He was appointed brigadier-general, June 16, 1897, and was retired by operation of law, June 22, 1897. He invented the woven cartridge belt and the loom for its manufacture, in 1880. This belt came into universal use in the United States army and navy, and also in the British army.
He was married October 13, 1868, to Hannah Martin Cassell; and of the three children born to them, one, a daughter, Constance, the wife of Captain Winfield S. Overton, United States army, was living in 1905.
General Mills has been elected a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a member of the Order of the Indian Wars, of the Metropolitan, Army and Navy, and Chevy Chase clubs of Washington, District of Columbia, and of the National Geographic society.
General Mills suggests as the elements in a young man's life likely to lead to success: "Physical, mental and moral strength; sufficient poverty in early manhood to create incentive and impel serious and unremitting exertion; and an abounding desire to better the fortunes of his kind by making more abundant and easier of procurement food, shelter, raiment and other necessaries of life."
