Daniel Ruggles
Daniel Ruggles was born on January 31, 1810, in Barre, Massachusetts, to Gardner and Lydia Ruggles. His father was a farmer who owned $6,000 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Barre before enrolling at West Point. He graduated in 1833 and received an appointment as brevet 2nd lieutenant in the 5th United States Infantry.
Ruggles spent the next few years stationed in the Old Northwest. He married Richardetta Hooe, a Virginian, around 1837. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant in 1838 and then to captain in 1846. He took part in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War. He spent much of the 1850s stationed in Texas, and he participated in the Utah Expedition of 1858-59.
Although he was born in Massachusetts, he sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. He resigned his commission in the United States Army on May 7, 1861, and he received a commission as brigadier general in the Virginia militia. On August 9, 1861, he became a brigadier general in the Confederate army. He took part in the Battle of Shiloh, and he was stationed in Mississippi and Louisiana for much of the war.
Ruggles lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, after the war, and he earned a living as a real estate agent. By 1870, the family owned $2,500 of real estate and $100 of personal property. He served as superintendent of public schools in Fredericksburg, and he served on the Board of Visitors for the University of Virginia. He died in Fredericksburg on June 1, 1897, “after an illness of several months.”
Images: Daniel Ruggles (courtesy Wikicommons)
DATABASE CONTENT
| (3235) | Ruggles, Daniel | 1810-01-31 | 1897-06-01 |
- Conflict Side: Confederacy
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Brigadier General
- Rank out: Brigadier General
- Rank highest: Brigadier General
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 7
- (3139) [writer] ~ Daniel Ruggles to Braxton Bragg, 15 March 1862
- (3816) [writer] ~ Daniel Ruggles to Robert W. Memminger, 1 May 1863
- (4846) [recipient] ~ Drury J. Brown Report, 10 May 1862
- (5369) [recipient] ~ Meriwether J. Thompson to Daniel Ruggles, 21 June 1862
- (12448) [writer] ~ Daniel Ruggles to Braxton Bragg, 5 March 1862
- (12449) [recipient] ~ John Claiborne to Daniel Ruggles, 9 March 1862
- (12450) [writer] ~ Daniel Ruggles Memorandum, April 1862
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (267) [officer] ~ Confederate General Officers
SOURCES
1850, 1870, and 1880 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Alexandria (VA) Gazette, 2 June 1897.
