The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-25
GEN. THOMAS H. RUGER
CAREER OF 4 NOTED ARMY OFFICER
WHO WILL RETIRE APRIL =.
a West Point Disciplinnrian Who
Made an Efficient commander as a
Volunteer During the Civil War.

NEW YORK. March 2i.-Thomas Howard
Kruger. major general OF the United States
army. who will be retired according TO law
en- April =. has been a fighting man for
forty-three years. The retirement of an
army officer is always a source of gratifi-
cation to other army officers. lower in rank,
and General Ruger's is not an exception
to the rule. The usual promotions will fol-
low and the effect of the retirement will be
felt in military posts throughout the entire
country. The general himself does not
share in the pleasurable feelings his exit
from the service inspires in the breasts of
his blue-coated co-oficers. Although he is
sixty-four he is by no means superannu-
ated. literally. and would. if left TO his own
desires, continue in the command of the de-
partment of the East. But the law is
plain. His term of Office is filled and he
must spend his remaining years in such
pursuits as his means or inclination die
tate. The prospect for him. indeed. is not
over-brilliant, for long custom has used
him to the regularity of army life and the
rupture must necessarily be violent. His
desires will be sundered and many of them
will be left behind with his eagles at head
quarters.
Like all army men. General Ruger is a
man after a certain pattern. He presents all
the leading traits planted during his educa-
tion in the military academy and developed
by long years of discipline and a clock
work regularity of life that is found in the
barracks as it is found nowhere else under
the sun. OF course no amount of discipline
or custom can quite eXtinguish individual
character. AS every soldiers coat, though
cut after the same pattern and out of the
same cloth. has its own individuality so has
the army officer his. And what is not so
patent to the. civilian in the way of indi-
viduality in the army officer is very plain
TO his brother officers. Keeping this in
mind the best praise that can be given
General Kruger is that other army officers
like him as a man and admire him $50 far
as members of the same profession can adj
mire one another) as a soldier. General
always so ductile with the men under him
i'm rank. This has been specially true in
the case of officers not in his commando
characteristic really in his favor.
Some years ago the general was i'm COM
mand of a certain fort on the frontier
which was visited by a certain captain at
West on army work. The general received
him with as much courtesy as he believed
was due a captain, but showed no DISPOSE
ton TO gossip with him. The captain was
not aware of General Ruger's intirmity-
if il may be so called-in this respect. and
made some rather awkward attempts at
pleasant conversation.
1T seems TO me-" said the captain famil-
iarly to the general one day, that the men
who laid out this fort were not overwise in
the selection of the site. General. what in
the name of common sense do you suppose
they built 1t on this side of the river for
II suppose they put it here for military
purposes replied the general with a dry
ness beside which the surrounding desert
was a swamp. After which the captain,
who appreciated the joke more than did
the general. made no attempt at "du ind
du conversation with the commanding Of
ficer.
General Kruger. in his forty-three years of
service in Uncle Sans army, has run the
gamut of promotion from tile stripes of the
raw lieutenant TO the eagles of the veteran
major general. For the past score of years,
or nearly so. he has spent his time in the
West and far West. with the exception of
the two years he was in charge of the De-
partment of the Missouri. As the years
sped by he was transferred from post to
post, and when he came East. the pre-
ferred department. in the army and the post
that leads to Washington or retirement, he
knew very well that his army life would
which sits so we'll on the soldier high in
command. and which has grown to be a
second nature with him. will be more in
from the service. Even though the general
now sinks into private life. he leaves a
as mere soldiery can be reckoned great. A
Few points in that career may not be un-
interesting.
General Kruger is a native of New York.
He was born, as may be gathered from
the date of his retirement, on April 2. in
1888. When he came out of the military
academy in 1854 he stood third i'm a large
class. Tina class was headed by q. w
GUSTS Lee, q son of Robert r. Lee. and
among its members was ]. T.. Il. Stuart
who not many years. afterward earned a
reputation of a dashing and able cavalry
leader in the forces of the confederate
army. on his graduation he was given
breVet of second lieutenant of engineers
and for one gar he served the army at
New Orleans. This much experience did
L NJ GQaT4 q vIanCn him -ft ~ Gnn
and in 1856 he resigned and turned his at
tention to the law as offering him a wider
He returned TO his home in GAINESVILLE
Wiz. md practiced law from 1856 until 1861
In the five years he spent in civil life
Lieutenant Ruger did not forget the train.
ing he had received on the Hudson. Wher
the war came he promptly closed up his
law practice and offered himself to the
United States as a soldier. Men like Kruger
We're not TO be picked mp on bridges. and
he was given a commission as a lieutenant
colonel in the Third Volunteers of Wiscon.
sin. He was in command of that regiment
during the operations in Maryland and in
the Shenandoah valley from 1851 until 1862
Meanwhile he had been promoted to z
to Harrisonburg. Va. >in the combat oil
Winchester. in the retreat To Williams.
port. i'm the advance 10 Little Washington
In. the battle of Cedar Mountain. and the
whole of the northern Virginia campaign
in the battle of Antietam and the later
march to Falmouth.
All this he did as a colonel. In 1862 thC
army of the Potomac was wanting an eff
cient commander. and Colonel Ruger wa:
made a general of the brigade an the volun,
tee service. He was assigned to a brigad,
i'm the Seventeenth Corps of the army o.
the Potomac. He fought in the campaign
of the Rappahannock,- was an impOrtanl
figure in the battle of Charlottesville. anC
commanded one of the divisions i'm the bat
tie of Gettysburg. Next the general wen
South and had a brigade i'm the Twentieth
Corps and helped to invade Georgia. H.
took part i'm the battle of Resaca May 10
1874 fOlVht against Hood in Ton ncSSpO 1nf
was mustered out on Sept. l. 1866. Durins
his career in the volunteer service Genera
Ruger was a fearless commander and pos
seSsed the instinct OF quick and correc
action i'm emergencies. In 1864 he wa'
brevetted major general of volunteers fo
gallant and meritorious services" at tn
battle of Franklin, and In 1861 he wa,
States army for the same sort of service
he had rendered at the battle of Gettys
burg. He served as provisional governor
of Georgia for six months while he was a
Atlanta. In 1866 he was reappointed in tn
regular army as a colonel of the Thirty
fifth Infantry. He was I'm command. of tn
district of Alabama until 1863. when he wa
transferred TO the Sev~enty-eighth Infantry
General Ruger was superintendent OF tn
military academy fire ~ 1871 until 1876. H.
was then placed in command of the deDart
ment of the south. and later went Yves
as commander OF the district of Montana
In 1856. after two years as commander o
transferred to Dakota. where he RENAME,
until 1891. when he was given o
the military division OF the Pacific coast
The general came East from that position
when General Miles succeeded TO the com
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