Nelson Appleton Miles is a fascinating figure in American history. Nelson A. Miles served in the United States Army through three different conflicts and made a career out of his service, even though he never attended a military academy. Focusing on how the events that Nelson A. Miles went through and analyzing how those events formed him as a leader is important to our understanding, as historians of why he chose to respond in a specific way, particularly with regards to minority groups. This also allows for a better understanding of Nelson A. Miles as an individual who lived through several wars and became a prominent military and political figure in the United States.

The military service that made up the career of Nelson A. Miles spanned from 1861 to 1903. Beginning when he joined the Union Army, Nelson A. Miles would experience the vastness of the United States and the diversity of its people as he was sent west to the Montana Territory following the decimation of the Seventh Cavalry under the command of George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Battle of the Greasy Grass. His orders would place him in contact and conflict with some of the most powerful Native American leaders of the time, including Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Chief Dull Knife, Crazy Horse, and in the Southwest, Geronimo. Amazingly Nelson A. Miles’ career did not end on the Plains or the Desert of the American west, he would go on to fight in the Spanish American war leading the invasion of Puerto Rico.

Nelson A. Miles was also an outspoken critic of the policies of the United State government and army regarding Native Americans and how they were treated. This criticism aroused the anger of many politically connected and powerful men, who did not want the man who had achieved the rank of Lieutenant General of the Army to be so publicly vocal in his distain. One of those men that Nelson A. Miles was in open conflict with being Theodore Roosevelt.

This blog will be an ever-evolving stream of exciting academic research and frustration, as that is often how I define the work of a historian to myself. The wonder and thrill of discovering new information about a topic and the frustration of seeking more information only to find that it is not available.

Beginning my own career as a Social Studies teacher, I taught for 13 years in high schools in Montana. During that time, I completed my M.A. in English as a Second Language and believed that my education was complete. Then came the exciting opportunity to continue with my education and get a M.A. in American History from Pace University through the Gilder Lehrman of American History, this re-ignited in me a long-suppressed desire to obtain my Ph.D. in History. All of which then led me to my current situation as a Ph.D. candidate attending Liberty University.  As a Ph.D. candidate, I am excited to work through the works about Nelson A. Miles, and his own personal writings to hopefully discover why he chose the actions that he did. This blog will serve as a running documentation of the research that I am conducting and a forum in which I can share my passion for history.