[2] His reputation was damaged by this political service due to his support of Governor William A. Barstow—he was counted among the "forty thieves" accused of participating in bribery scandals with Barstow.
[1] At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he left his business and raised a company of volunteers for the Union Army, known as the "Evergreens".
[3] Howell led his company through the first two years of the war, participating in mostly guard and logistics duty in Tennessee and Kentucky.
[1] Daniel Howell's father died when he was young, and his mother Mary (née McGregor) remarried with Simeon Mulford.
[1][7] For many years he was active in Freemasonry, was one of the charter members of the Knights Templar of Milwaukee, and held the rank of grand master at one point.