Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1895-11-29
Biographical SIX tch of the Head
of the Army.
He is A BRILLIANT SOLDIER
Has Been Frequent Visitor to the West
and Has Expressed His Faith
in the Country.


fist church in Massachusetts, yet h
commanded a company in King Phil
ip's war, and his house was known O
Miles Garrison" Samuel, his son
graduated at Harvard in 1884, and wa
rector of Kings chapel in Boston 70
20 years. Daniel Miles (the great-grand
father of the present generaD and hi
three sons (of whom one was Joab, tn,
generals grandfather) served in tn,
revolutionary war, and one Of 'the son!
died on his way home from the fina
battle of Yorktown.
The generals father, Daniel Miles, was
living In Westminster Mass, wher
Nelson A. was born, the youngest OF
-FOUR children. His mother was MARY
curtis, of well-known Massachusetts
FAMILY, and direct descendant of vii.
liam Curtis, who came to Boston on the
snip Lyon In 1882; SO, in fact of birth,
the general Is an American"
when the civil war broke out he was
a clerk in grocery store in Boston,
but with natural taste for a military
life he had been taking lessons in drill
| from an old French officer, and with
$1,000 given him by his father and $250O
| borrowed from his uncle, George Curtis
] (the father Of the present mayor of Bos-
| ton, Edwin U. Curtis), he raised Com
| pany e Of the Twenty-second Massa-
| chusettS infantry and was commits
stoned as captain; but the governor Of
| the state, thinking a man of 20 too
| young to carry such a responsibility,
asked him to give up the commission
to an older man and to accept instead
one as first lieutenant Of the same.
He first came into prominence at the
battle Of Fair Oaks, where he was serv-
ing as aide-de-camp on General How
ards STAFF. Early in the engagement
the colonel Of the Eighty-f1rst Pennsyl-
vania volunteers was killed, causing
great confusion in that regiment. stop
here and rally Them" said Howard to
Miles. This he did, and led them into
action again with such success that he
not only held his ground, but cleared
everything in front of him." and the
lad who few months before had been
considered too young to lead a COM
pany" was leading regiment. For
this he was made lieutenant colonel of
the Sixty-first New York volunteers on
May 81, 1862.
With the Army of the Potomac he
took part in all the battles of the Pc
ninsula under Mcclellan, his regiment
being in the Second corps, then under
Sumner. In the autumn of that year
he became colonel of his regiment, and
in the battle of Fredericksburg COM
manded brigade in Hancock's divis-
ion of the Second corps. At Chancel-
louisville he greatly distinguished him
self by checking Jackson's assault on
Hancock's front. This service was per-
formed at costly price to himself, for
he was carried from the field with a
supposed to be mortal wound For this
he was breveted brigadier general in
the regular army for gallant and mer-
itorious conduct"
During the Virginia campaigns of "a
and IS Miles added to his reputation
and received a commission as brigadier |
general of volunteers, dated from |
March IL, 1864, and specifically ex- |
pressed to be "for distinguished SER
vices during the recent battles of the |
Old Wilderness and Spottsylvania |
Courthouse" He afterwards received
the brevets Of major general in the reg
ular army "for gallant and meritorious
services at Spottsylvania" and of major
general Of volunteers "for highly meri-
torious and distinguished conduct
the campaign and particu-
larly for gallantry and valuable SER
vices at Ream's Station"
IN THE REGULAR ARMY.
At the close Of the war he received
the command of a regiment in the reg
llar army being commissioned as COL
onel of the Fortieth infantry July 2S,
Tn hn kro |
,erred to the Fifth regiment, with
which he conducted a successful cam
paign against the Cheyennes, the XII
1was and the Comanches on the border
If the Staked plains. After Clusters
1efeat and death, in 1876, Miles asked
that he and his regiment be ordered to
he scene Of action, which request be-
ng complied with, he defeated the
Sioux in northern Montana, scattered
he bands of Crazy Horse, Spotted
Eagle and other chiefs and forced Sit
ing Bull and his followers to take ref
lge in Canada.
His next great achievement was the
lefeat and capture Of the Nez Perez
eader, Chief Joseph, and his band, and
n 1873 he continued his series of sue
,esses by the capture Of a band of hos
lie DdHUOChb. 1
He was promoted to be brigadier gen.
raj in 1880 and assigned to the depart
nent of the Columbia. In 1885 he was
to command OF the depart
nent of the Missouri to deal with the
Cheyennes and Arapahoes.
scarcely had these been quieted when
he Chiricahua Apaches broke out in
Arizona. He ended this trouble salts
actorily by the capture of the noted
apache chief Geronimo This so pleased
he citizens of Arizona and New Mex
co that public meetings were held and
he legislatures passed resolutions of
hanks, and citizens of Arizona, as a
oxen of their appreciation of his SER {
ices, presented him at Tuscon with a
word which was thus described at the ..
ime: 'The scabbard Is of solid gold, /,
lain on one side excepting Inscriptions;
he other side engraved with various /
Genes descriptive Of this Indian cam
align, while good likeness Of Geron- {
mo with hat on forming the foot of the
cabbard. The blade IL of Damascus
teel, engraved with the name General
Jelson A. Miles. The hilt Is of white
harkskin braided In gold; the guard Of '
old smbiematic Of both infantry and q