Serving the Republic: Memoirs of the Civil and Military Life of Nelson A. Miles (1911) - Nelson A. Miles

Written by Nelson A. Miles
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“Full of exciting episodes.” -The American Review, 1911
“Entitled to a place beside such military memoirs as Grant’s, Sherman’s, Sheridan’s and Howard’s.” - The Dial, 1912
“Worthy of note most particularly because it acquaints us intimately with the Indian outbreaks.” - The Outlook, 1911

As detailed by General Nelson A. Miles in his 1911 book “Serving the Republic,” his career as a soldier, covering fifty years, was certainly full of exciting episodes. As a young volunteer he took part in many of the battles of the Civil War and was four times wounded. Entering the regular military establishment at the close of the war, he rose to important commands in the Indian campaigns on the Western plains, and in the entire halfcentury of his military experience he was a shrewd observer of the conditions and limitations under which the American army was maintained.

Miles played a leading role in nearly all of the U.S. Army’s campaigns against the American Indian tribes of the Great Plains. In 1874–1875, he was a field commander in the force that defeated the Kiowa, Comanche, and the Southern Cheyenne along the Red River. Between 1876 and 1877, he participated in the campaign that scoured the Northern Plains after Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and forced the Lakota and their allies onto reservations. In the winter of 1877, he drove his troops on a forced march across eastern Montana to intercept the Nez Perce band led by Chief Joseph at the conclusion of the Nez Perce War.

Campaigns and battles participated in by him are described with soldierly directness and brevity, but not without those occasional turns of expression necessary to impart vividness and picturesqueness to the narrative.

The author’s campaigns against the Indians of the Northwest fill several chapters of his book. From the account of operations leading up to the capture of the redoubtable Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perce’s, we quote a stirring passage:

“We were early on the march, September 30th, and soon one of our Indians came dashing back, reporting the discovery of the Indian camp. Without a halt our troops formed line of battle, each trooper secured his cartridge belt, and, with carbine or rifle in hand, galloped forward prepared for action. A more spirited, resolute body of men I have never seen go into battle. Every nerve and fiber seemed to be animated, and every eye sparkled with fire. The transformation of our Indian allies was spectacular and almost instantaneous. The old horses and mules they were riding were rushed into a ravine; their old hats, clothing, and useless paraphernalia were cached; their strong, fresh war ponies, with a rawhide lariat around the necks and under jaws, but without saddles or bridles, were quickly mounted. In full war paint, with gorgeously feathered and beaded war bonnets, buckskin girdles about the loins, moccasins, and rifles and cartridge belts, the warriors were fully equipped for the fray, as gamy a looking body of savages as could be imagined.”

About the author:
Nelson Appleton Miles (1839 –1925) was an American military general who served in the American Civil War, the American Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War. From 1895 to 1903, he served as the last Commanding General of the United States Army before the office was abolished.