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Neil Howie
Second U.S. Marshal of Montana Territory

Neil Howie was born at Kilmaurs, On 18 July 1867, Governor Green Clay Smith
Ayrshire, Scotland, around 1833. At appointed Neil Howie as Colonel of the First
the age of 6 years in 1840, he with Regiment of Montana Volunteers. Th at summer, he
his family immigrated to the United led 300 men to an area near Martinsdale to prevent
States. Th ey settled around Vienna an Indian uprising, which never materialized in that
and later Madison, Wisconsin, where locale.
he was raised.
Neil Howie completed his term as Marshal and
Neil felt the calling of the west and was succeeded in offi ce by William F. Wheeler in
relocated to Colorado for a short time. the Spring of 1869; he continued on as a Deputy
In 1863, he moved to the Montana until that winter. William F. Wheeler served as U.S.
Territory. He prospected for gold and Marshal from 15 May 1869 until 8 April 1878.
worked as a freighter between Salt
Lake and the Beaverhead Madison In 1870, Neil Howie left Montana for Wyoming
country. to assist his brother, Andrew, who had pleaded self-
defense and was on trial in Cheyenne. Andrew Howie's
During a freight trip from Salt Lake in January of 1864, trial was the fi rst jury with women that was convened
Howie single-handedly captured the road agent "Dutch in the Wyoming, Territory. Andrew was found guilty of
John" Wagner and turned him over to the Vigilance manslaughter, although his guilt was questionable. Th e
Committee. Neil Howie's name is on the list of the men Judge sentenced him to ten years at hard labor for murder.
who comprised the Montana Vigilantes members, and Neil Howie worked for his brother's release; aft er two
he oft en worked with the Committee of Safety to rid the years, Andrew was paroled from the Detroit Prison, he
territory of outlaws. remained in Michigan for several years before he returned
to Wisconsin.
In April of 1864, Robert C. Knox, Sheriff of Madison
County, appointed Neil Howie as Deputy Sheriff . Later Neil Howie remained in the Wyoming/Colorado vicinity
that summer, Neil Howie was elected Sheriff of Madison until 1872, then relocated to Utah.
County.
In 1874, Howie was enticed to travel to South America.
In July of 1865, Neil Howie was appointed as Deputy Th ere are confl icting accounts as to when and where Neil
U.S. Marshal in the Montana Territory by U.S. Marshal Howie died. A prevailing story is that Howie contracted
George M. Pinney. He turned over the Sheriff 's Offi ce that malaria and died around the age of 40, in April of 1874,
September to Andy Snyder. Neil traveled to Helena in the while employed as Assistant Superintendent of the
company of two other Deputy Marshal's John X. Beidler Remington Company's Quartz Works on Trinidad Island,
and John Featherstun, assisting U.S. Marshal Pinney or near the mouth of the Oronoco River, Venezuela. Or he
enforcing the law and helping make Montana a safe place died from fever near Cayenne, French Guiana, as late as
to live. 1878.

Brother Neil Howie was a Charter Member of Virginia
City Lodge No. 1 in 1866. Also in 1866, he moved his
membership to Morning Star Lodge No. 5, in Helena, Compiled by: Reid Gardiner, Editor
Montana.

In February 1866, Territorial Governor Th omas Francis
Meagher appointed Neil Howie as Colonel in the Second
Regiment of Territorial Volunteers.

On the resignation of George Pinney as U.S. Marshal on
17 March 1867, Howie was appointed as U.S. Marshal for
the Montana Territory, serving from 18 March 1867 until
11 May 1869.
On 24 April 1867, he was appointed Aide-de-camp
with the rank of Colonel. On 7 May 1867, Neil Howie was
appointed as Brigadier General of the Volunteers.

Montana Freemason Page 29 Jan/Feb 2021 Volume 97 No. 1