General Robert Huston Milroy

[Full Otto]

I'm the first to admit I don't know as much about him as I probably should. There is a park named after him here in town with a bronze statue.
Recently our library got a secure display case just for some of his artifacts so the family donated some items.

This, from the display, gives a very brief bit of his history



Point of the thread however is to show a some of the good stuff. Pictures needed a little doctoring with the lighting but hope they still hold some interest.









I have a few more that I'll add later but here's a list on what's in the display.



Not all my pics turned out, if you catch something you'd like to see let me know if I don't have it I'll go back and try again.
Need more detail on something I'll try that too.

[5.56NATO]

Pretty cool. The library near here had an Indiana Infantry battle flag on display for a while. And I have a few spent minies found in someones garden in VA to remind me they used big soft lead bullets back then. Thanks for the post.

[Full Otto]

You're welcome, glad you like it.
Here's a few more

[5.56NATO]

Thanks for the pics. They were big on at least leaving a well dressed corpse back in the civil war!

[Full Otto]

Thanks for the pics. They were big on at least leaving a well dressed corpse back in the civil war!

A few years ago the pistols were stolen from the library when they were on temporary display in a not so secure case.
Turns out it was a couple of teens who tried to pawn them. The owner had their name and turned them in.
Can't imagine what the giveaway was.



What knuckle heads

[mrkalashnikov]

Sounds like General Milroy was a typical Civil War politically-connected general long on money & influence but completely incompetent when it came to waging a logistical and strategic war. Guys like him were responsible for the slaughter of 600,000+ Americans during that era, the pre-cursor to WWI-style warfare.

Nice pics as usual tho, Otto. The man had some nice gats.

[Full Otto]

Yeah you may be on to something there. I did a little looking around on him after taking the pictures.
Most articles are small and seem to try and keep him in a favorable light.

Simplified:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Milroy
It sheds a little light on the defeat that's mentioned.

"Milroy's harsh mistreatment of Winchester citizens had been such that even many pro-Unionists had changed their sympathies, serving to further isolate Milroy's ability to gather intelligence around him"

I copied that part because in the display there is a letter with some crude drawings and tongue and cheek insults that somebody mailed him in connection to the treatment. Picture didn't turn out though

There's also this:
"After the war, Milroy was a trustee of the Wabash and Erie Canal Company and, from 1872 to 1875, he was the superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Washington Territory and an Indian agent for the following ten years. During this time he was active in ensuring that the aging Yakama chief, Kamiakin, would not be evicted from his ancestral land by area ranchers."

Probably more to that story too but seems positive

This one has a little more glorious spin to it
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.230...id=56167645313

Thanks, just a few more left so I'll throw these in.

[5.56NATO]

If he was a turd as a general he wasn't alone. Each side had more than a few that blundered in various and sometimes spectacular ways. Burnside, Bragg, Sherman, (a few that come to mind for cruelty towards their own or their enemy or running away or not seeing the clear advantage they held and pursuing the enemy to a war ending victory in the first year of the war) didn't matter what side.