James M. Miller (1842-1912)

MILLER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 3/23/2022 at 23:36:24

James Marshall Miller
(June 2, 1842 – May 11, 1912)

James M. Miller, an honored veteran of the Civil war, is a representative of railroad interests, being an engineer in the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, and is equally well known in connection with the work of the Young Men's Christian Association. He has a very wide acquaintance in this portion of the state, as well as in Lake City, where he makes his
home, and all who know him entertain for him high regard in recognition of his many splendid qualities of heart and mind, Yet few men are more free from ostentation and display than Mr. Miller, but he has been so loyal in citizenship, so reliable in business and so trustworthy in all life's relations that his fellow men, in consequence, entertain for him the highest respect.
Mr. Miller was born in Iberia, Ohio, June 2, 1842. His father, John Miller, was born December 16, 1815, in Pennsylvania, and after attaining to man's estate, married Miss Lucinda Marshall, whose birth occurred in Ohio, March 12, 1819. In 1851 they removed with their family to Washington County, Iowa. The father died in Warren County, Iowa, November 4, 1883, and his wife passed away December 26, 1874. They were the parents of the following named: Esther J., who was born July 25, 1839, became the wife of James Wilson, of Washington, Iowa, and both are now deceased, the wife passing away December 13, 1874: Emily E. born August 31, 1840, is the wife of James Myers, of Sheridan, Iowa ; James Marshall was born June 2, 1842; John W., born in Ohio, December 22, 1843, is now in the west ; Jeanette, born June 26, 1846, is the wife of Joseph Pressley, now deceased; Lucinda, born August 12, 1847, died on the 12th of July, 1849; George W., who was born August 2, 1850,. and was an engineer, was killed in a railroad collision on the Rock Island railroad near Ottumwa, Iowa ; Mary A., born in Washington county, Iowa, August 2, 1855, died July 8, 1890; Joseph A., born January 26, 1857, was a locomotive engineer and was killed in a wreck on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, near Pueblo, Colorado, October 8, 1892; Willis was born August 5, 1859; and Ralph E., born March 10, 1862, died December 31, 1866. When nine years of age James M. Miller accompanied his parents to Iowa, the family locating in Dutch Creek township, Washington County. After acquiring his preliminary education, he became a student in the college of Washington, Iowa, and was there pursuing his studies when the Civil war was inaugurated, in April, 1861. Together with twenty-four other students from that college, he offered his services to the government, becoming a member of Company H, Second Iowa Infantry, April 16, 1861, being mustered in May 27th as a private. He was promoted to corporal, then to sergeant and afterward to second lieutenant of Company A, Fifty-fifth United States Colored Infantry, at Corinth, Mississippi, about the l0th of May, 1863. While a member of the Second he participated in the engagement at Fort Donelson, February 15, 1862, and Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1862, receiving a slight wound on the second day of the battle. He participated in the advance on Corinth from the 1st to the 29th of May, and was in several skirmishes during that time. On the 3d and 4th of October he was in the battle of Corinth, being in the thickest of the fight on both days. He was in the battle at Little Bear Creek, November 28, 1862, Town Creek, in April 1863, and in the following month was made second lieutenant of Company A, Fifty-fifth United States Colored Infantry, with which he went to Memphis, Tennessee, where he did garrison duty until June, 1864. The command was then ordered out on a raid by General Sturges, and met the enemy on the l0th and 11th of June, at Georgetown, Mississippi, the Confederates out-numbering the Union troops
three to one. The latter were driven back in confusion and of his company of seventy-six men. Lieutenant Miller lost all but fourteen. After six days of hard marching and without anything to eat, he was captured when within twelve miles of the Union pickets. With fourteen others he was taken to Oxford, Mississippi, where they were held as prisoners for a few days. There Mr. Miller made a desperate attempt to escape and was punished for this by being separated from the rest of the company and sent south to Granada, Mississippi, where he and forty-one others were placed in a jail used for prisoners of war. Ten days later they were notified that they would be taken to Andersonville prison, so again Mr. Miller made an effort for liberty. Joseph Gould, of the Ninth Minnesota, and our subject succeeded in prying one of the iron bars from across the window and thus made their escape. It was a desperate chance, but they took it and won. The others, however, remained behind rather than take the risk. After sixteen days and nights, during which time they endured great hardships from starvation and exposure, they reached the Mississippi River at Horseshoe Bend, nine miles above the mouth of White river. They had little clothing and were almost utterly exhausted. However, they secured a plank from the bushes, where it had lodged in time of high water, and in this way they managed to float out upon the river, where they were picked up by Union boats and taken to Memphis, Tennessee. Soon afterward, Mr. Miller was commissioned first lieutenant of Company D, of the same regiment, and did garrison duty at Port Hudson and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, until the close of the war, when he was mustered out at Vicksburg with a most creditable military record, extending from April 16, 1861, until January 5, 1866. Few men are more familiar with the hardships of war and certainly he deserves great credit, for he was a brave and loyal soldier and never wavered in his allegiance to the old flag from the time it was first fired upon until it was planted in the capital of the Confederacy. About 1868 Mr. Miller came to Boone, Iowa, and entered the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway as check clerk, freight and baggage handler. From Boone he removed to the city of Chicago, Illinois. In 1871 he again entered the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, as a fireman running out of Chicago for some time. He fired on the Galena division for five and one-half years, running between Chicago, Clinton and Freeport, and in December, 1877, he was promoted to the position of engineer, in which capacity he has since served, remaining on the same division until 1881. In that year he was transferred to the Northern Iowa Division, and ran an engine on the construction work into Dakota. He was on that division for one year in the freight service, and in 1884 was given a passenger run, since which time he has served in that capacity, being one of the most careful engineers on the line, realizing fully the obligation and responsibility that devolve upon him as the custodian of the lives of all who ride upon his train.
Mr. Miller has been very prominent in connection with the Young Men's Christian Association. He was one of three men appointed to act as the state deputation of the Railway Y. M. C. A., doing evangelistic work all over the state, organizing local associations in all parts of Iowa. For eight years he gave much of his time to his labors in that connection. He established an association among railway men in Lake City and his influence in this direction has been most marked, while his efforts have been very effective.
Mr. Miller was married to Mary C. Litwiler, of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, born near Meadville, that state. They have one child, Lottie M., who was born July 4, 1871, the wife of Professor C. W. Dolbey, a musical composer of wide reputation, his home being in Des Moines, Iowa,. Both Mr. and Mrs. Miller hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church at Lake City, in which he is now serving as trustee. They have made many warm friends in this place and the hospitality of many of its best homes is extended to them. Fraternally Mr. Miller is connected with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the lodge at Lake City, while he is also connected with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. His humanitarian principles, his fraternal spirit and his kindly nature are manifest so strongly in his life being a part of his nature — that he is classed among those who have made the world better for having lived.
[Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S. J. Clarke, 1902, p.229]