Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller (January 7, 1816 – August 18, 1881) was an American Republican politician. He was the first Civil War veteran to serve as Minnesota Governor. He was the fourth governor of Minnesota.

Early years and business entrepreneur Born in Carroll Township, Pennsylvania, Stephen Miller established a series of successful businesses. Frail health prompted the entrepreneur, of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, to leave home at age 42 and follow his friend Alexander Ramsey to Minnesota, where the climate reportedly was more congenial. Miller established a mercantile business in St. Cloud and, within two years, had risen to prominence in the state Republican Party.

Civil War soldier and leader Stephen Miller in 1863During the American Civil War, Miller, a middle-aged politician and businessman with no previous military experience, enlisted in the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment and was appointed as the Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. Miller served with the 1st Minnesota in the Army of the Potomac from April, 1861 until August, 1862. In August 1862 during the Dakota War of 1862 Miller was promoted to the rank of Colonel and given command of the newly raised 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment. Following the Dakota War Miller replaced Brig. Gen. Henry Hastings Sibley as the commander of Mankato's Camp Lincoln. There, 303 Dakota men were convicted of participating in the Dakota War of 1862, awaited their fate. Four months later, Miller supervised, by order of President Lincoln, the mass execution of 38 Dakotas condemned for their part in the war. In 1876, he was a representative to the Electoral College. The one-time war hero and popular governor died alone, an impoverished widower, in Worthington in 1881.