Brigadier General Samuel Myers Mills Jr., (born December 15, 1842, in Pottersville,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, and died September 8, 1907, in Cottage City,

Prince George's County, Maryland Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it ...

) served as the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

's chief of

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

from 1905 to 1906. He was the great-grandson of William Mills, a soldier in the American Revolution who enlisted in January 1776 and served seven years in Captain Caleb North's Company under Colonel

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military expl ...

. He was Chief of Artillery from 20 June 1905 until 2 October 1906. The fortification on

Corregidor Island Corregidor (, , ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of Cavite City and thus the province of Cavite. It is located west of Manila, the nation's capi ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, was designated a United States Military Reservation in 1907 and named

Fort Mills Fort Mills ( Corregidor, the Philippines) was the location of US Major General George F. Moore's headquarters for the Philippine Department's Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays in early World War II, and was the largest seacoast for ...

in Brigadier General Mills's honor. Fort Mills, nicknamed "The Rock", was twice the site of heavy fighting during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, initially as the site of the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

' last defense of the

on May 2, 1942, after their defeat at

Bataan Bataan (, , , ; ) , officially the Province of Bataan, is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entire Bataan Peninsula ...

, and subsequently during the Allied liberation of the

under Gen. Douglas MacArthur in February 1945. In Mills's honor, the USAMP ''General Samuel M. Mills, Jr.'', a U.S. Army mine planter ship, was built in 1908–09 by the

New York Shipbuilding Company The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, for the Submarine Mine Service of the

United States Army Coast Artillery Corps The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artiller ...

, a division of the

, Office of the Quartermaster General. After being retrofitted as a cable ship, she was renamed the USCGC ''Pequot'' and during

laid cable along the eastern seaboard of the United States, bolstering US defenses."USCG Pequot," ''Indicator Loops,'' Internet website

Accessed January 25, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Samuel Meyers Jr. 1842 births 1907 deaths United States Army generals