The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-12-12
General Nelson A. Miles.

General Nelson A. Miles Is remark
able for three things, says the New
York World. He has had extraordi-
nary success as an Indian fighter. he
took command at Chicago during
the railroad riots of last summer and
summarily suppressed the 'sDebs re-
bellion." But the most extraordinary
thing about him, in the minds of
military men, is that he should have
risen to high command in the army
as at present constituted without
being a graduate of West Point.
When he took command of the
Military Department of the East,
with headquarters on Governors ISL
and, he entered upon the duties of an
Office which has nearly always been
filed by graduates of this noted mill
tary school. All of the Generals on
both sides who rose to supreme dis
tinction during the Civil War were
graduates of West Point. Then was
the time for volunteer soldiers to rise
to the top, but they did not do so.
After the restoration of peace it was
not supposed that anybody but West
Pointers would stand much chance of
risin: to high command. With the
army on a peace footing, promotion
would take It's regular course and
officers would have little or no chance
to distinguish themselves in active
service.
But here is an officer whose greatest
success have been achieved since the
war, and who did not receive the bene-
fit of the severe military training with
which the United States Government
prepares its officers for the army.
People occasionally hear about the
"West Point ring, which is said to
control the army. There is supposed
to be- a prejudice in army circles
against any man who has not gone
through the regular course at the
West Point Academy. Difficulties are
believed to be thrown in the way OF
advancement of volunteer soldiers, and
the West Pointers are by many thought
to keep the good things among them
selves.
But the career of General Miles does
not show this to be 80. With many
of the qualities of a great commander
he has risen to the top by natural
force OF character, and if he had grad
uated from West Point instead of 60
ing into the service as a volunteer
soldier he would perhaps be no higher
than he is at present.
It will be nine years now before
General Miles will be placed upon the
retired list. Within the next year he
will have become the senior officer Of
the army, with headquarters in Wash.
ington, occupying at the age of fifty
seven the exalted position held by
Grant, Sherman and Sheridan as
Commander of the Army of the
United States.
A companion in arms writing OF
General Miles says:
General Miles is in stature slightly
above the average height, well pro-
portioned, broad-chested, deep-lunged
and straight as an arrow. His SEN
tences are clear-cut and pertinent. He
has the faculty OF being able to say the
right thing in the right way. His
memory is remarkably retentive OF
what he sees in the line of his expert
ence, and he is always ready with
some apt illustration to fit the subject
under discussion. His most marked
intellectual characteristics doubtless
are his common sense and his abso-
lutte self-reiance."
General Miles was married in 1868
to Miss Mary Sherman, Of Cleveland,
Ohio, daughter of the late Judge Sher-
man and niece of Senator J ohm Sher-
man.