Civil War History

In June 2018, I decided to pick a forgotten Civil War soldier, doing so pretty randomly, and then try to reconstruct his life and his world as fully as possible. Wells Waite Miller came from a farming background and attended Oberlin Preparatory School. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in the spring of 1861 in response to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for men. He fought in the heat of the battle at Antietam without injury and was badly wounded at Gettysburg during what’s now called “Pickett’s Charge.” He went on to become a noted agriculturalist and businessman, serving as the

Over the past few years, I’ve done a deep dive into the life of Wells Waite Miller, a forgotten Civil War hero. Although I’ve found more information about him than I originally anticipated, I’m far from done—and, in this post, I’m going to share what I’ve learned about his brother, Lodowick. He also fought for the U.S. Army during the Civil War but came to a more tragic end. The parents of Lodowick and Wells—Amos and Emily (Graves) Miller—had five children in total, but three of them died in a very short period of time at far too young of

When Wells Waite Miller (b. February 20, 1842) was a child and teenager, “the debate over slavery raged in the nation’s political institutions and its public places.” Because this post is part of an ongoing blog series about the life and times of a forgotten Civil War hero—Wells Waite —I want to know what the Miller family thought about the slavery question. If they had any abolitionist leanings, did they put their beliefs into practice? Unfortunately, I haven’t found direct evidence one way or the other (which doesn’t mean that I won’t speculate). What is clear: the region in which they chose

After suffering from serious wounds at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1863 in what’s now called Pickett’s Charge, Captain Wells Waite Miller of the 8th OVI faced a long recovery. As the previous blog post in this saga shows, several months later, he still required medical care. On January 8, 1864, Miller received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army. Clearly, he wasn’t in fighting shape. So what was next for this 21-year-old man? Invalid Corps On March 5, 1864 (just two weeks after his 22nd birthday), Miller was “allowed to appear before a Board of Officers at Indianapolis, Ind.

On July 3, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the U.S. (Union) and Confederate forces clashed, horrific fighting that served as the culmination of a three-day battle that many historians consider a turning point in the Civil War. In the the heat of the fierceness? Captain Wells Waite Miller. Slaughter at Gettysburg Nearly one in three men at Gettysburg suffered wounds or died in the fighting. More specifically: The United States forces lost 28 percent of their soldiers who were at Gettysburg while the Confederates lost more than 37 percent. Fatalities included 3,155 Union men and 3,903 Confederates. As far as injuries, 14,529

“ . . . a most barbarous massacre occurred at the head of Cold creek, now Castalia. There were living there at this time the families of Snow, Butler and Putnam, and a girl named Page. Snow had erected on Cold Creek, a grist mill in which he usually kept corn; this the Indians continued to steal in the night time. Snow, to stop this thieving, laid the boards of the floor leading from, the embankment to the mill in such a way, that when trod upon they would give way and let the Indians through. The Indians being caught

In the last installment, Amos and Emily (Graves) Miller had just lost three young children (Delia, Helen, and Amos) in a matter of weeks, probably to an epidemic. Shortly after that, Emily became pregnant with her last child: a baby boy they would name Wells Waite. He was born on February 20, 1842, carrying a family name; Emily’s sister Theda had married a man with the first name of “Wells” and the last name of “Waite.” More Loss in the Graves Family Although Amos and Emily were surely relieved when she, at the age of 40, survived yet another childbirth

On June 11, 1805, a baby named Amos was born to Revolutionary War veteran Aaron Miller, Jr. and his wife Bethiah (Dewey) Miller.  Aaron and Bethiah had gotten married on June 19, 1783 at the First Church of Pittsfield, located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and this fruitful couple ultimately had twelve children. A daughter named Clarissa was born first on June 6, 1784 with Amos being the last child born—with seven sisters and three brothers born in between. Perhaps unusual for this era, ten of the twelve children lived to adulthood, including Amos, the father of Wells Waite Miller. More About

Wells Waite Miller’s ancestors made themselves quite well known after immigrating to the colonies—and he is in fact a direct descendant of Thomas Miller, the baby whose birth was the source of all that scandal in their intimate Puritan community. (If you’ve read Great Puritan Migration and Scandal in the Colonies, you’ll see how young Thomas grew up surrounded by whispers—and perhaps boldly critical comments—about his parentage and their sin.) Less is known about the next three generations, and here’s a quick overview of Wells’ family tree through the birth of the ancestor (Aaron Miller) who fought in the Revolutionary War. Thomas