shot from some unhappy hand among his own confused and startled soldiers."—Graham's History of the United States, vol. iv., p. 30.
Lord Howe was succeeded in his title by his brother Richard, afterward the celebrated admiral. He had already distinguished himself by the capture of the Alcide and the Lys.