Hispania Rare Books

£600.00

John Miiler

Memoirs of General Miller in the service of The Republic of Peru

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. Paternoster-Row . 1828.

First Edition, 2 volumes, 8vo (220mm x140mm), pp [xxiii]+389, [vii]+460, engraved frontispiece portrait, 8 maps. Half calf with marbled boards. Provenance: John Moxon bookplate.

Aged seventeen William Miller enrolled in the British army to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, taking part in the Siege of Badajoz and Battle of Vittoria. In September 1817 he sailed to Buenos Aires to join San Martín‘s Army of the Andes. He took part in San Martín’s liberation of Chile,  participating in the decisive  battle of Maipú and the Capture of Valdivia. Under Lord Cochrane he became commander of the marines in the newly created Chilean Navy.  Later he participated in the Liberating Expedition of Peru, when Simón Bolívar arrived, he was promoted to Chief of a cavalry unit that was largely responsible for the defeat of the Spanish  at the Battle of Ayacucho. After Peruvian independence he was appointed  Grand Marshall, the highest military grade in Peru.  He died in Callao in 1861 and is buried at the Panteon de los Proceres, the final resting place for the heroes of the War of Independence.

The Memoirs of General Miller, written by his brother John, are an important historical source that offer a description of the battles for South American independence very different from those of Lord Cochrane.

Condition: Light spotting and browning, later marbled boards (rubbed), bookplate of John Moxon, signature [F.P. Munery ?] to title pages .