Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/359

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MILES
MILES

oreaking up the bands that were led by him and by Crazy Horse, Lame Deer, Spotted Eagle, Broad Trail, Hump, and others. In September he cap- tured the Nez Perces under Chief Joseph in north- ern Montana, and in 1878 captured a band of Ban- nocks near tlie Yellowstone park. He was commis- sioned brigadier-general of the U. S. army on 15 Dec, 1880, commanded for five years the Depart- ment of the Columbia, in July, 1885, assigned to the command of the Department of the Missouri, and in April, 1886, was transferred to Arizona. After a difficult campaign against the Apaches under Geronimo and Natchez, he compelled those chiefs to surrender, 4 Sept., 1886. He received the thanks of the legislatures of Kansas. Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona for services in the west. He was promoted major-general, 5 April. 1890. and while in command of the division of the Missouri brought to a close in 1891 the Sioux war. On the retirement of Gen. Schofield in September, 1895, he became commander of the army, serving in this capacity during the Spanish-American and Philippine wars. Gen. Miles is the autlior of " Personal Recollections and Observations " (1897).


MILES, Pliny, author, b. in Watertown, N. Y., 16 Nov., 1818 ; d. on the island of Malta, 7 April. 1865. He was brought up on a farm, taught for some time, and on coming of age entered upon com- mercial pursuits, and subsequently studied law. He next passed five years in travelling through the United States, delivering lectures and contriliut- ing to newspapers for his support, and then five years in exploring the countries of Europe, send- ing home descriptive letters. All of his communi- cations were signed " Communipaw." During the last period of his life he labored in advocacy of postal reform, urging the reduction of postage to one cent for half-ounce letters. For the last twenty years of his life he made London his home, but continued his travels in various parts of the world. He died while on the journey to Egypt to report the opening of the Suez canal for a New York newspaper. He published " Statistical Reg- ister" (New York, 1848); "Elements of Mnemo- techny, or Art of Memory " (1848), which passed through several editions and was republished in London ; " Northurfari, or Rambles in Iceland " (1854), republished in England ; " Ocean Steam Navigation " ; and " Postal Reform, its Urgent Ne- cessity and Practicability " (1855).


MILES, Richard Pius, R. C. bishop, b. in Prince George county, Md., 17 May, 1791 ; d. in Nashville, Tenn., 17 Feb., 1860. His family re- moved to Kentucky when he was four years old. In 1807 he was sent to St. Rose's academy in Washington county, which had been established by the Dominicans in the same year. He after- ward attached himself to this order as a candidate for the priesthood, and was ordained in 1816. In 1830 he accompanied Bishop Fenwick, of Cincin- nati, into Ohio, where he aided in founding churches. He was also a constant attendant of Bishop Flaget, with whom he made long and diffi- cult journeys through the west. He established a convent of Dominican nuns near Springfield, Ky., di'ew up rules for their guidance, and was appoint- ed their ecclesiastical superior. He was also pro- vincial of the Dominicans of Kentucky and Oliio for several years. In 1837 the see of Nashville, embracing the state of Tennessee, was created, and in 1838 Di-. Miles was consecrated its first bishop. At this time there was not a single priest in the entire state. Bishop Miles began to organize a diocese without any assistance, travelling on horse- back through every part of the state, and 23reach- ing in court-houses and other places. He went to Europe in 1845 in the interests of his diocese, and on his return dedicated several churches, among others the cathedi'al of Nashville. He also built an episcopal residence and charity hospital, which he placed under the care of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. He founded the Academy of St. Mary conducted by the Sisters of Charity, which in his lifetime became one of the most flourishing institu- tions in the west, established a theological semi- nary, three female religious institutes, a colony of the Dominican order in Memphis, and an orphan asylum under the care of the Sisters of St. Domi- nick. Bishop Miles took part in five councils that assembled at Baltimore in 1840-52. At his death his diocese contained a Roman Catholic popula- tion of about 13,000, eleven priests, twenty-two churches and chapels, and forty mission stations.


MILES, Samuel, soldier, b. in Montgomery county. Pa., 11 March, 1740: d. in Chesterham, Pa., 29 Dec, 1805. He received, according to his own statement, a " common country education," in the sixteenth year of his age enlisted in Capt. Isaac Wayne's company, which was formed after Braddock's defeat. He was discharged, February, 1756, re-enlisted as sergeant in Capt. Thomas Lloyd's company, served as captain-lieutenant in the expedition to Fort Duquesne, was wounded at Ligonia ni an attack made by the French and Indians, was commissioned captain in 1760, and at the end of the campaign was left in command of the forces at Presque Isle (now Erie), Pa. In 1761 he became a wine-merchant in Philadelphia, where in 1766 he was chosen one of the wardens and a manager of the House of employ, and in 1772-'3 a member of the assembly. He was one of the first to espouse the cause of independence. " I took," he says in his autobiography, " an early and active part in opposition to the parliament of Great Britain, who claimed the right of binding by their acts this country in all cases, and raised a company, the second company of militia that was raised on that occasion, and was appointed a member of all the committees in the county, and when the militia was formed into a regiment I was elected colonel." In 1775 he was again chosen to the assembly, in which, and as a member of the council of safety, he served until the spring of 1776, when he was chosen colonel of the Pennsylvania rifle regiment, composed of two battalions, and was shortly afterward sent with a force to quell an insurrection in Sussex county, Del. His command was tendered to congress, placed in the flying camp, and marched to Long Island, where it participated in the battle of 27 Aug., 1776, in which he was taken prisoner, and held until he was exchanged in April, 1778. He was appointed in Deceml)er, 1776, brigadier-general of state forces, but after his exchange, not being able to obtain his rank, he retired from active service, and was a] i] minted auditor for settling public accounts and deputy quartermaster-general for Pennsylvania, which latter office he held until 1782. He was appointed one of the judges of the high court of errors and appeals in 1783, in 1787 to the council of censors at Philadelphia, in 1788 to the city council, in 1789 an alderman and a member of the council of property, and in 1790 became mayor, to which office in 1791 he was unanimously re-elected, but declined to serve. In 1805 he was again chosen to the assembly. He was a large land-owner in Center county. Pa., where the town of Milesburg was laid out by him. His autobiography, written in 1802 and published in the " American Historical Record " (Philadelphia, 1873), is an interesting pa-