A Hero to His Fighting Men: Nelson A. Miles, 1839-1925

Front Cover
Kent State University Press, 1998 - 463 pages

Nelson A. Miles began his military service as a volunteer officer in the Civil War. He later earned the appellation "the idol of the Indian fighters" and capped his controversial career by serving as Commanding General of the Army from 1895 to 1903.

Without the benefit of a college education, Miles attained the rank of major general of volunteers two months after his twenty-sixth birthday. At the close of the Civil War, he was Jefferson Davis's military jailer, then served with the Freedmen's Bureau in North Carolina. On the frontier, he won a series of victories against the Kiowa-Comanches, Sioux, Nez Perce, Bannocks, and Geronimo's band of Apaches. His skillful management of the Messiah outbreak of 1890 ended the Indian Wars. Miles also commanded the Army during the Spanish-American War and was involved in the late nineteenth-century Army reforms.

During his long and distinguished career, Miles made numerous enemies, including Theodore Roosevelt. Peter DeMontravel contends that the comments made by these enemies influenced the way historians have viewed Miles's career. This reassessment of that career restores him to a degree of prominence.

Peter R. DeMontravel received his Ph.D. in history from St. John's University and is an instructor in the School of New Resources at the College of New Rochelle. His essay, "General Nelson A. Miles and the Wounded Knee Controversy," appeared in Arizona and the West.

"The result of excellent and wide-ranging research, this is the best and most thorough biography of General Nelson Miles available. It will be a significant contribution to the study of American military history, especially for the period 1865-1903."--Joseph G. Dawson, Texas A&M University

"General Nelson A. Miles was an important figure who has been largely overlooked by biographers. His most significant contributions occurred during the Indian campaigns after the Civil War, and this study provides context for this period of his career. As well, DeMontravel here presents a thorough treatment of Miles that solidly defines the man and his times."--Jerome A. Greene, author of Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877

From inside the book

Contents

Gallantry Recognized from Chancellorsville
18
From Fort Monroe Virginia
46
Campaign against the Cheyenne Kiowa and Comanche
64
Campaign against the Sioux
81
Miles and the Nez Perce
108
Strained Relations between Sherman and Miles
137
The Geronimo Campaign 1886
155
Brigadier General Nelson A Miles and the Aftermath
176
The Messiah Outbreak of 1890
196
From Command in Chicago to Commanding General
214
Girding for Battle
232
The Surrender at Santiago and the Puerto Rico
256
Scandals
290
Miles Inspires White House Discipline
326
Copyright

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Page 126 - We had always lived in a healthy country, where the mountains were high and the water was cold and clear. Many of my people sickened and died, and we buried them in this strange land.
Page 253 - We have the town well Invested on the north and east, but with a very thin line. Upon approaching it we find it of such a character and the defenses so strong, it will be impossible to carry it by storm with my present force, and I am seriously considering withdrawing about five miles and taking up a new position...
Page 126 - You must not blame me. I have endeavored to keep my word, but the chief who is over me has given the order, and I must obey it or resign. That would do you no good. Some other officer would carry out the order." I believe General Miles would have kept his word if he could have done so. I do not blame him for what we have suffered since the surrender. I do not know who is to blame. We gave up all our horses (over eleven hundred) and all our saddles (over one hundred) and we have not heard from them...
Page 263 - Ninth. That the Spanish forces shall be permitted to march out with all the honors of war, depositing their arms to be disposed of by the United States in the future, the American commissioners to recommend to their government that the arms of the soldiers be returned to those "who so bravely defended them.
Page 334 - It is of no consequence on whose side your opinion was, or what it was. You had no business in the controversy and no right, holding the office which you did, to express any opinion. Your conduct was in violation of the regulations above cited and of the rules of official propriety; and you are justly liable to censure which I now express.
Page 47 - Brevet MajorGeneral Miles is hereby authorized and directed to place manacles and fetters upon the hands and feet of Jefferson Davis and Clement C. Clay, Jr., whenever he may think it advisable in order to render their imprisonment more secure.
Page 128 - I have shaken hands with a great many friends, but there are some things I want to know which no one seems able to explain. I cannot understand how the Government sends a man out to fight us, as it did General Miles, and then breaks his word. Such a Government has something wrong about it.
Page 171 - Surrender, and you will be sent with your families to Florida, there to await the decision of the President as to your final disposition. Accept these terms or fight it out to the bitter end.
Page 107 - I now regard the Sioux Indian problem, as a war question, as solved by the operations of General Miles last winter, and by the establishment of the two new posts on the Yellowstone now assured this summer. Boats come and go now where a year ago none would venture except with strong guards. Wood-yards are being established to facilitate navigation, and the great mass of the hostiles have been forced to go to the agencies for food and protection, or have fled across the border into British territory.
Page 116 - We fought at close range, not more than twenty steps apart, and drove the soldiers back upon their main line, leaving their dead in our hands. We secured their arms and ammunition.

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