Ambrose Miller

Company K of the 46th Illinois Volunteer Regiment

Second Great Grandfather of Andrew R. Miller

Ambrose Miller was born on October 16, 1847 in the Alsace region of France and arrived in the United States in 1850 with his probable single mother, Margaret Welsh. Margaret wed Joseph Miller who lived in Brooklyn, New York and they had more children. The family would move to Stephenson County, Illinois in about 1855.

Ambrose enlisted into Company K of the 46th Illinois Volunteer Regiment of the United States Army on February 16 of 1865 when he was only 17 years old. Ambrose did not receive an exception to enlist as a minor, but did so at recruitment by falsifying his age. Ambrose joined the Company at Fort Gaines, Alabama on March 1, 1865 and was in uniform by March 17, 1865. As part of the 46th Regiment, Ambrose was in the march toward Mobile, Alabama, the siege at Fort Blakeley, and the charge of the fort on April 9, 1865. Ambrose reached the walls of the fort, then he jumped from the wall onto the end of a gun injuring his left side.

He acquired a disease from drinking impure water while on guard duty in Mobile, Alabama during occupation of the city which left him sick for the remainder of his service. He was treated at hospitals in Mobile and Philadelphia. By a War Department order, he was given an honorable discharge after he recovered and no longer needed treatment on June 24, 1865. Ambrose returned to Stephenson County where he worked as a laborer. He crushed his left leg in a threshing machine leading to an amputation below the knee in 1867 and he was given a wooden prosthetic. He married a young Wisconsin girl, Elizabeth, in 1868. They for a time moved from Illinois to Iowa. They moved back to Stephenson County, Illinois in the 1880s. The family grew with ten children, seven of whom reached adulthood.

He built a shoe store in Rock City, Illinois and was the principal shoemaker for the village for multiple decades. He was a notable fisherman and trapper. He was also sexton for the United Evangelical Church in Rock City where memorial services were held. He was a longtime member of the John A. Davis Post, G.A.R. in Stephenson County and would participate with many if not all of the Civil War reunion, parade, and memorial events in the area. Ambrose and his family also decorated veterans’ graves in nearby cemeteries with flower wreaths in May of each year. He also flew the American flag from his house. Although he enlisted and was discharged as a private, his many friends better knew him as, “Major.” Ambrose died August 21, 1912 and was buried at Rock City, Illinois. The local John A. Davis post took charge of the funeral services for Ambrose and the funeral was attended by many members of the John A. Davis Post, G.A.R. and his family.