Robert farmed, and later divided with his brother Erskine, Ebenezer Miller'sl plantation five miles east of Pontotoc. By the date of the 1860 census he had nine slaves and two slave houses, and his farm was valued at $3,200 in the 1860 Agricultural Census.
Robert joined the Pontotoc Dragoons First Mississippi Cavalry under the command of his cousin, John Henry Miller Jr. at the outbreak of the Civil War. He "was allowed to furnish a substitute and take a discharge" in October or November 1861 (see his letter to HRM dated 16 Dec 1861, which indicates he was not present during the battle at Columbus KY which took place in November 1861). R.A. Miller was a captain in the Pontotoc County Militia on Feb. 20, 1863 muster roll, according to From These Hills, p. 124, which indicates he may have joined state troops upon his return to Pontotoc. According to his obituary, he saw service i"in the cavalry commanded by the late Capt. Samuel M. Barr."
After the war "broken in health and fortune, Mr. Miller returned to his plantation and resumed his occupation as farmer. With his high social position, sterling integrity and mental endowments, he might have occupied the most horable and lucrative official positions in the gift of his fellow citizens. But he loved the quiet endearments of home too well to engage in political contest, only once occupying the office of Supervisor, forced upon him by his fellow citizens who appreciated his worth, the duties of which office he discharged with much ability and the stern integrity of a Cincinnatus."
According to Pontotoc Democrat obit in CCT files, he died on 23 March, but the year is unknown, although it was after 1880 and before the death of his son Arthur in 1895. The Pontotoc Democrat was published "for more than a decade as a family weekly newspaper, after 1876 and again in about 1890 for a few years, according to
Censuses:1850, MS, Pontotoc, Rbt.,32, resided w/widowedmother;1860,#128, Rbt., 45, wife, 2 children, 9 slaves and 2slave houses; 1870, #266, age 55; 1880, #8, age 6587 |