Joseph N. Miller

Joseph Nelson Miller (22 November 1836 – 25 April 1909) was a United States Navy rear admiral. He served as commander of the Pacific Squadron from 1897 to 1898. Miller fought in the Union Navy during the American Civil War and later represented the U.S. Navy at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in June 1897 and at the annexation of Hawaii by the United States in August 1898.

Biography Miller was born in Springfield, Ohio on 22 November 1836. Appointed to the United States Naval Academy from Ohio in 1851, he graduated third of eighteen in the class of 1855 and was one of six, including Thomas O. Selfridge, who passed the graduation examination after only three years in June 1854. After graduation, Miller served aboard the frigate on Pacific Station from 1854 to 1856. After passing an additional examination, he was promoted to passed midshipman on 22 November 1856. From May 1891 to June 1892, Miller served as commanding officer of the protected cruiser , flagship of Rear Adm. John G. Walker in the Squadron of Evolution. In November 1892, he assumed command of the receiving ship at the New York Navy Yard. In August 1897, Miller assumed command of the Pacific Squadron from Rear Adm. Lester A. Beardslee in Honolulu. After the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, he was recalled to San Francisco where he organized the naval reserves on the Pacific coast. In July 1898, Miller returned to Honolulu with his flag on the protected cruiser for the impending annexation of Hawaii. He retired from active duty on 22 November 1898, having reached the mandatory retirement age of sixty-two.

On 22 November 1866, Miller married Ellen Comstock (1842–1867). On 13 November 1877, he married Helen Wills (1849–1916). In Summer 1897, his second wife and their daughter accompanied him to the United Kingdom on the Brooklyn. Their daughter contracted typhoid fever during the trip and died in London.

After his retirement, Miller and his second wife lived in East Orange, New Jersey. He died at his home there on 25 April 1909 and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery three days later.