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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iliustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 N Uu^P MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. ■::^ By George E. Pond. .'t m ■..•1 ■ ■ I I:'; VISITOR to Governor's Island, toward the close of a fine afternoon last September, might have seen a tall, robust figure spinning rapidly on a bicycle over the well- kept roads of that beau- tiful locality. General Miles, at that time sta- tioned there in command of the Department of the East, was an early advocate of the wheel for army use, and it has long served him for the exercise that keeps him in vigorous health. The visitor would have noted that the erect, strongly built man of fifty-six looked fit to rough it with liie youngest subaltern in frontier campaigning, though his hair, once brown and curling over a broad forehead, had become, like his mustache, well sprin- kled with gray ; that his nose was the " con- quering beak " of the soldier ; that the stead- fast blue-gray eyes consorted well with the firm lines of his mouth and chin to denote fixity of purpose and a resolute will. Entering the hospitable house of the Gen- eral, he would have seen there a profusion of relics of campaigns and the chase — stands of colors decorating the walls, and among them the flag of the Second Corp^ with its famous trefoil ; here the head of a buf- falo ; there the pelt of a fox fashioned into a quiver, filled with arrows ; yonder the gaily colored war-bonnet of Iron Star, trail- ing to the floor, the hole at the top showing where the bullet 'went through that killed him. Half the States are included in the De- partment of the East ; and as General Miles has also had charge at various times of the Divisions of the Pacific and of the Missouri, the Departments of the Columbia, oi the Missouri, and of Arizona, and the District of the Yellowstone, his round of commands has been more comprehensive geographically than that of any other officer in the ser- vice. Of each of these, with the location of its garrisoned forts, and its strategic character and possibilities, he has a clear and exact knowledge, that must serve him well in that command of the whole army to which, at the recent retirement of General Schofield, he succeeded. I. The central fact in the career of General Miles is that a young lieutenant of 1861, who had had none of the aids that a West Point training gives, has reached the top round of the military ladder in this country. Scho- field, Sheridan, Sherman, Cirant, were all graduates of the Military Academy; but now for the first time we find the pla'^e of senior on the active list attained by one who began his service in the ranks of the Union volunteers. General Miles, however, comes of fight- ing stock. The Reverend John Myles, or Miles, who migrated to this country from Wales in 1662, was the minister of the first Baptist church in Massachusetts, and for a time carried on a school " for the teaching of grammar, rhetoric, and arithmetic, and the tongues of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, also how to read English and to write." But this soldier of the cross could be, at need, a valiant fighter ; for it appears that " he commanded a company in King Philip's war, and his house was known as Miles's garrison." Thus the preacher-soldier of early frontier hostilities is linked with his descendant in the fifth generation, who com- manded in what ought to prove our last great series of Indian wars. Samuel, son of John Miles, after graduat- ing at Harvard in 1684, went to England, where he took orders in the Church, and on returning to Boston became rector of King's Chapel, and there officiated twenty-nine years. Daniel, the great-grandfather of General Miles, and Daniel's three sons, of whom one was Joab, the General's grand- father, served in the Revolutionary army, and one of the sons died on his way home from the f^nal battle at Yorktown. " My great-grandfather," said the General, " was a firm believer in the government ; and when he sold his property, he had the payment made to him in Continental currency. So we have as an heirloom in the family," he added with a smile, "a stout package of worthless notes, which I well remember see- ing as a boy." The General's father, whose name also was Daniel, was living at Westminster in Massachusetts, about fifty miles from Bos- ton, when Nelson Appleton Miles, the young- est was chu Cut "L \ cou wer for aca at hor jsssm jt^-. '/.rf* MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. 563 -! '"ij" ItAt'i :t.^^ -^ (iUNERAL NELSON A. MILKS. From a photograph bv Taber, San Francisco. ing the Wachusett Mountain near by. In 1855, at the age of sixteen, he set out to seek his fortune in Boston, and was soon in- stalled as a clerk in a store on Washington Street, as little forecasting the future as did est of four children, was born. His mother was Mary Curtis, of a well-known Massa- chusetts family, and a descendant of William Curtis who arrived at Boston on the ship " Lyon " in 1632. Young Miles's early life was that of other Grant in the leather store at Ga country lads brought up on a farm. He went to the district school, which was taught for a time by his elder brother, then to the academy. He was fond of outdoor sports : at six years he could ride and manage a "I began as a captain reduced to a lieu- horse, and he used to take delight in explor- tenant," is the General's quaint description r rcific N. W. History Dept. PROVINCIAL LIBRARY VICTORIA, B. C. II. 4187^ 564 MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. I I 4 : i- I 1 of his entrance upon his miUtary career. With other young men in Boston, when the civil war drew near, he had taken lessons in drill from an old French officer named Sa- lignac. A sum of about one thousand dol- lars, given to him by his father, he devoted to recruiting a company, and borrowed twenty-five hundred dollars more from a wealthy uncle, for which he gave his note. Company E of the Twenty-second Massa- chusetts Infantry was duly raised, and he was commissioned as its captain. But on the evening before the regiment was to start for Virginia, (iovernor Andrew sent a mes- senger to request him to give up that com- mission "to an older man," and to accept one instead as first lieu- tenant of the company. The future general pro- tested against this in- justice, but at length submitted, on reflect- ing that he " had en- listed to fight the ene- mies of his country, and not to fight the gnvernorof his State." Thui.e who were with the young officer at the outset of his career speak of his tireless energy as the trait that most struck them — " his incessant activ- ity," as one brigade commander phrased it. For it must here be noted that he was soon detailed from his regi- ment, as an aide-de- camp on the staff of General Howard in the Peninsula cam- paign. " Other men let up once in a while," said one of his associates, " but he kept at it always." He was a tall, graceful young officer, and an admirable horseman, whose resolute, handsome face soon became well known in the brigade, for every battlefield, prosperous or adverse, somehow yielded him laurels. At Fair Oaks, the officer com- manding the left wing of one of the regi- ments of Howard's brigade was killed. " Stop here and rally them," said the Gen- eral to Miles, as he rode on with the rest of his staff ; and very quickly the lad who a few months before had been considered as too young lo head a company, was leading half a regiment, and winning official men- tion for his success. After Fair Oaks foUowed Savage's Sta- tion, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, and Mal- DAMRl. MILKS, KATHER OF GF.NERAL MILES vern Hill. Miles volunteered to cut a road through the woods from Allen's Farm to Savage's Station, and, collecting axemen from various regiments, made a road prac- ticable for aitillery, and saved three batteries from falling into the enemy's hands. Find- ing Colonel Barlow's regiment, the Sixty- first New York, hard pressed, he led reen- forcements to it under a heavy fire, and by great exertions also got forward a field- piece that silenced a destructive musketry fire. These last exploits had a remarkable sequel ; for on the recommendation of Colonel Barlow, whose official report had praised Miles's skill and gallantry in the highest terms. Gover- nor Morgan appointed the young officer to the vacant lieutenant-colo- nelcy of the Sixty-first New York. " It was an unusual proceeding," wrote the governor, years afterward, " to take a lieutenant from another State and thus promote him over the officers of the regi- ment, but my action was more than justified by the brilliant career of Colonel Miles." HI. So closed the young soldier's experience as a staff officer ; but his new command quickly opened other opportu- nities for distinction. The scene of combat for the Army of the Potomac was shifted northward ; and at Antietam, where Colonel Barlow was severely wounded and carried from the field, Miles took command in his stead ; and when, soon after. Barlow was pro- moted. Miles became colonel of the Sixty- first New York. He was then but a little over twenty-three years old. Each of the next two battles, however, came near proving fatal to him. At Fred- ericksburg he was shot in the throat by a bullet that left a track on the neck several inches long, the scar of which lasts to this day. Riding back to the field hospital, holding one hand to his throat, he met General Hancock, to whom, with mind still intent on the fortunes of the day, he pointed out the value of a bayonet charge against " the stone wall," and offered to lead it. \ ««*#- ;ut a road Farm to ; axemen oad prac- i batteries Is. Find- he Sixty- led reen- e, and by I a field- musketry imarkable lation of ;port had ry in the s, Gcver- appointed icertothe lant-colo- Sixty-first ' It was an ceeding," governor, ■ard, " to lant from ! and thus over the the regi- ly action n justified int career liles." :he young srience as ■ ; but his id quickly ■ opportu- of combat as shifted re Colonel id carried ind in his IV was pro- the Sixty- )ut a little however, At Fred- iroat by a :k several its to this hospital, t, he met mind still he pointed je against ead it. r»r*«»»V)*>;^^>. ■.,,._> t^^ft-^^^^r 3 o a 3 O (A K — ' 2 o S3 .5? 'C >. a o o a B si a 2 o 4-1 o Si a 566 MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. '^ X4 At Chancellorsville his escape from death was still narrower. In charge of Hancock's skirmish line, consisting of three regiments and of detachments from three more, he held that line successfully against all the attacks of Lee's veterans. But on the second day he was struck on the belt-plate by a rifle bullet that glanced into the groin, crushed through the hip bone, and imbedded itself in the muscles of his left leg. It was feared that the wound was mortal, and there was a dubious if in General Hancock's let- ter urging his promotion — " If Colonel Miles lives he will be one of the most distinguished officers in the service." After prolonged probing through deep cross-cuts in the path of the bullet^ it was found and removed. This was Miles's third wound, his first being at Fair Oaks, where he had been shot in the foot ; and, to close the score here, it may be added that his fourth and last wound was at Petersburg, where he was struck in the shoulder by a bullet that had split on his uplifted sword. IV. To Petersburg, however, the road was still long, and it led through the bloody thickets of the Wilderness. At Spottsyl- vania, Miles's brigade formed, with Brooks's, the first line of Barlow's division of the Second Corps, in the memorable "assault on the salient " that captured Johnson's division, about four thousand strong, with twenty guns and thirty colors. Lee's effort to recover the lost ground made the fighting of that day as fierce as any of the war ; and at Washington may still be seen the stump of an oak, twenty-two inches through, that was cut down by musket bullets in that fight, one of Miles's staff officers barely escaping the tree as it fell. For his services there and in the Wilderness, Miles was made a brigadier-general. When, after North Anna and the deadly grapple at Cold Harbor, Grant put his army south of the James, and invested Petersburg, Miles rose to the command of the first division of the Second ^^orps, a division of exceptional size, comprising twenty-seven regiments and two batteries, which he led thenceforth to the end of the war. For a fortnight, during the temporary absence of General Humphreys, he commanded the corps, about twenty-five thousand strong. And when the long struggle was over, and peace came to the land, Miles was commis- sioned a major-general of volunteers, and received the brevets of brigadier and major- general in the regular army, for Chancellors- ville and Spottsylvania (the former battle yielding him afterwards, also, a medal of honor), and of major-general of volunteers for the final campaign as a whole, with a specific mention of his services at Reams's Station. He was also made colonel of the Fortieth Infantry. "I believe I was then the youngest colonel, except I'ennypacker," said the General, " in the regular army." The portraiture of General Miles that we find in the records of the civil war is that of an officer eager to take responsibility, one "who never waits to be told how to do a thing, but does it." His superiors mention his gift of seeing at a glance the points of vantage in a battlefield — his " quickness of perception and skill in taking up positions." He had clearly what Hare calls " the geo- graphical eye ; " and it was to serve him well in the strategy of his frontier campaigns, as it had in the field tactics of the civil war. In 1868 General Miles married Mary, the daughter of Judge Charles Sherman, and niece of General W. T. and Senator John Sherman. V. We now come to a second stage in General Miles's career. Indian warfare in our gen- eration is no matching of spears and arrows against modern rifles and machine guns ; for, as has well been pointed out, the dusky warriors of the West have often had breech- loaders when the regulars did not. In the six campaigns of General Miles against Indians he cut loose from methods that had only custom to recommend them, and turned to account his experience in the civil war. He believed in giving hostile forces no rest until they were subdued. If the winter made campaigning hard for the troops, it must, he held, be worse for the Indians, with villages to care for and a dearth of supplies. In 1874 raids were made upon the borders of Kansas and Colorado by bands of South- ern Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, and Comanches from the Indian Territory ; and General Miles, then colonel of the Fifth In- fantry, was ordered to fit out an expedition to punish them. He left Fort Dodge in August, and marched rapidly until, about a dozen miles north of the Red River, among the "breaks," as the deep gypsum ravines there are called, the hostiles, about six hun- dred strong, suddenly sprang from am- bush upon his advance, whooping and firing. They held a line of rugged bluffs; but, "confident that they would not stand a charge," General Miles sent in his cavalry, f .^ MAJOR-GEx^ERAL NELSON A. MILES. 567 mer battle I medal of volunteers ole, with a it Reams's ;)nel of the I was then nypacker," r army." les that we war is that ;ibility, one )w to do a rs mention e points of lickness of positions." " the geo- •e him well npaigns, as ivil war. Mary, the rman, and lator John in General n our gen- ind arrows line guns ; the dusky ad breech- t. eral Miles 1 methods end them, ;nce in the ng hostile )dued. If rd for the se for the d a dearth be borders of South- )was, and itory ; and ; Fifth In- ixpedition Dodge in il, about a er, among m ravines It six hun- from am- md firing, uffs; but, : stand a s cavalry, under Compton and Biddle, and pushed up his Gatlings, ur der Pope, with their infantry support, and the astonished hostiles were quickly driven in a retreat that continued to and beyond the river, and only ceased when the labor of pursuing down ravines and over buttes, now through a burning village and now across a waste of sand, in terrible heat, and with only the acrid and filthy water of the Red River to drink, had forced a halt. Throughout the autumn and winter this campaign went on. The scene was the bor- ders of El Llano Estacado, the Staked Plains, a desert-like stretch, where stakes settlers of the Northwest ; and among the most interesting chapters in the annals of frontier fighting is the one that records how a comparatively small force subjugated that nation, and robbed the names of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse of their terrors. In June, 1876, General Custer's command was slaughtered on the Little Big Horn, and the Fifth Infantry was ordered to Montana to take part in the resulting operations of Generals Terry and Crook. These over, with little accomplished, and the hostile Sioux still unsubdued, most of the troops were withdrawn, and Miles was left to win- ter alone on the Yellowstone, with his own GENERAL MILES FIRED UPON BY LAME DEER. were driven to mark trails. Very little res- pite did the hostiles get. At one time they were followed through sand-hilis for a hun- dred miles ; at another, the troops were after them when the mercury was twenty-five de- grees below zero, the frozen streams bearing up the loaded trains. There were " nine different engagements and affairs," and at last they went back to their agencies, worn out, almost starving, and completely broken in spirit ; and from that day to this they have never again been on the warpath. VI. Twenty years ago the Sioux, from their numbers and prowess, were the dread of the regiment and six companies of the Twenty- second Infantry, so as to be ready for a spring campaign. But to an officer thus isolated, discretionary power had to be en- trusted, and Miles used it in a characteristic way. He resolved, as soon as the work of hutting at the mouth of the Tongue River was cared for, to strike the hostiles at once. " They expected us to hive up," said the General, "but we were not of the hiving kind." The Indians who had left their res- ervations were in two principal bodies, one under Sitting Bull, in the Yellowstone Val- ley, and the other under Crazy Horse, in the Wolf Mountains. Made insolent by recent successes. Sitting Bull sent word to Colonel E. S. Otis, who 568 MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. was escorting one of Miles's supply trains, to get out of the way, as lie was scaring off the buffalo. " If you don't," said the note, " 1 will fight you again. I want you to leave what you have got here, and turn back. I mean all the rations you have got and some powder." Colonel Otis, however, kept on, the Indians from time to time exchanging shots with his troops. When Cencral Miles heard of this affair he moved after Sitting Bull, and on the 21st of October found him near the head of Cedar Creek. The famous mcdicine-nian sent in a flag of truce, and an interview was held be- tween the lines, under an agreement that (lon- eral Miles should take six ])ersons witli him, and Sitting Bull also six. " Sitting Hull," said the Oeneral, in telling the story to the writer, " spread out a blanket and wanted me to sit down upon it, but 1 stood up while he sat down. As we talked, one and another young Indian sauntered up, until there were, per- haps, ten or fifteen in a half circle. One of my men called my at- tention to this. I said to Sitting Bull : ' These men are not old enough for :1, and unless you ■ 'hem back we willb.O| .alking.' Soon afterward the interview came to an end with nothingsettled. I found out later, from a scout and interpreter named John Brughier, that one Indian muttered, ' Why don't you talk strong to him ? ' and that Sitting Bull replied, 'When I do that, I am going to kill him.' Brughier also told me that one of the young warriors slipped a carbine up under Sitting Bull's buffalo robe. But I had in mind the fate of Canby, and had instructed the troops on the ridge back of us to keep the spot in range." The next day came a second interview. The General tried hard to induce the Indi- ans to obey the government, and go to their reservations. Sitting Bull's answer was em- phatic : " The Great Spirit made me an Indian. He did not make me an Agency Indian, and I do not intend to be one." Seeing that further |)arlcy was useless. General Miles gave an ultimatum through the interpreter : " Tell him that either I will drive him out of the country, or he will drive me out. I will take no advantage of his being under a flag of truce, and will give him fifteen minutes to get back to his lines. If my terms are not accepted by that time, I will open fire." Sitting Bull started up with a grunt, and ruslied out in a fury, followed by his chiefs, not stopping to shake hands. In a very short time the Indian lines were all astir with yelling warriors dashuig about on ])()nies; and presently the grass was burning here and there to stop any advance of the troops. Miles had with him only three hundred and ninety-eight rifles, while the Indians swarmed in far greater numbers in front and on the flanks ; but his men went forward with a rush, and the hostiles were driven two-score miles to the Yellow- stone, leaving some of their dead in their flight. Six days later, about two thousand Indians surrendered, and agreed to go to their agencies, while five chiefs, given up as hostages, were sent down the Missouri River. Sitting Bull, dur- i n g the retreat, h a d broken away from the main body with his MRS. MILES. lodges, and was joined by those of Gall and Pretty Bear ; but Miles pursued him through the snow, and on the i8th of December Lieutenant Baldwin surprised his camp, then numbering one hundred and twenty-two lodges, and captured a good part of its equi- page. VII. The winter had now set in with great severity, and the brilliant success already achieved might well have justified pausing until spring. But Miles could not rest, with Crazy Horse, a very brave fighter, still at large. Having returned to the cantonment, he fitted out his command as if for an Arc- tic expedition. Besides having thick woollen i MAJOR GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. 569 was useless, turn through Irive him out le out. I will under a flag con niiiuitcs ly terms are 1 open fire." I jrrunt, and )y his ehiefs, In a very ere all astir about on d presently vas burninjr lere to stop ce of the les had with rce hundred ei,i;lil rifles, Indians far greater front and ks ; but his M'ward with the hostiles 1 two-score le Yellow- ig some of their flight, later, about id Indians and agreed agencies, iefs, given ges, were e Missouri BulKdur- reat, h a d from the with his ivas joined Clall and m through December amp, then wenty-two f its equi- • m r f J^^^m \ 1 in?^- • J/f - f mM^i:^ r ./ '^tv > 4 A w W: « • nWv^ r- « 1 ^ ^^v ^iy X^^^^KSIstt^ ;ht Lame Deer , and twelve imder other at the ajjen- lorses, they til Infantry. Indian his- rriors, is the 3 same year, to put him ervation, in to carry all to Canada. ral Howard ii'ig Hole, liim, and o enj^apca 3turj;is had en the lat- 9th, heard ame night e Tongue ef Joseph mand, on seph's vil- It lay )ed bank, the war- g ravines. Cavalry herd of )attalions n I an try, by the er Lieu- the vil- ted with ■ne Cap- twenty- officers among eneral's Carter, i ■ I MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MrLF.S. mmmm^^mFi'm' . — 57" GENERAL MILES AND STAFF AT CHICAGO AT THE TIME OF THE KIOTS IN 1894, »# with a small body of the Fifth Infantry, had cost over a third of his command. Promptly varying his plans, therefore, and adapting them to the situation, the General moved up his artillery, and disposed the troops so as to hold the Indians under siege, with escape impossible. On the si.Kth day Chief Joseph advanced to surrender. It was a scene for a painter, a typical scene in American history, when this noble-looking warrior, facing General Miles, a worthy counterpart in mien and bearing, handed his rifle to his white con- queror, and with impressive dignity pointed to the sun in the heavens, saying : " From where the sun now stands, I fight no more." General Miles, in announcing the victory, used the terse, significant phrase : " We have had our usual success. " His full re- port described his brave ad jrsarie.s as "the boldest men and best marksmen of any In- dians I have ever encountered," and Chief Joseph as " a man of more sagacity and intelligence than any Ind'an 1 have ever met." X. In 1878, the Bannocks, of the Fort Hall reservation, in Idaho, began a thieving and murdering raid, and General Howard's troops, pursuing, repeatedly struck and scat- tered them. One band, however, under Elk Horn, crossed the mountains in August, at a time when General Miles chanced to be passing through Yellowstone Park, ac- companied by some guests, under an escort of about one hundred soldiers and a force of Crow Indians. Learning of their ap- proach, he sent his guests, guarded by a part of his troops, to Fort Elhs, and with the remainder moved out to intercept them. A part of his force was ordered to Boulder Pass ; with the rest, consisting of thirty- /I' 572 wo soJdiers thh o he made a ^rced ""'^".^^^ ^^^^^ Indians P^«f- Havin7c„nceaTeH 'l'^^''^'' ^^'^ pocket of the mouSc , ^" "'^'^ '" a .""t.I the hostS had " ; '^ ^''^^^ ^ day, ""o camp, and then stS'"'"'^ ^"^ gone them at daybreak of' t f"^> "P' ^"^^^^d ^'hole band wT« J ^^P^ember 4th. The ,^'"ed in the fight wE ^h' ''u^'" ^^"^ the troops was thaf „ V''" "''^"f '««« to J he Bannocks had with ^h'^*"'" ^^""^tt. from Fort Peck, Generkl J^fif" expedition drove Sitting Bull ovIT.^ o' °"^e '"ore der. That invisible jIL'^'^^f^adian bor- he curious prope tv of .°l '^-''^"^^ had Indians fo cross hforthoiT"^ hostile hnidrance bv the L • '^"'^ '^^^k without t-ning to Xaj of^Te'eT/.' ^^'''^ ^"^denly' that pursued them ^L^^VT ^"^ ^^-^ops 0"t by constant harrasswf ,^'"^^^' ^°^" showed themselves th?sS fh^^ever they great numbers of fh.^^°^^he boundary ^880 at Fort Keogh ^"''^^"dered during' cultivirerwith ^t?r '^ ^"'^^ -d farms Northwest. Peace tr"'^^'^^^^ '" the problem of seSement andT^^ ^"^ ^he been solved. "^ civilization had ^r^'^m^^^^^^^^ ''' ^^-'^-^ Cheyennes, Comanches ^n?"!?^''"'* *^^ the Montana lemshfTfri ^'owas, so titude for the suhS .^ expressed its gra- ^hile a brlgad er ieS ^^ '''' ^ioux ; near the close of ilnT^ t^^''' awarded '•ecognition of h s se°v.V '"'l*^^ '"'htary fssigned to command h?- n^*^^" he wal the Columbia ^^^ Department of ventv-fivf. rv^„. r.. ,. ^»J^Ji.S. XI. e/Kcra?d^tr'eS?n^ ^^^^ ^' -rth- New Mexico and ArSn """^ '""^"^^d in of the savage tribe "fA, ^T '^^ ^'^y active, and seeminX uL^^k,'"''- Crafty, cover in the ruS moun^-^hle, they found wastes, where Ifrce hea^^'l"'/"'' ^"-^ekless water baffled White ^urfuers'"' ^'" ^^^'^ °^ In the vear iSs; „ i^J between Indian TeUorJ'f-l"'^ ^^"'^'^t cattlemen had caused ?h."p'' -""^ ^he transfer General Sles tn ?^ ^'"^^'dent to he Department of the Mif ^ command of ^erf T^h^^s: ^ -^undeTL-sT andthedai^:?7KhS^^^ Sttssfn^o'TH?^?P-^°-ed and Warm Spring a pachf.'^ '^/ Chiricahua and Natchez, ffr thTs 'urn ^^ ^""°"''"° General Crook in the comm^''^'" relieving Partment of Arizona '^°'"'"^"d of the De- scene' h"e fo^u^nf^r^brr^ - ^he tries paralyzed and i{, ^ ^"""der indus- hund/ed and forryVeCs?ar^' '''-'--- by the hostiles Jith^ a v- ""'"^^ error stricken lot of peop^jf j h^ "^^e found," he said. There vS! ^^'^^ "ever 00, for their discourageSt''"?A'^^^«"' 'ng Indians, not beintr^ ^he raid- the harder o find a" ."r''°"'' ^^'^ ^11 the most rugged mounJ?^ '°^'"^d over continent, sifhundred m", ''^'°" °" ^he south, and three hu dred east ZT" ^"^ 1 hey were of astoni«!h,n^ u ?"d west." ance, and "as mouno"^. Physical endur- probably noZ^^^^tn^V^ ^^'Y had stolen horses, and subsi^f^n They rode 3"d sheep, or faHin ' ^u °" stolen cattle natural food of fieK-^^'^' °" "their desert fruit, and the sub. '/' '"^'^'^^' ^^eds, and the fruit of tt\Tanfcactu°s •• '' '^'''^' Devising a nian of cactus. fhe region%nd^ the enem?r^" ^"^^ ^^ began his work by divTdi^/'.?^"!'^' ^iles '"to observation districts"^, '^ ^^""^^ ^'^^ relay system, under S' k''. "'S^^n'^ed a each district' were to fnM *^\ ''"oops of "ntil a fresh comm. nd in i°'' '^^ hostiles should take upT; purSn?' ?."TV'^°''^'"g does not live," he heS ...u ^''^ ^'^"nal bemg hunted without ; ""^^ ^^" stand on the lofty peaks h ^^ssation." Then stations, whfclf Shed to?'t^''\^^ «'^""j ffaph tidings from mirrn ^ °*^^'" helio- distances. Thus eve vmn ""^"^ ""^^'^ous ra.ders was made knLn '"]""' ^^ the Baird, in his admiiaWe ".' ^"'^' ^' ^^J^r campaigns, has S s^^L" ,"f °"'^t of these greatest obstacles the lo. '."'"^^ his two sun, into allies. 'fountains and the tlie'SLrtvin^^^^ Sonora, swept northwarrf I ^^"" ''^'ds in /he troops, pursu 4 ^tn-rk th'' '^' ''^'^^'' agam, until they found nnV ''^^'" ^'^d Pept to turn and head for "^''^^P^" ex- '". the Sierra Madre For.. 'I' /^stnesses with Mexico allowed Z 7^^^^^ ^ treaty 'nto that country -^nd a hUh'k' *° ™s Captain Lawton, wh"ch7L'^''^^''?^y ^"^ ^r organized for the nnrnn "f ?^ ^''es iiad onimo three hundred S "^"'"^ ^^^■ boundary, day after davn''°"'^ °^ ^he week, now over lofty neai '^^^''^ ^^^er deep ravines, where! wUh thP "°^ ^^^-^ ' ^"" the mercury at ;en performed, the Chiricahua nder Geronimo pose relieving and of the De- •rived on the border indus- lorted that one ad been killed ar. "A more I have never some reason, it. The raid- rous, were all roamed over region on the s north and 5t and west." lysical endur- )ers they had They rode I stolen cattle ;, on "their abbits, seeds, of the mescal IS." gn suited to eneral Miles ^ whole area organized a e troops of the hostiles le adjoining The animal can stand •" Then, shed signal ther helio- enormous nt of the as Major of these :d his two and the tied when raids in |e border, tgain and |open ex- istnesses a treaty Ito cross py un -r files had pd Ger- df the |k after down :ury at MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. 573 GENERAL MILES IN HIS UFFICE AT GOVEKNOK's ISLAND, NEW YORK. one hundred and twenty in the shade, " it was so hot you could not touch a gun-barre' or sit on a rock." Satisfied, at length, that the hostiles were tnoroughly worn out, Gen- eral Miles communicated with them through two friendly Indians, and then Lieutenant Gatewood rode into their camp and made known the terms of surrender. They gave themselves up, and were sent under guard to Florida, as were also the four hundred Warm Spring and Chiricahua Indians near Fort Apache. The settlers were overjoyed at this com- plete clearance. Public meetings expressed their gratitude ; and at Tucson, General Miles received a richly decorated sword, while the legislatures of New Mexico and Arizona passed resolutions of thanks. The results achieved were permanent, as not one of the Indians then removed has ever gone back, and, save for the occasional marauding of some outlaw, there have been no hostilities on the Southwestern border, XII,. ,^.. The two most prominent tasks of General Miles, of late years, have been the sup- pression of the " Messiah " outbreak of 1890 among- the Sioux and the suppression of the Chicago riots of 1894. These events are so fresh in public remembrance as to require only a brief mention here. " A Messiah was about to come, who would bring back to life all the Indian dead, outnumbering the white men, and they would drive countless herds of buffalo, elk, deer, and horses before them." Such was the .strange and dangerous delusion that broke out among the Indians half a dozen years ago and spread from tribe to tribe. Ghost dances were held, and the red men were to march in great bodies to Western Nevada, where the Messiah was supposed to be. Sitting Bull, who had surrendered in 1881, saw in this frenzy a means of gratifying his still smouldering hatred of the white man, and with him it became a conspiracy. To General Miles fell the duty of dealing with this widespread and perilous move- ment. Promoted to the grade of Major- General, he had just before been trans- ferred from the command of the Division of the Pacific to that of the Division of the Missouri, with headquarters at Chicago. Forces were hurried to him from all parts of the West, and these he carefully placed so as to show the malcontents the hopeless- ness of a resort to the war-path. The great strength of the outbreak was among the Sioux, whose extensive reservation accord- ingly had to be watched at every point, while in the rough region of the Bad Lands il :'3 4 574 MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. Hi the most turbulent of the bands had gath- ered in great numbers. Besides being ex- cited by the Messiah delusion, they had some grievances against the government, complaining especially of a lack of rations. But *' Bear Coat " and the campaigns from 1876 to 1880 were well remembered by the Sioux, and, thanks to his prestige among them, to a judicious union of firm- ness and diplomacy, and to a proper distri- bution of the troops, the disaffected Indians went back to Iheir agencies, and the threat- ened revolt was quelled. Sitting Bull had been killed by men of his own race — the Agency police — while resisting arrest. As to last year's overthrow of Debs and his followers, it is perhaps enough to say that when General Miles began his opera- tions at Chicago not a freight train was running, and " over a thousand locomotives and cars were said to be more or less in- jured." He took possession of the strategic points, such as the Lake Front Park, the Government Building, and the six great railroad centres, where twenty-two trunk lines came together, stationing his forces with masterly skill. Then construction trains, guarded by troops, were made up to repair tracks and start the flow of traffic, and many simultaneous movements so di- vided the attention of the rioters that trains began to run and the reign of lawlessness came to an end. XIII. The sketch of General Miles's career here given has dealt largely with his field .ser- vices. And this is natural, since it may be doubted whether any general officer now living has been oftener and longer under fire in battle. Fox, in his " Regimental Losses in the Civil War," says that " the hardest fighting and greatest loss of life oc- curred in the First Division of the Second Corps, in which more men were killed and wounded than in any other division of the Union army, east or west," and this was the division in which Miles served — the division successively command'^'^ by Richardson, Hancock, Caldwell, Barlow, and himself. Of all the officers, too — regular or volun- teer — who fought in the war for the Union, he more than any other has increased his renown by field services performed since. But General Miles finds a source of satis- faction also in the occasions when he has been able to avoid hostilities with the red men, notably in three such occasions — one when he went out against the Jicarilla Apaches and Muache Utes ; a second when he dealt with the Colville Indians, and a third in his management of the Indians of San Carlos reservation. His plan in the Messiah disturbances, too, was to avoid bringing upon the white settlements an- other war. To him the chief significance of his frontier campaigns seems to be their bearing upon the opening of great regions in the Northwest and the Southwest to safe settlement and to the march of civilization. Whatever, indeed, pertains to the devel- opment of the country has for General Miles an interest. On the Pacific coast he sent exploring expeditions to Alaska that en- larged our knowledge of that territory. On the arid plains he studied the problem of irrigation, and has made known in a maga- zine article his views on that important subject. XIV. A MEMBER of various social organiza- tions. General Miles yet takes much more pleasure in home than in club life. He has the happy art of making strong and loyal friends. He has always enjoyed outdoor sports and athletic exercises, and did not miss, you may be sure, being at the Ameri- ca's Cup races in September. He is fond of horseback riding, and appears to great advantage mounted, but has come to prefer the bicycle ; and in his daily spins on the wheel, his daughter or his son, a lad about to enter his teens, is often his companion. He likes to have pet animals about him, especially good dogs ; " and his pets," as a friend once .said, " are the pets of the whole family." In manner the General is quiet and self- controlled, but none the less affable and courteous, and it has been remarked that he never refuses to se., anybody who calls upon him. Perhaps it is a systematic method in routine work, with a habit of be- ginning as soon as possible whatever has to be done, that gives him this abundant leis- ure for visitors. The members of his fam- ily have access to his library in his working hours, and never seem to disturb him. He is free from affectations, and presents no eccentricities or angularities with which to point a " character sketch." He likes a joke, and in conversation has an agreeable, well-modulated voice, which, of late, has frequently been heard in public addresses. General Miles also is an exceptionally good listener. Much of his leisure lately has been taken up with writing a book on the growth of the West, particularly as he has observed that growth during the last twenty years. ; Indians, and a •f th»i Indians of His plan in the D, was to avoid settlements an- chief significance earns to be their of great regions Southwest to safe :h of civilization, ins to the devel- for General Miles fie coast he sent Alaska that en- hat territory. On I the problem of inown in a maga- 1 that important social organiza- takes much more :lub life. He has strong and loyal enjoyed outdoor ises, and did not ing at the Ameri- ber. He is fond appears to great as come to prefer ally spins on the son, a lad about his companion. mals about him, d his pets," as a pets of the whole |is quiet and self- less affable and Iremarked that he body who calls is a systematic |ith a habit of be- whatever has to is abundant leis- ibers of his fam- •y in his working isturb him. He nd presents no ies with which to He likes a las an agreeable, ich, of late, has lublic addresses, [ceptionally good •e lately has been ik on the growth he has observed twenty years.