[2] Born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Miller studied law in 1846 while working as molder in his father's foundry to support his family.
In the following years he was elected judge of the Eighth district, comprising Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Tama counties.
For two months he was engaged in drilling recruits, and in November of that year marched through Missouri to an encampment at Helena, Arkansas.
The regiment engaged in various expeditions, but Miller "contracted a disease which meant death in the South", which forced him to return to Iowa in March 1863.
[1] On August 1, 1844, Miller married Mary Robinson of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, with whom he had eight children.