Miles A. Comstock was born around December 1832 in Pennsylvania. By 1850, he was working as a farmer in Ransom, Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Sutliff in the 1850s, and they had at least three children: Huldah, born around 1855; Marietta, born around 1856; Sarah, born around 1860. They lived in Fairmount, Pennsylvania, and Comstock worked as a “moulder.” By 1860, he owned $100 of personal property. His wife probably died in the early 1860s.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on January 17, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company B of the Baltimore Light Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with dark hair and hazel eyes. The regiment eventually became part of the 3^rd Maryland Infantry, and he was eventually promoted to corporal. The 3^rd Maryland took part in the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. He opposed emancipation, writing in November 1862 that “my prair is that the devil will bless all the [n----r] worshipers of the north with plenty of fire & brimstone.” He blamed the war on antislavery reformers, writing that “many a thousand has lost his life just on the account of a few black harted abolitionists.” He was eventually promoted to sergeant, and he mustered out on January 17, 1865.

 

Comstock settled in Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, after the war, and he resumed his work as a “moulder.” He married Sarah Hess in the 1860s, and they had at least three children: Merritt, born around 1872; Adrian, born around 1875; and Jennie, born around 1876. By 1870, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $500 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in March 1882 and eventually secured one. His wife died sometime in the late 1800s, and by 1900, he was living with a son in Sugarloaf. He died sometime after 1900.

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