Nelson Appleton Miles (8 August 1839 – 15 May 1925) was the last Commanding General of the US Army, serving from 1895 to 1903 (succeeding John Schofield). Miles was one of the greatest generals in US history, first serving in the American Civil War and later leading the Army's war against the Native Americans on the Great Plains from the 1870s to 1880s and conquering Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Upon his retirement, the office of Commanding General of the US Army was abolished, and he died in 1925.
Biography[]
Nelson Appleton Miles was born in Westminster, Massachusetts in 1839, and he worked as a crockery store clerk in Boston before joining the US Army at the start of the American Civil War in 1861. He was commissioned a colonel of the 61st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on 31 May 1862, and he was promoted to colonel after the Battle of Antietam. Miles was wounded in the neck and abdomen at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, and he received the Medal of Honor for his bravery. Miles rose to Brigadier-General during the Overland Campaign, and, at the age of 26, he rose to Major-General on 21 October 1865, serving as commandant at Fort Monroe and overseeing Jefferson Davis' imprisonment. In 1868, he married William T. Sherman's niece, and he went on to play a leading role in nearly all of the army's campaigns against the Native Americans, fighting in the Red River War from 1874 to 1875, in the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877, in the Nez Perce War in 1877, and in the war with Apache war leader Geronimo in 1886. In 1890, he campaigned to subdue the Sioux after they rebelled due to the "Ghost Dance" movement, but he was critical of the Wounded Knee massacre, saying that it was the most abominable criminal military blunder, and he fought for compensation payments for the survivors. In 1895, he was appointed Commanding General of the US Army, and he personally led the invasion of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War. He briefly served as Governor of Puerto Rico in 1898 and was promoted to Lieutenant-General in 1900 based upon his performance in the war. President Theodore Roosevelt called him a "brave peacock", and he retired in 1903 after reaching the retirement age of 64. His office of Commanding General was replaced by the new position of Army Chief of Staff, and, a year later, Miles stood as a Democratic presidential candidate, receiving a handful of votes. When the US entered World War I in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson turned down the 77-year-old Miles' offer to command, and he died in Washington DC in 1925 at the age of 85 after having a heart attack while taking his grandchildren to the circus. He was one of the last surviving Civil War generals when he died. His son Sherman Miles went on to become a World War II general.
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