Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Miller, William (1795-1861)
MILLER, WILLIAM (1795–1861), Peruvian general, was born at Wingham, Kent, 2 Dec. 1795, and, like his brother and biographer John Miller, served in the field-train department of the (British) royal artillery, in which he was appointed assistant-commissary 1 Jan. 1811. He landed in the Peninsula in August that year, and made the campaigns of 1811–14, including the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, St. Sebastian, and Bayonne. He afterwards served in North America, in the operations in the Chesapeake, and the expedition to New Orleans, and was shipwrecked in the Ranger ordnance transport off Mobile. Returning home at the peace he travelled for two years on the continent, and then went out to La Plata. He made an excursion in the direction of Patagonia; and afterwards crossed the Pampas and Andes to Chili, where with his corps, the Buenos Ayres artillery, he repeatedly distinguished himself in the struggle for Chilian independence. He served as major commanding the marines on board the O'Higgins, 50 guns, in which Lord Cochrane [see Cochrane, Thomas, tenth Earl of Dundonald] hoisted his flag on 22 Dec. 1818. In August 1821 he landed at Pisco, defeated and pursued the Spanish garrison, and assumed the government of Yca. Hearing that Cantereau, a French royalist and one of the ablest of the Spanish generals, was threatening Lima, Miller marched thither to reinforce General San Martin. He was made a general of brigade there in 1823. He became the intimate friend of Simon Bolivar, who was invested with the chief authority in Peru 1 Sept. 1823, and under him he attained the rank of general of division and commander-in-chief of the cavalry. To commemorate Miller's brilliant services at the battle of Juria, 6 Aug. 1824, Bolivar conferred on his regiment the title of ‘Húsares de Juria.’ The most conspicuous of his many gallant exploits was his charge at the head of these hussars at the battle of Ayacucho, which finally secured the liberties of Chili and Peru, 9 July 1824. He was many times wounded, and at the battle of Pisco nearly lost his life. At the attack on Chiloe a grapeshot passed through one of his thighs, and his right instep was crushed by a cannon-ball. In 1825 he was governor of Potosi, but in 1826 returned to Europe.
He received the freedom of the city of Canterbury and many marks of attention on the continent, notably from the Austrian officers in garrison at Milan. He returned to Peru, and as commander-in-chief put down an insurrection under General Gamarra in 1834; but changing political circumstances banished him from the republic, in which he was then holding the rank of grand-marshal. With Santa Cruz and some other officers he embarked in H.M.S. Samarang, commanded by Captain William Broughton, in February 1839, thus closing his honourable military career of twenty years, during which he had taken part in every battle fought in Chili and Peru in the cause of South American independence. In 1843 he was made British consul-general in the Pacific, a post he held some years. In 1859 he went to Callao, to prefer some unsettled claims against the Peruvian government, which the Peruvian congress unanimously agreed should be paid. But the president, General Castillo, stopped the payment, which proved the crowning disappointment of a chequered life. Miller, who was dangerously ill, expressed a wish to die under the British flag. He was carried on board the Naiad, then in Callao harbour, and there died on 31 Oct. 1861. He was buried in the English cemetery at Bella Vista, all the church bells in Callao tolling, an honour never before paid to any protestant in Peru. Miller is described as very tall and handsome, of winning address. He was an able officer, and distinguished alike by his conspicuous personal gallantry and his humanity towards his Spanish prisoners.
[Miller's biography from 1817 to 1826, written by his brother John Miller, in 2 vols. 8vo (London, 1827); Clements R. Markham's Hist. of Peru (Chicago, 1892); Basil Hall's Journal in Chili, pt. i. ch. iii.; Appleton's Encycl. Amer. Biog.; Gent. Mag. 1862 pt. i. p. 236; cf. art. Mackenna, John or Juan.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.199
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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