- Anson Mills, Union Brigadier General, 18 th Infantry - My Story authored by MILLS, Anson Washington, D.C.: Press of Byron S. Adams, 1918. 8vo. 412 pp. Illustrated with maps and photographs. Mills (1834-1924) saw "service in Arizona, at Ft. Bridger, and with Crook's 1876 Sioux campaign" (HowesM-623). Though a resident in Texas at the outbreak of the Civil War, he voted against secession, and joined the Union Army, rising to brigadier general by the end of his military career. Mills was also a surveyor, rancher, and inventor. This copy is inscribed by Mills. Very good in original limp leather, gilt-stamped, all edges gilt. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he accepted a commission as a first lieutenant in the regular 18th Infantry regiment of the U.S. Army. His service was undistinguished, but he appeared at Shiloh (although he saw little action) and in the Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, and Nashville campaigns. He rose to the rank of captain by the end of the war and claimed never to have missed a day of service for any reason. From 1865 to 1893, Mills remained on duty with the Army, mostly engaged in campaigns against Indians, notably at the Battle of the Rosebud and the Battle of Slim Buttes (1876) where he led cavalry under the command of George Crook. Mills rose gradually to the rank of colonel and was appointed brigadier-general in 1897 when he was placed on the retired list. Shortly after the Civil War, Mills began to improve the regulation cartridge belt by attempting to weave the whole belt in one piece without sewing. The improved belt was adopted by the U.S. Army, but the numbers needed by the frontier army were small. At the commencement of the Spanish–American War, Mills and his associates expanded their factory to produce a thousand belts a day, but the quick conclusion of the war left Mills practically bankrupt. Nevertheless, after giving some belts to Canadian troops headed for the Boer War, Mills soon received orders from the British government, and his success was assured. Having made a small fortune by 1905, Mills sold his interest.