Gideon M. Miles was born on May 5, 1845, in Circleville, Ohio, to James and Mary Miles. His father was a plasterer who owned $800 of real estate and $150 of personal property. He grew up and attended school in Circleville.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 6, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company A of the 114^th Ohio Infantry on September 8. In July 1863, he was promoted to sergeant in Company H of the 53^rd USCT Infantry. He was promoted to 2^nd lieutenant in 1863 and to 1^st lieutenant in 1864. He remained devoted to the Union. In February 1864, he observed “heavy cannonading” in honor of George Washington’s birthday, and he declared, “oh! it made me feel that this Union was worth saveing and it will be saved if the force of arms will serve it.” He later added that he could “suffer all for the restoration of the Union.”

 

On November 25, 1864, he was wounded while on picket duty. As a surgeon explained, a rifle ball struck “the left eye, passing inside the cranium and out just above the left ear.” He spent several months recovering. In March 1865, he confessed that his injury “will probably incapacitate me for field service,” but he was “unwilling to leave [the army] if I can remain in it without injustice to the Service or certain danger to myself.” He asked army officials for “some detached duty, at least for awhile until my condition is fully developed.” Later that month, he was detailed for duty as a conscription officer in Madison, Wisconsin. He mustered out on March 8, 1866.

 

He settled in Zanesville, Ohio, after the war, and he earned a living as a blacksmith. He applied for a federal pension in March 1867 and eventually secured one. He married a woman named Lydia in the late 1860s, and they apparently had no children. By 1890, he was living in Columbus, Ohio. He died on October 13, 1890.

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