Brigadier-General Thomas H. Ruger, U.S.A.

Brigadier-General Thomas H. Ruger was born in New York, and graduated from the U. S. Military Academy July 1, 1854, when he was appointed brevet second lieutenant Corps of Engineers. He served at New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1854-55, and resigned from the service April 1, 1855.

In civil life he was counsellor-at-law at Janesville, Wisconsin, from 1856 to 1861, when he again entered the service as lieutenant-colonel of the Third Wisconsin Volunteers, serving in command of his regiment in operations in Maryland and the Shenandoah Valley from July, 1861, to August, 1862, in the mean time having been promoted colonel of his regiment, to date from August 20, 1861.

Colonel Ruger was engaged in the movement to Harrisonburg, Virginia, February, 1862; combat of Winchester, May 25, 1862; retreat to Williamsport, Maryland, May, 1862, and advance to Little Washington, Virginia, July, 1862; in the Northern Virginia campaign, being engaged in the battle of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862; in the Maryland campaign (Army of the Potomac), being engaged in the battle of Antietam, and subsequent march to Falmouth, Virginia.

He was appointed brigadier-general U. S. Volunteers November 29, 1862, and commanded a brigade in the Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac, in the Rappahannock campaign, being engaged in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 2-4, 1863; in the Pennsylvania campaign, being engaged in the battle of Gettysburg (where he commanded a division), July 1-3, 1863, and subsequent march to Warrenton, Virginia. He participated in suppressing the draft-riots in New York City, August to September, 1863, and when that trouble ceased was on duty in Tennessee, October, 1863, to April, 1864. He was then assigned to the command of a brigade of the Twentieth Corps in the invasion of Georgia, being engaged in the battles of Resaca, May 15, 1864, and New Hope Church, May 25, 1864; action of Kulp House, June 22, 1864; combat of Peach-Tree Creek, July 20, 1864, and in numerous skirmishes on the march from May to July, 1864; siege of Atlanta, July 22 to September 2, 1864, and occupation of Atlanta, September 2 to November 8, 1864. He commanded a division of the Twenty-third Corps in the Tennessee campaign against the rebel army of General Hood, November 15 to December 8, 1864, being engaged in operations about Columbia and battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864.