In 1897, five years after he won the Medal of Honor, General Nelson A. Miles published his memoirs, often cited and now made widely available in this two-volume Bison Book edition. While relating his own colorful adventures, General Miles also ranges over time and space, taking into account fur traders, trail blazers, gold seekers, and missionaries. The first volume described his service in the Civil War and his campaigns against the Indians on the northern plains.
Volume 2 follows General Miles to Washington Territory, where he com-mands the Department of Columbia, and finally to the Southwest, where he succeeds General George Crook in directing the fight against the Apaches. The pursuit of Geronimo is one of the many subjects illustrated here by Frederic Remington.
In his introduction to the second volume Robert Wooster notes the importance of this memoir as a document on the Indian wars, extremely revealing of the character of a difficult but competent general.
