Item No. 4982015

A superb mounted albumen photograph depicting General Nelson A. Miles seated with members of his military staff in full dress uniforms, circa 1891. Miles appears seated second from the left, confidently posed among his officers during the height of his post–Indian Wars prominence. Of particular note, the standing figure second from the left is Bernard J. D. Irwin, the distinguished army surgeon and fellow Medal of Honor recipient. Irwin, a veteran of antebellum frontier service and the Civil War, was widely respected not only for his medical career but also for his work as a naturalist and his early heroism in Arizona Territory—actions which earned him one of the first Medals of Honor awarded to a member of the Medical Department. The image originates from the Irwin family papers. It measures 8 1/2” x 6 3/8”, with the mount measuring 10” x 7 1/2”.

Miles was one of the most prominent officers of the post–Civil War Army. Entering the service as a volunteer officer in 1861, he rose rapidly through the ranks of the Army of the Potomac, earning distinction for gallantry in multiple engagements and receiving the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Chancellorsville. By the close of the war, he had attained the rank of major general of volunteers. Remaining in the Regular Army, Miles became a central figure in the western campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. He commanded troops in operations against Plains tribes and later in the Southwest, where he accepted the surrender of Geronimo in 1886, effectively ending major Apache resistance. By the early 1890s, Miles ranked among the army’s senior officers. In 1895 he was appointed Commanding General of the United States Army, serving until 1903 and overseeing the army during the Spanish-American War. Miles retired in 1903 and died in 1925. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.