MILES, Nelson Appleton, American army officer: h. Westminster, Mass., 8 Aug. 1839. He was a clerk in a Boston mercantile house at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, and left his business to raise a company of volunteers, and enter the army as lieutenant in the 22d Massachusetts regiment. In 1862 he was pro moted to the rank of colonel, commanding the 61st New York regiment. He was engaged in the battles of the Peninsula, before Richmond and at Antietam, and in every battle of the Army of the Potomac, with one exception, until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House. He was distinguished in the battles of Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Reams Station, Richmond cam paign of 1864 and many other important battles of the war; and, at one time, at the age of 25, was in command of the Second Army corps, numbering 25,000 men. He was wounded three times, most severely at the battle of Chancel lorsville. In May 1864 he was promoted briga dier-general and in 1865 major-general of vol unteers.
At the close of the war he entered the regu lar army and was commissioned colonel of the 40th United States Infantry, and attained the rank of brigadier-general in 1880 and of major general in 1890. He successfully conducted several important campaigns against the In dians and did much to open up for civilization large portions of the West. In 1874 and 1875 he defeated the Cheyennes, Kiowas and Comanches in the Staked Plains country; he also subjugated the hostile Sioux and other Indians in Montana, driving Sitting Bull across the frontier and breaking up the 1:irids that were led by him and other chiefs. In Decem ber 1877, after a forced march over a distance of more than 160 miles, he captured Chief Joseph and his tribe of Nez Perces after a hard-fought battle of four days in northern Montana; in 1878 he intercepted and captured Elk Horn and his hand on the edge of the Yellowstone Park. In 1886 he subjugated and
forced to surrender Geronimo, Natchez and the band of Apaches that had made a large portion of the Southwest uninhabitable, thus restoring peace and prosperity to Arizona and New Mex ico. For his services up to this time he re ceived the thanks of the legislatures of Kansas, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona. Later he settled the Indian troubles in the Dakotas, sav ing the country from a serious war that had threatened it for years. In 1894 he was in command of the United States troops sent to Chicago at the time of the railroad strike; and in October 1895 succeeded to the command of the United States army. He represented the army at the scene of the Turco-Grecian War and at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. In 1898 he conducted the brief cam paign in Porto Rico with ability, taking pos session of the island with trifling loss; and in June 1900 was promoted to the rank of lieuten ant-general. In December 1901 he was officially reprimanded for publicly expressing his ap proval of Admiral Dewey's report on the Schley case. In 1902 he made a tour of inspection to the Philippines and on his return filed a report which called forth considerable controversy by its denunciation of some of the abuses he had found in the conduct of military affairs there. In August 1903 he was retired from active service. He wrote 'Personal Recollections) (1896); 'Military Europe) (1898), besides magazine articles and official military reports.