Thomas Howard Ruger

Background

Thomas Howard Ruger was born in Lima, Livingston County, N. Y. , the son of Thomas Jefferson Ruger and Maria (Hutchins) Ruger. His father, an Episcopal minister, moved to Janesville, Wis. , when the lad was thirteen years of age.

Education

He received academic schooling in preparation for the United States Military Academy and entered in his seventeenth year. As a cadet he was reticent and retiring, unusually diligent and careful of speech, and, though without college training, was graduated number three in the class of 1854.

Career

Within a year Ruger resigned his commission in the corps of engineers to practise law at Janesville. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry, and became colonel a few months later. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers on November 29, 1862, and ably commanded a brigade in the Army of the Potomac throughout the Rappahannock and Pennsylvania campaigns of 1862-63.

At Gettysburg, where he succeeded to the command of a division, his brilliant service won him the brevet of brigadier-general, United States Army. On August 15, 1863, he was ordered to New York City to suppress draft riots. In the following October he was transferred to a brigade in the West, and took part in all of Sherman's operations. He commanded a division in the Tennessee campaign against Hood, and in the subsequent operations in North Carolina from February to June 1865. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers for his services at the battle of Franklin, Tenn. , on November 30, 1864.

Following the war, he commanded the department of North Carolina for a year, and served as provisional governor of the state of Georgia from January to July 1868. He had been appointed colonel of the 33rd Infantry, Regular Army, on July 28, 1866, and was transferred to the 18th Infantry in 1869.

During the years 1871-76, he served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy, where he maintained a high standard of scholarship and discipline. Until the year 1878 he commanded the department of the South, and until 1885, the district of Montana--taking command during the latter year of the important infantry and cavalry school at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He became a brigadier-general on March 19, 1886, and a major-general on February 8, 1895. He was retired from active military service by operation of law on April 2, 1897, and spent two years traveling with his family on the continent of Europe. Upon his return, he made his home in Stamford, Connecticut, and lived the rest of his life very quietly in the enjoyment of his books and his garden.

Achievements

• Ruger participated creditably in the Maryland and Shenandoah operations of 1861-62, and distinguished himself at the battle of Antietam. He commanded various military departments and successfully conducted an expedition against hostile Indians in the Northwest. He also suppressed serious railway riots in Sacramento and San Francisco, California.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Extended Order Drill: Infantry Drill Regulations (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Extended Order Drill: Infantry Drill Regulat...)

Connections

Ruger married Helen Lydia Moore in 1857. They had two daughters.

Father:

Thomas Jefferson Ruger

Mother:

Maria (Hutchins) Ruger