He had service with General Max Hoffmann's staff in the Battle of Sadowa, Austria, in 1866 was in Crete against the Turks, and in the Khedive's army in Egypt. During 1869 he went to London but soon came back to the United States and enlisted with the Cuban rebels against Spain, running the blockade in the "Hornet" several times before it was surrendered to the U. S. Navy. He was a Colonel in the Cuban army as well as a Captain in their navy, and was captured, tried as a filibuster and condemned to death by the Spaniards, but escaped. Ingraham relocated to the American West where he met Buffalo Bill Cody. Ingraham soon worked as an advance agent for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.