Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-08-11
ROSE FROM THE RANKS
Though Originally Expecting to Be-
come a Merchant He INDUCED a
liking for Military Affairs and
Finally Became the Head of Army.

ATIuy, FeUlTGS LOudy, udfluS icdCuSu
the age limit of "a years and is sue
ceeded in that office by Major Gen
eralN s. M, B. Young. General Young
will occupy that position but one week
as on August Is the Office of COM
handing general will be abolished
and the general staff will be inaugural
ed. General Miles is the sixteenth
general officer to command the army, !
though there have been several others
of lesser rank who have commanded
when the strength of the forces of
the army called for no higher officer.
In 1895 General Miles as the senior
major general, assumed command OIL
the federal forces. In 1900 he was
raised to the rank of lieutenant gen.
eral, which Office he today vacates. i,
Rose From the Ranks.
Lieutenant General Miles, unlike
his immediate predecessors, worked
his way up from the lowest rank in
the volunteer army.
He was born in Westminster, Mass,
and received both a district school
and academic education. In 1856 he
went to Boston, expecting to become
a merchant, although his early incli-
nations were for military life. HeI
attended course of military instruc.
ton In Boston under the direction of
III. Salignac, a French colonel, and
at the outbreak of the civil war he
helped to raise a company of volun-
teers, and offered his services to his
company. He was chosen captain of
the Twenty-second Massachusetts vol
unteers, but was considered too young
for so responsible command and was
required to accept the commission of
first lieutenant His ability was soon
recognized and his promotion rapidly
followed. On May 81, 1862, he was
commissioned by Governor Morgan
lieutenant colonel of the Sixty-frst
New York volunteers, and colonel Sep
TENDER 80 of the same year.
He was promoted to brigadier gen
eral May ~, 1864; breyet major gen
eral August, 1864, and major general
October 21, 1865. When the regular
army was reorganized he was appoint
ed colonel of the Fortieth United
States infantry, March Is. 1866, and
transferred to the Fifth infantry
March Is, 1869. He was made briga-
der general United States army De-
cember Is, 1880, and major general
April Is, 1890.
Placed in command.
On October 2, 1895, being the senior
major general, he was assigned by
President Cleveland under existing law
to the command of the United States
army. On June 6, 1900, an act of con
gress conferred upon him the rank
of lieutenant general, and on February
2, 1901. he was, by virtue of the army
reorganization act, appointed by Presi-
dent Mckinley and commissioned as
the lieutenant general of the army
No officer has participated in more
battles and received more wounds than
General Miles, and his career has been
most distinguished and successful On
his first appearance in battle he great
~ distinguished himself, not only in
the eyes of the men, but in those of
his superior officers. Every battle in
which he took part added to the luster
of his reputation, and, despite his
youth, the great leaders of the army of
the Potomac, who have made the or
ganization immortal, all urged his pro-
motion. Among them We're Sumner
Richardson, Howard, Barlow, McClel-
Ian. Kearney, Caldwell, Couch, Han.
cock, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and
Grant, all these men being eye Witness
es of his services. He emerged from
the greatest war of modern times a
major general of volunteers with the
rank of colonel and brevet rank of ma
jor general in the regular army,
In Many Battles.
In four years he rose from lieuten-
ant to the high rank of major general,
commanding the first division of the
second corps of the famous army of the
Potomac, having participated in all the
battles in which that army has engag-
ed except one, and his absence then
was due to a wound received at Chan
cellorsville.
Among those battles are names we'll
known throughout the land, as York
town, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Fair
Oaks, Peach Orchard, Savage Station,
White Oak Swamp, Nelson's Farms,
or Glendale, Malvern Hill, Antietam,
Smokers Gap, Fredericksburg, Chan
cellorsyille, Bristow Station, Auburn
/, Hill, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Pc
River, Sppttsylvania, Tolopotamy,
North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg,
Deep Bottom, Peters Mine, Reams
Station, Hatcher's Run. Five Forks,
Sutherland Station Amelia Springs,
Sailors Creek, High Bridge, Farmville,
and Appamattex Courthouse, besides
many other engagements in which ar
tillery, cavalry and infantry participat-
ed.
He was wounded at Fair Oaks, Fred
ericksbnrg, Charlottesville and Pet
ersburg, At Fredericksburg he won
two golden opinions, and at Chancel-
louisville, although desperately, and It'll
was thought mortally, wounded, he
held a vitality important line on the
extreme left flank of the army and re
pulsed the repeated assaults of the en-
envy, with a tenacity which won forl