Brigadier General Thomas Howard Ruger, 3d Brigade, 1st Division, Union XII Corps, and Commander, 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Union XX Corps
“RUGER, Thomas Howard, soldier, b. in Lima, Livingston co., N. Y., 2 April, 1833. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1854, assigned to the engineer corps, and worked on the defences of New Orleans, La., but resigned, 1 April. 1855, and from 1856 till the civil war practiced law in Janesville, Wis. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 3d Wisconsin regiment, 29 June, 1861, and its colonel on 20 Aug., and commanded it in Maryland and the Shenandoah valley till August, 1862, after which he was in the northern Virginia and Maryland campaigns. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 Nov., 1862, led a brigade in the Rappahannock campaigns, and commanded a division at Gettysburg. In the slimmer or 1863 he was in New York city, where he aided in suppressing the draft riots. He then guarded the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad in Tennessee till April, 1864, led a brigade in Sherman's advance into Georgia till November, 1864, and with a division of the 23d corps took part in the campaign against Gen. John B. Hood's army in Tennessee, receiving the brevet of major-general of volunteers, 30 Nov., 1864, for services at the battle of Franklin. He then organized a division at Nashville, led it from February to June, 1865, in North Carolina, and then had charge of the department of that state till June, 1866, when he was mustered out. He accepted a colonelcy in the regular army, 28 July, 1866, and on 2 March, 1867, was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. army, for services at Gettysburg. From January till July, 1868, he was provisional governor of Georgia, and from 1871 till 1876 he was superintendent of the U. S. military academy. From the last year till 1878 he was in charge of the Department of the South, and in 1876 he commanded the troops during the trouble in South Carolina incident to the claims of rival state governments. (See CHAMBERLAIN, D. H.) He then commanded posts in the south and west, and on 19 March, 1886, was promoted brigadier-general. After temporarily commanding the Department of the Missouri in April and May, 1886, he was placed in charge of that of Dakota, with headquarters at St. Paul, Minn., where he is at present (1888) on duty.”
Source: Wilson, James Grant, & Fiske, John (Eds.). Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: Appleton, 1888, 1915.
Ruger was promoted to Major General in 1895. He retired from service by regulation at 64. He died in Stamford, Connecticut, on June 3, 1907. General Rugar is buried at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Cullum, George W., Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy (3 vols.). Boston and New York, 1891.
Pfanz, Harry W. Gettysburg: Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 vols. Washington, DC: GPO, 1881-1901. Series 1.
Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, pp. 415-416.
