Personal Recollections and Observations of General Nelson A. Miles: Embracing a Brief View of the Civil War : Or from New England to the Golden Gate

Theodore Roosevelt called him "a brave peacock." Pompous, vainglorious, but extremely capable, General Nelson A. Miles served his country with distinction for forty-two years. During the Civil War he fought in almost every important battle of the Army of the Potomac, and by its end had been promoted to the rank of major general of volunteers. In 1869 Miles was transferred to the West, where he achieved his greatest fame fighting against the Sioux, Cheyennes, Apaches, and Nez Perces. These colorful memoirs, filled with historical figures and illustrated by Frederic Remington, were first published in 1897, near the end of his career.

Volume 1 takes up Miles's early years in the East, his Civil War action, and his campaigns against the Indians on the plains, ending with chapters on the battle at the Little Bighorn and the surrender of Sitting Bull. Volume 2 shifts to the Northwest and Miles's role in the Indian wars there.

Robert Wooster, an associate professor of history at Corpus Christi State University; introduces each volume, catching the full range and tenor of a top soldier who became a national celebrity not the first or the last to de-velop an interest in money and political prize. Wooster is the author of Nelson A. Miles and the Twilight of the Frontier Army, also published by the University of Nebraska Press.