William Miller (Peruvian general)

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William Miller (December 12, 1795 - 1861; known throughout Latin America as Guillermo Miller) was an English-born soldier who participated in several South American revolutions. Born in Wingham, Kent, he was fluent in several languages by the age of seventeen, when he enrolled in the British army to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1817, hearing of the wars in Latin America, he set sail for Buenos Aires to join San Martín's Army of the Andes. He took part in San Martín's liberation of Chile, participating in the decisive battle of Maipú, and then joined Lord Cochrane as the commander of the marines in his fleet.

After the liberation of Lima he was appointed commander of the Peruvian Legion. General Miller - while suffering from malaria - played a big part in the Battle of Tarata: storming the hills and taking them when everything seemed to be lost. President Aguero promoted Miller to General of Brigade and, when Bolivar arrived in Peru, he was promoted to Chief of a cavalry unit that included Argentines and Chileans who had arrived with San Martín, in addition to many Peruvians and Colombians.

At the Battle of Junín his cavalry was largely responsible for the defeat of the Spanish and at the Battle of Ayacucho his initiative in launching an attack at a critical moment, without waiting for Sucre's orders, was decisive in securing victory. During these wars Miller was wounded twenty two times, and after his death in 1861, the autopsy revealed he had carried two bullets in his liver for 40 years.

After the war was over, Miller settled in Lima. He held various public offices, but argued with the governments after 1836, mainly about their treatment of the Indians. As a result, he was stripped of his rank as Grand Marshal of Peru. He died in Callao in 1861, aged 66. In the 1920s, his body was transferred to the Panteon de los Proceres, the final resting place for the heroes of the War of Independence.

He created the Hussars of the Peruvian Legion who, after turning the course of the Battle of Junín in favour of the revolutionaries, were renamed the "Hussars of Junín". These same Hussars remain in charge of the guard at the Peruvian Palace of Government in Lima.