[4] He ended the war in Hardee's Corps as captain of Howell's Battery, Georgia Light Artillery.

Upon his return, he farmed for two years, clearing and selling lumber on his father's land near Atlanta.

For the next 25 years, the paper was owned by Howell and the managing partner, William Hemphill.

With Richard Peters, Samuel M. Inman, Lemuel Grant, and James W. English, he purchased the buildings on the site of the International Cotton Exposition of 1881 and made it the Exposition Cotton Mills, which were successful for many years.

While editor of the Constitution in 1895, he sent out transcripts of Booker T. Washington's separate as the fingers speech across the country.