Henry Miller (1846-1895) was a bartender-turned horseman whose story begins in Pennsylvania’s bucolic Lehigh Valley and ends in a bustling metropolitan area of New Jersey. During the few years given to him by fate, he rose from obscurity to become the subject of newspapers reporting on events regarding nineteenth-century Pennsylvania’s popular pastime of harness racing.

* Note: The Henry Miller (1846-1895) profiled in this biography served with Company B of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and was a different soldier than the Henry F. Miller (1838-1927) who served with Company E and the Henry E. Miller (1831-1895) who served with Company I of the same regiment. The Henry Miller (of Company B) who is profiled in this biography was an eighteen-year-old bartender and resident of Allentown who enrolled and mustered in as a private at a recruiting depot in Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on 18 January 1864, served for the remainder of the war and was honorably discharged as a private in Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day in 1865. Military records described him as being five feet, seven inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a fair complexion.

Conversely, the other two 47th Pennsylvanians named Henry Miller (of Company E and Company I) enlisted earlier than the Henry Miller of Company B — and at different locations. They also differed physically and had been employed in different types of work at the time of their respective enlistments:

• Henry E. Miller (1831-1895) of Company I was a Lehigh County laborer who enrolled in Allentown on 5 August 1861, mustered in at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County on 30 August 1861 as a corporal and was honorably discharged as a corporal at Berryville, Virginia on 18 September 1864. Military records described him as being five feet, seven inches tall with dark hair, dark eyes and a dark complexion.

• Henry F. Miller (1838-1928) of Company E was a thirty-four-year-old boatman from South Easton, Northampton County who had previously served with the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteers before re-enlisting with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. After re-enrolling in Easton on 2 September 1861, Henry F. Miller then re-mustered with the 47th Pennsylvania at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on 16 September 1861 as a corporal, was subsequently reduced to the rank of private on 30 June 1862 and was later honorably discharged as a private at Berryville, Virginia on 18 September 1864. Military records described him as being five feet, seven and one-half inches tall with black hair, black eyes and a dark complexion.

Formative Years

Born in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania in 1846, Henry Miller (1846-1895) was a son of Allentown native Nathan Miller (1810-1886) and Fyetta Julia (Druckenmiller) Miller (1813-1853), who was also a Lehigh County native.

During the mid to late 1840s, Henry Miller resided in Lehigh County with his siblings: Lewis Miller (1834-1916), who had been born in Weisenberg Township, Lehigh County on 29 November 1834, would later serve as a private with Company E of the 202nd Pennsylvania Volunteers during the American Civil War and would become a master tailor and the husband of Rosetta Follweiler (1836-1901); Al Miller, who was born in Lehigh county circa 1842; Mariah Miller, who was born in Lehigh County circa 1844 and was known to family and friends as “Mary” or “Mamie”; and Susan Miller (1849-1851), who was born in Allentown on 15 January 1849.

* Note: The Henry Miller who is profiled in this biography was also a half-brother of Peter Moyer. According to Henry Miller’s obituaries, which were published in Allentown-area newspapers in early December 1895, Peter Moyer was one of Henry’s surviving relatives — data that indicates that Peter died sometime after 1895. Researchers for 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story are still looking for information about Peter Moyer’s life, and will update this biography when new details are uncovered.

In 1850, Henry Miller resided in Allentown with his parents, Nathan and “Fyetta” Miller, and siblings: Lewis, Al, Mariah, and Susan. Their father supported their family on the wages of a tailor. Sadly, tragedy struck when the Miller siblings’ youngest sister, Susan Miller, died in Allentown on 2 December 1851. Just weeks shy of her birthday, she was subsequently buried at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown. Roughly two years later, another tragedy befell the family when the Miller siblings’ mother died in 1853. Following funeral services, Fyetta Julia (Druckenmiller) Miller (1813-1853) was buried at the cemetery associated with St. John’s Lutheran Church.

* Note: By 1860, Henry Miller’s father, Nathan Miller, may have been living by himself with other unrelated guests at a large hotel that was operated by Joseph E. Newhard in Allentown’s Fifth Ward. Also residing at that same hotel at that time was shoemaker Tilghman H. Good, the future founder of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (and future three-time mayor of Allentown), as well as future 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer George Junker, a German immigrant and tombstone cutter who would be commissioned as captain of the regiment’s “all-German company” (Company K). According to that year’s federal, census Nathan Miller was a gentleman who owned real estate and personal property worth eight thousand dollars — the equivalent of roughly three hundred and twenty-one thousand U.S. dollars in 2026. (See the list of sources at the bottom of this biography for a full list of the residents at Joseph Newhard’s Fifth Ward hotel at the time that Nathan Miller lived there.)

As the New Year of 1864 and the American Civil War continued to rage on, Henry Miller was tending a bar somewhere in Allentown — but his status as a civilian would soon change.

American Civil War

On 18 January 1864, Henry Miller enrolled for military service in Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania as a new recruit. He then officially mustered in there that same day as a private with Company B of the battle-hardened 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Military records at that time described him as an eighteen-year-old bartender residing in Allentown, Lehigh County who was five feet, seven inches tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a fair complexion.

But Private Henry Miller did not begin his duties with Company B right away, according to regimental muster rolls for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. His service actually began circa 16 April 1864 — after he had been transported south by steamship to a Union base of operations in southern Louisiana and then north from there by a smaller boat and wagon (or on foot) to where the 47th Pennsylvania was stationed between Grand Ecore and Alexandria, Louisiana during the regiment’s history-making participation in the Union’s Red River Campaign.

* Note: The timing of B Company Private Henry Miller’s arrival at the 47th Pennsylvania’s encampment in Louisiana meant that he had missed participating in the Union’s bloody battles against Confederate troops at Sabine Cross Roads near Mansfield (8 April 1864) and Pleasant Hill (9 April), and may also have missed the Battle of Cane River near Monett’s Ferry (23 April); however, he very likely did arrive in time to take part in the construction of Bailey’s Dam.

Red River Campaign — Alexandria and Bailey’s Dam

Based at Alexandria, Louisiana from 26 April through mid-May 1864, B Company Private Henry Miller and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were temporarily attached to the command of Union Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey and assigned to fatigue duty, during which they helped to build “Bailey’s Dam,” a timber structure that was designed to enable Union gunboats to make their way through the rapids and other hazards of the Red River. After completing their work, they received orders to pack up their belongings and head south. Field Musician Henry Wharton, who served with the 47th Pennsylvania’s C Company, recapped that phase of the regiment’s service as follows:

We were at Alexandria seventeen days, during which time the men were kept busy at throwing up earthworks, foraging and three times went out some distance to meet the enemy, but they did not make their appearance in numbers large enough for an engagement. The water in the Red river had fallen so much that it prevented the gunboats from operating with us, and kept our transports from supplying the troops with rations, (and you know soldiers, like other people, will eat) so Banks was compelled to relinquish his designs on Shreveport and fall back to the Mississippi. To do this a large dam had to be built on the falls at Alexandria to get the ironclads down the river. After a great deal labor this was accomplished and by the morning of May 13th the last one was through the shute [sic], when we bade adieu to Alexandria, marching through the town with banners flying and keeping step to the music of ‘Rally around the flag,’ and ‘When this cruel war is over.’ The next morning, at our camping place, the fleet of boats passed us, when we were informed that Alexandria had been destroyed by fire – the act of a dissatisfied citizen and several negroes. Incendiary acts were strictly forbidden in a general order the day before we left the place, and a cavalry guard was left in the rear to see the order enforced. After marching a few miles skirmishing commenced in front between the cavalry and the enemy in riflepits [sic] on the bank of the river, but they were easily driven away. When we came up we discovered their pits and places where there had been batteries planted. At this point the John Warren, an unarmed transport, on which were sick soldiers and women, was fired into and sunk, killing many and those that were not drowned taken prisoners. A tin-clad gunboat was destroyed at the same place, by which we lost a large mail. Many letters and directed envelopes were found on the bank – thrown there after the contents had been read by the unprincipled scoundrels. The inhumanity of Guerrilla bands in this department is beyond belief, and if one did not know the truth of it or saw some of their barbarities, he would write it down as the story of a ‘reliable gentleman’ or as told by an ‘intelligent contraband.’ Not satisfied with his murderous intent on unarmed transports he fires into the Hospital steamer Laurel Hill, with four hundred sick on board. This boat had the usual hospital signal floating fore and aft, yet, notwithstanding all this, and the customs of war, they fired on them, proving by this act that they are more hardened than the Indians on the frontier.

On Sunday, May 15, we left the river road and took a short route through the woods, saving considerable distance. The windings of Red river are so numerous that it resembles the tape-worm railroad wherewith the politicians frightened the dear people during the administration of Ritner and Stevens. – We stopped several hours in the woods to leave cavalry pass, when we moved forward and by four o’clock emerged into a large open plain where we formed in line of battle, expecting a regular engagement. The enemy, however, retired and we advanced ‘till dark, when the forces halted for the night, with orders to rest on their arms. – ‘Twas here that Banks rode through our regiment, amidst the cheers of the boys, and gave the pleasant news that Grant had defeated Lee.

Battle of Mansura and the Union Camp at Morganza

After departing Alexandria and marching south, B Company Private Henry Miller and his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers eventually reached Avoyelles Parish, where they “rested on their arms” for the night, half-dozing without pitching their tents, but with their rifles right beside them. They were positioned just outside of Marksville, Louisiana on the eve of the 16 May 1864 Battle of Mansura, which unfolded as follows, according to Wharton:

Early next morning we marched through Marksville into a prairie nine miles long and six wide where every preparation was made for a fight. The whole of our force was formed in line, in support of artillery in front, who commenced operations on the enemy driving him gradually from the prairie into the woods. As the enemy retreated before the heavy fire of our artillery, the infantry advanced in line until they reached Mousoula [sic, Mansura], where they formed in column, taking the whole field in an attempt to flank the enemy, but their running qualities were so good that we were foiled. The maneuvring [sic, maneuvering] of the troops was handsomely done, and the movements was [sic] one of the finest things of the war. The fight of artillery was a steady one of five miles. The enemy merely stood that they might cover the retreat of their infantry and train under cover of their artillery. Our loss was slight. Of the rebels we could not ascertain correctly, but learned from citizens who had secreted themselves during the fight, that they had many killed and wounded, who threw them into wagons, promiscuously, and drove them off so that we could not learn their casualties. The next day we moved to Simmesport [sic] on the Achafalaya [sic] river, where a bridge was made by putting the transports side by side, which enabled the troops and train to pass safely over. – The day before we crossed the rebels attacked Smith, thinking it was but the rear guard, in which they, the graybacks, were awfully cut up, and four hundred prisoners fell into our hands. Our loss in killed and wounded was ninety. This fight was the last one of the expedition. The whole of the force is safe on the Mississippi, gunboats, transports and trains. The 16th and 17th have gone to their old commands.

It is amusing to read the statements of correspondents to papers North, concerning our movements and the losses of our army. I have it from the best source that the Federal loss from Franklin to Mansfield, and from their [sic] to this point does not exceed thirty-five hundred in killed, wounded and missing, while that of the rebels is over eight thousand.

Resuming their trek south, the 47th Pennsylvanians marched for Simmesport and then Morganza, where they made camp again. While settled there, the nine formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania in Beaufort, South Carolina (1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (April 1864) were officially mustered into the regiment between 20-24 June 1864. The regiment then moved on once again and arrived in New Orleans in late June. While recuperating there from the grueling Red River Campaign, senior officers of the 47th Pennsylvania received word on the Fourth of July that their regiment would be shipped back to the Eastern Theater of battle. In response, they began readying their men.

Three days later, the soldiers of Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I climbed aboard the U.S. Steamer McClellan and sailed away while the men of Companies B, G and K were forced to cool their heels until finally receiving transportation aboard the Blackstone later that month. A few short weeks later, senior leaders of the Union Army began putting their plans for Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign into action.

* Note: That delay in transportation meant that B Company Private Henry Miller missed a memorable encounter with President Abraham Lincoln and the mid-July Battle of Cool Spring near Snicker’s Gap, Virginia.

Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Attached to the Middle Military Division, U.S. Army of the Shenandoah, beginning in early August of 1864, and placed under the command of Union Major-General Philip H. Sheridan, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was assigned to defensive duties in and around Halltown, and then also engaged in a series of back-and-forth movements between Halltown, Berryville, Middletown, Charlestown, and Winchester over the next several weeks, as part of a “mimic war” being waged by Sheridan’s Union forces with those commanded by Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early.

The 47th Pennsylvania then sparred with Confederate troops in the Battle of Berryville from 3-4 September. Two weeks later, the regiment’s makeup was altered significantly when multiple 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers opted to end their military service, as their respective terms of military service expired on 18 September. Among those departing that day were Captain Emanuel Rhoads and Sergeant Oliver Hiskey of Company B. Those who remained on duty, like B Company Private Henry Miller, were about to engage in the 47th Pennsylvania’s greatest moments of valor.

Battle of Opequan

Together with other regiments under the command of Union Major-General Sheridan and Brigadier-General Emory, commander of the U.S. Army’s 19th Corps, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers helped to inflict heavy casualties on the Confederate forces of Lieutenant-General Jubal Early in the Battle of Opequan (also spelled as “Opequon” and referred to as “Third Winchester”). Many historians still consider the battle to be one of the most important during Sheridan’s 1864 campaign; the Union’s victory here helped to ensure the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln.

The 47th Pennsylvania’s march toward destiny at Opequan began at 2 a.m. on 19 September 1864 as the regiment left camp and joined up with others in the Union’s 19th Corps. After advancing slowly from Berryville toward Winchester, the 19th Corps became bogged down for several hours by the massive movement of Union troops and supply wagons, enabling Early’s men to dig in.

After finally reaching the Opequon Creek, Sheridan’s men came face to face with the Confederate Army commanded by Early. The fighting, which began in earnest at noon, was long and brutal. The Union’s left flank (6th Corps) took a beating from Confederate artillery stationed on high ground.

Meanwhile, the 47th Pennsylvania and the 19th Corps were directed by Brigadier-General Emory to attack and pursue Major-General John B. Gordon’s Confederate forces. Some success was achieved, but casualties mounted as another Confederate artillery group opened fire on Union troops trying to cross a clearing. When a nearly fatal gap began to open between the 6th and 19th Corps, Sheridan sent in units led by Brigadier-Generals Emory Upton and David A. Russell. Russell, hit twice — once in the chest, was mortally wounded. The 47th Pennsylvania opened its lines long enough to enable the Union cavalry under William Woods Averell and the foot soldiers of General George Crook to charge the Confederates’ left flank. The 19th Corps, with the 47th in the thick of the fighting, then began pushing the Confederates back. Early’s “grays” retreated in the face of the valor displayed by Sheridan’s “blue jackets.” Leaving twenty-five hundred wounded behind, the Rebels retreated to Fisher’s Hill (21-22 September), eight miles south of Winchester, and then to Waynesboro, following a successful early morning flanking attack by Sheridan’s Union men which outnumbered Early’s three to one. Afterward, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were sent out on skirmishing parties before making camp at Cedar Creek.

Moving forward, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers would continue to distinguish themselves in battle, but they would do so without their two most senior and respected and commanders: Colonel Tilghman H. Good and Good’s second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander, who mustered out 23-24 September upon expiration of their respective terms of service. Fortunately, they were replaced by others equally admired both for temperament and their front-line experience, including John Peter Shindel Gobin, a man who would later go on to become lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

* Note: During that period of the American Civil War, Sheridan’s Army had also begun the first Union “scorched earth” campaign, starving Confederate forces and their supporters into submission by destroying Virginia’s farming infrastructure. Viewed by many today as inhumane, the strategy claimed many innocents. That same strategy, however, almost certainly contributed to the turning of the war further in favor of the Union. Early’s men, successful in many prior engagements but now weakened by hunger, strayed from battlefields in increasing numbers to forage for food, thus enabling the 47th Pennsylvania and others under Sheridan’s command to rally and win multiple skirmishes and major battles.

Battle of Cedar Creek

From a military standpoint, 19 October 1864 would be an impressive but heartrending day. It began during the early morning with the launch of a surprise attack by the army of Confederate Lieutenant-General Early on Sheridan’s Cedar Creek-encamped forces. Able to capture Union weapons while freeing a number of Confederates who had been taken prisoner during previous battles, Early’s men also succeeded in pushing seven Union divisions back as the fight unfolded. According to historian Samuel P. Bates:

When the Army of West Virginia, under Crook, was surprised and driven from its works, the Second Brigade, with the Forty-seventh on the right, was thrown into the breach to arrest the retreat…. Scarcely was it in position before the enemy came suddenly upon it, under the cover of fog. The right of the regiment was thrown back until it was almost a semi-circle. The brigade, only fifteen hundred strong, was contending against Gordon’s entire division, and was forced to retire, but, in comparative good order, exposed, as it was, to raking fire. Repeatedly forming, as it was pushed back, and making a stand at every available point, it finally succeeded in checking the enemy’s onset, when General Sheridan suddenly appeared upon the field, who ‘met his crest-fallen, shattered battalions, without a word of reproach, but joyously swinging his cap, shouted to the stragglers, as he rode rapidly past them – “Face the other way, boys! We are going back to our camp! We are going to lick them out of their boots!”

And “lick them out of their boots” they did. The Union’s counterattack pounded Early’s forces so far into submission that the men of the 47th would later be commended for their heroism by General Stephen Thomas who, in 1892, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his own “distinguished conduct in a desperate hand-to-hand encounter, in which the advance of the enemy was checked” that day. Bates later described the 47th’s actions as follows:

When the final grand charge was made, the regiment moved at nearly right angles with the rebel front. The brigade charged gallantly, and the entire line, making a left wheel, came down on his flank, while engaging the Sixth Corps, when he went “whirling up the valley” in confusion. In the pursuit to Fisher’s Hill, the regiment led, and upon its arrival was placed on the skirmish line, where it remained until twelve o’clock noon of the following day. The army was attacked at early dawn…no respite was given to take food until the pursuit was ended.

But it was a costly victory. The 47th Pennsylvania sustained a shocking number of casualties, losing the equivalent of nearly two full companies of men (killed, fatally wounded, seriously wounded and discharged on surgeons’ certificates of disability, missing in action, or captured). Captain Edwin G. Minnich and Privates John Schimpf, Thomas Steffen, and James Tice of Company B were among those killed in action while Corporal August C. Scherer and others died later from their battle wounds. Charles Bachman, Harrison Geiger, Allen L. Kramer, and Henry H. Kramer were among those who survived their wounds, while Private Franklin Rhoads later succumbed to disease after being captured and transported from the Cedar Creek battlefield area to the Confederate Army’s notorious Salisbury, North Carolina prison camp. (He was just eighteen years old.)

Given a slight respite after Cedar Creek, the men of the 47th were quartered at the Union’s Camp Russell near Winchester from November through most of December, until receiving orders to assume outpost duty at Camp Fairview in Charlestown, West Virginia just five days before Christmas. They would remain there through early April 1865, assigned by Major-General Sheridan to protect key Union supply and railroad lines by stopping guerrilla raids by Confederate troops and their sympathizers.

1865 — 1866

In February of 1865, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were attached to the Provisional Division of the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. Army of the Shenandoah. By 19 April, they were stationed in and around Washington, D.C., ordered there to defend the nation’s capital following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

While serving in the 2nd Brigade of the Department of Washington’s 22nd Corps (Dwight’s Division), the 47th also participated in the Union’s Grand Review of the Armies on 23 May. During that phase of duty, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were headquartered at Camp Brightwood in Washington, D.C.

Letters sent home by 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during that period in 1865, as well as interviews that were conducted in later years with veteran members of the regiment, confirm that at least one member of the 47th was given the honor of guarding President Lincoln’s funeral train while still others were assigned to guard duties at the prison where the key Lincoln assassination conspirators were held during the early days of their imprisonment and trial.

Reconstruction

Taking one final swing through the nation’s Deep South, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were stationed in Savannah, Georgia from 31 May to 4 June as part of the U.S. Department of the South’s 3rd Brigade (Dwight’s Division) and then in Charleston, South Carolina, beginning in June. Duties during that time were provost (military police) and Reconstruction-related, including rebuilding railroads and other key aspects of the region’s infrastructure that had been damaged or destroyed during the long war.

Finally, on Christmas Day in 1865, B Company Private Henry Miller and the majority of his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers began the process of mustering out and packing up to head home. Boarding yet another ship for yet another stormy sea voyage, they sailed north to New York City, disembarked at the harbor there, marched to the railroad station, and boarded yet another train, which transported them to Philadelphia. Marched to Camp Cadwalader in that city, the very experienced and very weary 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers received their final discharge papers there between 9-11 January 1866, and were then finally allowed to return home to the arms of their loved ones and neighbors.

Promised bounty pay of between one hundred forty and one hundred sixty dollars by the federal government, as a condition of his enlistment, B Company Private Henry Miller had not received any of it, and was also due roughly thirteen dollars for his uniform allowance, as well as his regular pay, which the federal government had not given him since 18 January 1865. (According to the 47th’s final muster rolls, he had last been paid on that day.) He would not have been paid that full amount at the time of his final discharge, however, because he still owed the government six dollars for “arms and acoutrements” and also needed to pay the camp’s sutler fourteen dollars for the food and other supplies he had bought to supplement what the government provided for him.

Even so, when he finally did receive what the federal government owed him, he was likely somewhat pleased because that back pay gave him a nice foundation for his transition back into civilian life.

Returning Home

Following his honorable discharge from the military, Henry Miller returned to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where he tried to regain some semblance of a normal life by finding a job. He then also decided that it was time for him to become a family man. According to civil and church records of that period (including the federal census of 1880 that preserved data related to his branch of the Miller family), Henry married sometime during the late 1860s or early 1870s. He and his wife, Albina Miller (1851-1891), then became the parents of two daughters, Nora and Jennie, who were born, respectively, circa 1873 and 1875.

* Note: In 1870, Henry Miller’s father may have been living at a large hotel in Allentown that was managed by David Bitner and his wife, Mary Bitner, and by Joseph Hartman and his wife, Eliza Hartman. Vital statistics for Henry Miller’s wife and children have also not yet been confirmed. Researchers are still searching for documenation that will confim the maiden name of his wife, Albina, as well as for records that will reveal what happened to his daughters, Nora and Jennie Miller.

By 1880, Henry Miller was employed as a horse dealer and was residing in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, with his wife, “Bina” (1851-1891), and their daughters, Nora and Jennie Miller. During the fall and winter of 1884, Allentown newspapers reported on his purchase and sale of race horses, including a pacer and the prized racing trotter, Ella Medium, the latter of which was obtained from a “Professor Grossman of Allentown” for one thousand dollars (the equivalent of roughly thirty-three thousand U.S. dollars in 2026). Henry’s half-brother, Peter Moyer, subsequently transported that trotter from Lehigh County to Henry’s stable in Newark.

He was also an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic’s post in Newark.

Sadly, shortly after the start of another new decade, Henry Miller was widowed by his wife, Albina. Ailing with cancer, she succumbed to disease-related complications in Allentown on 16 September 1891, according to her death notice in the 23 September 1891 edition of The Allentown Democrat. Still in her early forties at the time of her passing, she was buried at the Union-West End Cemetery in Allentown on 19 September.

* Note: Although Henry Miller’s 1893 obituary indicated that his wife died in 1893, her death notice in the 23 September 1891 edition of The Allentown Democrat reported that she died in Allentown on 16 September 1891, and also noted that her husband was living in Newark at the time of her death. In addition, Albina’s entry in the death and burial records of Allentown’s Grace Episcopal Church documented her dates of death and burial, respectively, as 16 September and 19 September in 1891.

Death and Interment

Like a number of his former comrades from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Henry Miller’s life was all too brief. He died at the age of forty-eight at his home in Newark on 1 December 1895, according to his obituary (or in Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey on 1 December 1895, according to an Ancestry.com transcription of New Jersey State death records). His remains were then returned to Allentown for burial at the Union-West End Cemetery on 4 December. According to his obituary in Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper:

Henry Miller died at his home in Newark, N.J., on Sunday evening [1 December 1895]. He was born and raised in Allentown. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in Company B, Forty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served throughout the war [sic, “from January 1864 until January 1866”]. He then located in Newark. His wife died two years ago [sic, “four years ago”] and is buried in this city [Allentown]. Two daughters, three brothers, Al. and Lewis Miller, and Peter Moyer, and one sister, Maria Miller, all of this city [Allentown], survive. Deceased was 48 years of age. He was a member of the G.A.R. in Newark. The body will be brought to Allentown on Thursday and will be buried in Union Cemetery.

The Allentown Leader added these details:

Henry Miller, formerly of Allentown, died on Sunday [1 December 1865] in Newark. During the war he was a member of Co. B, 47th Regiment. After his discharge he moved to Newark, where he engaged in the horse business. He was a brother of Al. and Lewis Miller, of this city [Allentown], and a half brother of Peter Moyer. The body will be brought here [Allentown] Thursday for burial.

The Morning Call subsequently published this brief update:

The funeral of Henry Miller, who died at Newark on Sunday evening [1 December 1865], took place yesterday [4 December]. The remains were interred in Union Cemetery, this city [Allentown]. He was a horseman. Miss Mamie Miller, of this city [Allentown], is a sister. Rev. Kline officiated at the funeral.

What Happened to Henry Miller’s Siblings?

Very little is presently known about Henry Miller’s half-brother, Peter Moyer, or about Henry’s full siblings, Al Miller and Mariah Miller (the latter of whom was also known as “Mary” or “Mamie”). Born in Lehigh County circa 1842 and 1844, respectively, both Al and Mariah/Mamie survived Henry Miller. All three (Peter, Al and Mariah/Mamie) then died sometime prior to the death of their oldest brother, Lewis Miller, who was described as “the last of his family” when he passed away in early April 1916.

* Note: Based on the content of multiple obituaries of the Miller siblings, researchers have determined that Al Miller and Mariah Miller both died sometime after Henry Miller’s death on 1 December 1895 but before Lewis Miller’s death on 12 April 1916. What is also known with a fair degree of certainty is that the Albert Miller who served with Henry Miller in the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers’ B Company during the American Civil War was not a brother of the Henry Miller profiled in this biography. That Albert Miller (of Company B) was a son of Jacob and Catharine (Weiser) Miller, according to his memorial on Find A Grave, while the Al, Henry and Lewis Miller profiled in this biography were all sons of Nathan and Fyetta Julia (Druckenmiller) Miller.

Like his father before him, Henry Miller’s oldest brother, Lewis Miller (1834-1916), grew up to become a master tailor. Married to Rosetta Follweiler (1836-1901) sometime during the 1850s, Lewis initially settled with his wife in Lynn Township, Lehigh County, where they welcomed the births of: Ida Catharine Miller (1859-1938), who was born on 31 January 1859 and would later wed Uriah Henry Frederici (1855-1938); and Mary Susanne Miller (1860-1941), who was born in Lynnport on 3 May 1860 and would later wed and be widowed by Robert Vott, before marrying Harvey A. Sechler (1875-1960) in 1908. Still residing in Lynn Township during the summer of 1860, Lewis Miller packed up his family and moved them to Allentown sometime before the winter of 1861.

More children soon followed: Jennie E. Miller (1861-1949), who was born in Allentown on 21 December 1861 and would later wed Howard S. Kramer (1856-1932); George B. M. Miller (1864-1925), who was born on 19 February 1864, would go on to serve as a druggist in the United States Navy and settle in Philadelphia; Minnie Miller (1866-1926), who was born on 16 February 1866 and would later wed, begin a family with and be widowed by Charles L. Wolf (1862-1916), before marrying Charles F. Graver (1874-1946); and Robert Lewis Miller (1870-1966), who was born in Allentown on 17 January 1870 and would later become a member of the Allentown Band, the husband of Lillian Heiselmoyer (1874-1919), a salesman at Kramer’s Music House on Hamilton Street in Allentown for twenty-seven years, a frequent traveler to Central and South America, and the owner-operator of Miller’s Music Store at 330 North 8th Street in Allentown from 1918 until 1935 when he relocated to Los Angeles County, California.

* Note: According to his 1966 obituary in Allentown’s Morning Call newspaper, Lewis Miller ‘s son, Robert Lewis Miller, was also “credited with introducing the bassoon to the Lehigh Valley.”

Widowed by his wife, Rosetta (Follweiler) Miller, when she died from consumption (tuberculosis) at the age of sixty-four in Allentown, on  20 March 1901, Lewis Miller continued to attend services at the Zion Evangelical Church. Retired by 1910 and ailing with chronic nephritis during his final years, he suffered an episode of apoplexy on 9 April 1916 and died three days later, on 12 April, at his home at 747 North Ninth Street in Allentown. Eighty-one years old at the time of his passing, he was then laid to rest at that city’s Union-West End Cemetery.

 

Sources:

1. “A Racer with a Good Record in Town” (mentions Henry Miller’s horse business). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Critic, 14 November 1884.
2. Albina Miller (death notice of Henry Miller’s wife), in “Died.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, 23 September 1891.
3. Albina Miller (death from cancer of Henry Miller’s wife), in Death and Burial Records (Grace Episcopal Church, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, date of death: 16 September 1891, location and date of burial: Union Cemetery, 19 September 1891). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
4. “An Old Soldier Dies in Jersey” (obituary of Henry D. Miller). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 3 December 1895.
5. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
6. “Civil War Veteran Answers Final Call” (obituary of Henry Miller’s older brother, Lewis Miller). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, 12 April 1916.
7. “George B. M. Miller Dies in Naval Home” (obituary of a nephew of Henry Miller and a son of Lewis Miller). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 November 1925.
8. Grodzins, Dean and David Moss. “The U.S. Secession Crisis as a Breakdown of Democracy,” in When Democracy Breaks: Studies in Democratic Erosion and Collapse, from Ancient Athens to the Present Day (chapter 3). New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
9. “Henry Miller” (obituary). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 4 December 1895.
10. “Henry Miller Buried.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 5 December 1895.
11. Henry Miller, in “Burials” (Grace Episcopal Church, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, date of death: 1 December 1895, date of burial: 4 December 1895). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
12. Henry Miller and Peter Moyer (mentions Henry Miller’s purchase of a trotter), in “City Notes.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Critic, 19 December 1884.
13. Lewis Miller (the oldest brother of Henry Miller), in Death Certificates (file no.: 38718, registered no.: 401, date of death: 12 April 1916). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
14. Miller, Henry, in Civil War Muster Rolls (Company B, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
15. Miller, Henry, in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (Company B, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
16. Miller, Henry, Bina, Nora, and Jennie, in U.S. Census (City of Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, 1880). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
17. Miller, Lewis (the oldest brother of Henry Miller), Rosetta, Ida Catharine, and Mary Susan, in U.S. Census (Lynn Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
18. Miller, Nathan, Fyetta, Lewis, Albert, Mariah, Henry, and Susan, in U.S. Census (Allentown, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1850). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
19. Minnie M. Graver (a daughter of Lewis Miller), in Death Certificates (file no.: 83977, registered no.: 1155, date of death: 13 August 1926). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
20. “Mrs. Mary S. Sechler” (obituary of a niece of Henry Miller and a daughter of Lewis Miller). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 14 October 1941.
21. “Mrs. Nathan Miller” (Henry Miller’s mother), in Death and Burial Records (St. John’s Lutheran Church, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1853). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
22. Newhard, Joseph E. (hotelier and landlord), Rebecca and Theodore; Reber, Benj. (banker); Harrington, J. S. (shoemaker); Schall, Geo. B. (attorney); Kelly, A. H. (stone cutter); Yunger, George [sic, “George Junker”] (the future captain of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers’ K Company); Reeser, John F. (shoemaker); Wilt, Abraham (saddler); Mündler, Edward (bookbinder); Good, Tilgh. H. and Mary (the shoemaker who would found the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers and become a three-time mayor of Allentown, Tilghman H. Good, and his wife, Mary); Heiner/Hirner, Chas. and Maria (a druggist and his wife); Craig, H. B., Mary and Frank (a gentleman and his wife and toddler); Desher, D. J. F. (gentleman); Hill, C. A. (gentleman); Lerch, B. F. (dry goods merchant); Miller, E. M. (a twenty-two-year-old dentist); Miller, Nathan (a gentleman and possible father of Henry Miller); Nolf, John (clerk); Schulz, Chas. (servant); Montague, Barney (a gentleman and future member of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers); Wilt, James (gentleman); Woods, Ann and Master (a servant and her twelve-year-old son); Knappenberger, Rebecca (servant); Fertich, Rosina (servant); Ramer, Susan (servant); Klotz, Mary (servant); Knerr, Christiana (servant); Xander, Helena (servant); Major, Maria and Jane (servants); and Buchenbach, A. (clerk), in U.S. Census (Allentown, Fifth Ward, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1860). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
23. “R. L. Miller Dies at 96; Had Owned Music Store” (obituary of a nephew of Henry Miller and a son of Lewis Miller). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 13 July 1966.
24. “Rosetta Miller” (obituary of a sister-in-law of Henry Miller and the wife of Lewis Miller). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 21 March 1901.
25. “Roster of the 47th P. V. Inf.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 26 October 1930.
26. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
27. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
28. Wharton, Henry D. “Letters from the Sunbury Guards,” 1861-1866. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Sunbury American.