Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/362

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MILLER
MILLER

he resigned his commission, on account of the straitened pecuniary circumstances of his family, which had arisen by reason of his long absence in the field. He was chosen high sheriff of York county in 1780, and held the office until 1788. when he was chosen to the legislature. He served there until 1785, and the next year was appointed prothonotary of the county and a justice of the peace and of the court of common pleas, which office he held until 1794, serving also in 1790 as a member of the Constitutional convention of the state. In 1794, under the requisition of the presi- dent for troops, on account of the dangers that were apprehended from the English on the western borders, he was made brigadier-general, and later in the same year he became quartermaster-general of the expedition to suppress the whiskey insur- rection. Still later in that year he was appointed by Washington supervisor of the revenue for Penn- sylvania, which office he held until Jefferson be- came president. He then removed to Baltimore, Md., where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In the war of 1812 he was brigadier-general, in com- mand of the militia at Baltimore, and charged with the defence of Fort McIIenry and its depend- encies. When the enemy left the Chesapeake, he retired from the army, and returned to Pennsyl- vania, where from 1821 until his death he was prothonotary of Perry county.


MILLER, Henry, physician, b. in Lexington, Ky., 1 Nov., 1800 ; d. in Louisville, Ky., 9 Feb.. 1874. He was licensed to practise medicine in Lexington, Ky., resided for a short time in Glas- gow and Harrodsburg, and on the organization of a school of medicine in Louisville, Ky.. in 1835, re- moved to that city. He was professor of obstetrics and the diseases of women and children in Louis- ville university tiil 18G9, when he became professor emeritus. Dr. Miller was president of the American medical association in 1859. He published " A Treatise on Human Parturition " (Louisville, 1844) : and " The Principles and Practice of Partu- rition " (Philadelphia, 1858).


MILLER, Homer Martin Virgil, senator, b. in Pendleton county, S. C, 29 April, 1814; d. in Atlanta, 31 May. 1896. He removed to Georgia, where he received a classical education, was gradu- ated at the Medical college of South Carolina in 1835. and completed his professional studies in Paris in 1838. On his return he settled in Cass- ville, Ga., became a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and was licensed to preach without joining the itinerancy. He also participated in the presidential canvass of 1840 and in that of 1844, in which his eloquence won for him the title of the Demosthenes of the mountains. He was pro- fessor in the ^Medical college of Memphis, Tenn., in 1846-'8. and occupied a similar office in the Medical college of Augusta, Ga., in 1849-'(i5. Dur- ing the civil war, he was surgeon and division sur- geon in the Confederate army, and subsequently medical inspector of the military department of Georgia. After the war, he was an active member of the Constitutional convention under the recon- struction acts of congress. In 1870 he was elected to the U. S. senate as a Democrat, to fill the seat that had been vacant since the civil war, and served till 1871. After 1869 he had been professor of the principles and practice of medicine in Atlanta medical college. He was an editor of the " Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal," and for thirty years had been a trustee of the University of Georgia.


MILLER, Jacob Welsh, senator, b. in German valley, Morris co., N. J., in November, 1800 ; d. in Morristown, N. J., 30 Sept., 1862. He received an academic education, studied law, was admitted to the bar of his native county, and attained emi- nence there. He was state senator in 1838-'40, and in the latter year was elected to the U. S. sen- ate as a Whig, serving till 1853. He opposed the compromise measures of 1850, and in 1855 joined the Republican party, of which he continued an active member until his death.


MILLER, James, soldier, b. in Peterborough, N. H., 25 April, 1776; d. in Temple, N. H., 7 July, 1851. He was educated for the law, but in 1808 entered the U. S. army as major of the 4th in- fantry, and was lieutenant-colonel in 1810. He commanded at the battle of Brownstown, 9 Aug., 1812, was brevetted colonel for gallantry in that action, fought at Fort George, 27 May. 1813, and was colonel of the 21st infantry at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. In the latter affair the success of the Americans depended on the capture of a Brit- ish battery. "Can you take it !" asked Gen. Win- field Scott. "I will try, sir," he said, and with great gallantry led his command to the assault, captured the battery, and decided the fortune of the day. For this service he was brevetted brig- adier-general, and received a gold medal from con- gress. He was governor of Arkansas in 1819-'25, and collector of the port of Salem, Mass., in 1825-'49. — His son, James Fergurson, naval officer, b. in Peterborough, N. H., 29 April, 1805; d. in Bos- ton, Mass., 11 July, 1868. was appointed midship- man in 1826, passed midshipman in 1832. and lieu- tenant in 1837. He served through the Mexican war. but in consequence of African fever, from which he never fully recovered, was placed in the reserved list in 1855. He became commander on the retired list in 1861, and commodore in 1867.


MILLER, John, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 24 Dec, 1722; d. near Dover, Del.. 22 July, 1791. He was educated in the Boston public schools, licensed to preach in 1748, and in 1749 ordained pastor of Presbyterian churches in Smyrna and Dover, Del., where he continued for forty-three years. The University of Pennsylvania gave him the degree of A. M. in 1763. Dr. Miller was an ardent promoter of education, and an active advocate of the patriot cause. — His eldest son, John, was a surgeon in the Continental army, and died of exposure during the Revolution. — Another son, Edward, physician, b. in Dover, Del., 9 May, 1760; d. in New York city, 17 March, 1812, studied in the medical hospital at Baskingridge, N. J., was surgeon's mate in the Revolutionary army, and in 1782 went to France in that capacity on an armed ship. On his return he settled in Dover, was graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1784, and from 1783 till 1796 practised in Dover. He then removed to New York city, and with Dr. Elihu H. Smith and Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell founded in August, 1779, the " Medical Repository," the first American medical journal. Its conductors were members of a " Friendly " club whose weekly receptions were attended by the wit and intellect of the city, and which included William Dunlap. Charles Brockden Brown, Anthony Bleecker, and James Kent. Dr. Miller became resident physician of New York city in 1803, professor of the practice of medicine in the University of New York in 1807, and clinical lecturer in New York hospital in 1809. He received many professional honors, had a large correspondence with men of letters both in this country and abroad, was an earnest advocate of temperance, and opposed the use of tobacco. His report on "Yellow Fever in New York in 1805 " is the source from which most later authors have drawn their arguments in support of