Travels in Peru and India / While Superintending the Collection of Chinchona Plants and Seeds in South America, and Their Introduction into India.

by Sir Clements R. Markham

APPENDIX A.

GENERAL MILLER, AND THE FOREIGN OFFICERS WHO SERVED IN THE PATRIOT ARMIES OF CHILE AND PERU, BETWEEN 1817 AND 1830.

When the war of independence broke out in South America, many gallant spirits were attracted from different countries of Europe to fight for liberty and justice against Spanish oppression. Fired with enthusiasm for the cause of liberty, these knights errant, many of whom had been distinguished in the wars of Napoleon and Wellington, went forth to risk their lives for an idea. That they were in earnest is proved by the fact that, out of the whole number of sixty-seven, as many as twenty-five were killed or drowned, and eighteen were wounded.

In this band of brave adventurers, next perhaps to Lord Dundonald, the late General Miller takes the most prominent place, as one of the ablest, the truest, and the best. There is a halo of romance round all who joined in this crusade for liberty; all passed through many strange adventures, and did honour to the land from which they hailed; but the lamented old warrior who went to his rest last year was pre-eminent amongst his gallant companions, for his many acts of chivalrous daring and bravery.

William Miller, a native of Kent, served in the British Field Train Department of the Royal Artillery, during the Peninsular war, under Lord Wellington. He was present at the sieges and storming of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, and San Sebastian, at the battle of Vittoria, and investment of Bayonne. He had charge of a company of Sappers and Miners in the American war, was within a few yards of General Ross when he received his death-wound near Baltimore, and was also present at the attack upon New Orleans in 1814.

In 1817, having been placed on half-pay, and tired of an inactive life, he proceeded to South America, and offered his services in the war against the Spaniards. He was appointed Captain of artillery by the Government of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, crossed the Andes into Chile, and saved two pieces of artillery, under a heavy fire, at the battle of Talca, in March 1818. In April he became a Major, and assisted with his regiment at the declaration of Chilian independence on September 18th, 1818. In 1819 he commanded the Marines in Lord Cochrane's squadron, and in March an explosion of gunpowder, on the island of San Lorenzo, in Callao Bay, shattered one of his hands to pieces, injured his face, and caused blindness for many days. In October he was again at the head of his men, leading them to victory at Pisco, when he was pierced by two balls, one passing through his liver, and another through his breast. In February 1820, though still weak and suffering from his former desperate wounds, he headed the storming party in the boats, in the gallant attack and capture of the forts of Valdivia in Chile, where he was again wounded in the head; and in the subsequent attempt on Chiloe he received a ball through his left groin, and a cannon-shot broke one of his feet. In May 1821 he landed in Peru, and defeated the Spaniards in the hard-fought battle of Mirabe; in 1823 he conducted a most adventurous and romantic campaign through the whole range of the deserts of Peru, from Arequipa to Pisco, defeating the Spaniards, with greatly inferior numbers, on several occasions; and in the same year he became General of Brigade.

In May 1824 General Miller received the command of the Peruvian cavalry of Bolivar's liberating army, and took a principal part in the victory of Junin in the following August. Soon afterwards he assumed the command of the whole of the cavalry of the liberating army, at the head of which he charged, and routed the division of General Valdez in the glorious battle of Ayacucho, at a most critical moment. This brilliant action was fought on the 9th of December 1824, and decided the fate of the war, the entire Spanish army of 10,000 men under General La Serna, Viceroy of Peru, being utterly routed. In February 1825 he was Prefect of Puno, and in April of Potosi; but in 1826 he returned to England on leave of absence, to cure himself of his wounds, which still caused him great suffering.

After a stay of some years in England he returned to Peru in June 1830 but, owing to the factious outbreaks in which he did not choose to take part, he again obtained leave of absence in 1831, and visited many of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, especially the Sandwich and Society groups, of which he wrote a most interesting account; and only returned to Peru after the constitutional election of General Orbegoso as President of the Republic. In the early part of 1834 he served in a campaign against the revolutionary chief Gamarra; and, though defeated at Huaylacucho, his operations were on the whole successful, and he was promoted to the rank of Grand Marshal of Peru on June 11th, 1834.