Union General Nelson Miles
Medal of Honor Citation

Born 1839
Died 1925


Personal Recollections and Observations of General Nelson A. Miles
Served his country with distinction for forty-two years. During the Civil War he fought in almost every important battle of the Army of the Potomac, and by its end had been promoted to the rank of  major general of volunteers. In 1869 transferred to the West, where he achieved his greatest fame fighting against the Sioux, Cheyennes, Apaches, and Nez Perces

Nelson Appleton Miles was born on the family farm near Westminster, Massachusetts, on 8 August 1839; attended local schools and received rudimentary military instruction from a former French officer; recruited a company of volunteers and received a commission as captain.

September 1861; served on General Oliver O. Howard's staff and was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks; was promoted to lieutenant colonel, 61st New York Volunteer Infantry, for gallantry in action, May 1862; replaced his seriously wounded commander at the battle of Antietam and was promoted to colonel.

September 1862; was again wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg, 1862; was again wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, 1863, where his gallant conduct later was recognized with the brevet of brigadier general (1867) and the Medal of Honor (1892); received the thanks of Congress for his conduct in the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania.

Suffered slight wounds at the battle of Petersburg, and was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, May 1864; received his promotion to major general of volunteers, October 1865; commanded the District of Fort Monroe with supervision over Confederate President Jefferson Davis confined there; was appointed colonel in the regular establishment.

July 1866; commanded the District of North Carolina during Reconstruction, 1866-1867; married General Sherman's niece, Mary Hoyt Sherman, 1868; served in the frontier Indian wars, participating importantly in operations against Central Plains tribes, 1869-1874, and Northern Plains tribes.

1874-1880; commanded the Department of the Columbia, 1880-1884; commanded the Department of the Missouri, 1885-1886; commanded the Department of Arizona, 1886-1887, bringing the Apache Wars to a close; commanded the Division of the Pacific, 1888-1889; commanded the Division of the Missouri, 1889-1894, with overall responsibility for operations at Wounded Knee and in the Pullman Strike; was commanding general of the United States Army.

5 October 1895-8 August 1903; represented the United States at the Queen Victoria Jubilee Celebration, was an observer of Turco-Grecian War operations, and attended the maneuvers of the Russian, German, and French armies, 1897, observed operations in Cuba and conducted the campaign in Puerto Rico in the War with Spain, 1898; was advanced to three-star rank under the provisions of a 6 June 1900 act that specified the senior major general of the line commanding the Army shall have the rank, pay and allowances of a lieutenant general; was promoted to permanent lieutenant general.

February 1901; visited the Philippines, the Far East, and Europe, 1902; retired from active service, August 1903; was the author of three books published in 1896, 1897, and 1911; died in Washington, D.C., on 15 May 1925.

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American Civil War Book Titles

Meade's Headquarters 1863 to 1865: Letters of Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox
Gettysburg Expedition Guide
The CD-ROM is packed with battle map animations, history movies, virtual tours and quiz games. The guidebook and audio tour take you on a tour of the battlefield, complete with battle maps, illustrations and famous photographs. 		Maps of Gettysburg
The Maps of Gettysburg: The Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 - July 13, 1863
The Maps of Gettysburg plows new ground in the study of the campaign by breaking down the entire campaign in 140 detailed original maps. These cartographic originals bore down to the regimental level, and offer Civil Warriors a unique and fascinating approach to studying the always climactic battle of the war.
Generals in Bronze: Interviewing the Commanders of the Civil War
Revealing interviews with the commanders of the Civil War. In the decades that followed the American Civil War, Artist James E. Kelly (1855-1933) conducted in-depth interviews with over forty Union Generals

Personal Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan, General United States Army
Philip H. Sheridan earned the enmity of many Virginians for laying waste to the Shenandoah Valley. His date and place of birth is uncertain, but he himself claimed to have been born in New York in 1831
Sherman's March: The First Full-Length Narrative of General William T. Sherman's Devastating March through Georgia and the Carolinas
Beginning with the fall of Atlanta, the unrelenting aggressive slash and burn total warfare of General Sherman's Union troops, and then the final march into Raleigh
Lee The Last Years
After his surrender at Appomattox, Robert E. Lee lived only another five years - the forgotten chapter of an extraordinary life. These were his finest hours, when he did more than any other American to heal the wounds between North and South
Robert E. Lee
This book not only offers concise detail but also gives terrific insight into the state of the Union and Confederacy during Lee's life. Lee was truly a one of kind gentleman and American, and had Virginia not been in the south or neutral, he ultimately would have led the Union forces.

The Civil War: A Narrative
Fort Sumter to Perryville
From the secession crisis of early 1861 to the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States. From Yankee disaster at First Manassas to Lee's debut in western Virginia. From riverboat actions on the Mississippi, to McClellan's movement up the York-James Peninsula


Attack of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville
The cadenced ranks of Lieutenant General Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson's Confederates. The gray-clad Southerners plowed into the Union defense
The attack of Stonewall Jackson and his army upon the right flank of the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville
Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville
Produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library
Burnside
Ambrose Burnside, the Union general, was a major player on the Civil War stage from the first clash at Bull Run until the final summer of the war. He led a corps or army during most of this time and played important roles in various theaters of the war.

Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer
General Wade Hampton was for a time the commander of all Lee's cavalry and at the end of the war was the highest-ranking Confederate cavalry officer
P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray
Beauregard often gets overlooked, he was never as beloved as Lee or Stonewall Jackson, but he was capable, the man had a sharp mind and Lee understood this, even if Jefferson Davis did not
The Military Operations of General Beauregard in the War Between the States 1861 to 1865
Grant Wins the War
Decision at Vicksburg
A brilliantly constructed new account,A penetrating analysis of Grant's strategies and actions leading to the Union victory at Vicksburg. Approaching these epic events from a unique and well-rounded perspective, and based on careful research

Selected Letters of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 1865-1914
Known as the hero of Little Round Top and the commanding officer who accepted the Confederates' surrender at Appomattox.
Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters
Grant wrote his "Personal Memoirs" to secure his family's future. In doing so, the Civil War's greatest general won himself a unique place in American letters. His character, sense of purpose, and simple compassion are evident throughout this deeply moving account, as well as in the letters to his wife, Julia
Grant Takes Command: 1863 - 1865
The enigmatic commander in chief of the Union forces through the last year and a half of the Civil War. It is both a revelatory portrait of Ulysses S. Grant and the dramatic story of how the war was won.
Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865
Even as he waged war, he realized the broader political implications of the struggle; he came to believe that the preservation of the Union depended upon the destruction of slavery. Equally compelling is Grant's personal story--one of a man who struggled against great odds



Sources:
Library of Congress
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