General Miles is best known as an Indian fighter. His six years of
work among the Indians covered a belt of country from the Rio Grande
to Canada, and four hundred miles wide. In 1874, powerful Indian
tribes roamed over this land. But Miles and his companions-in-arms,
officers and soldiers, guarded the newly constructed railroads, and
the towns which arose on the plains, until civilization prevailed. In
1876, he fought at Staked Plains, defeating the Cheyennes, Kiowas and
Comanches. He subjugated the Sioux, and drove Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse
and other braves across the Canada line. In September, he conquered
the Nez Percés, with Chief Joseph; in 1878, the Bannocks. For five
years,—(1880-1885),—he commanded the Columbia Department; in 1885, he
was transferred to the Arizona Department, and subdued the Apaches
under Geronimo and Natchez. He was made a major-general, United States
Army, April 5, 1890; in 1891, he closed the war with the Sioux.
General Miles carries the honorable scars of four serious
bullet-wounds. His wife was a Sherman, daughter of Judge Sherman, and
niece of ex-Secretary Sherman and of General William Tecumseh Sherman.
She is a “comrade” as well as a home-companion, and went with him to
inspect fortifications and visit our southern camps during the late war.