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Rufus Ingalls Timeline
| August 23, 1818 | Rufus Ingalls born in Denmark, Maine |
| 1820 | Maine becomes a state. The northeastern boundary is not settled. |
| 1839 | Appointed to West Point. U.S. Grant roommate in plebe year. |
| 1843 | Graduates West Point. Brevetted 2nd Lieutenant of rifles and posted to the Texas frontier. |
| 1845 | Appointed 2nd Lt. in the 1st Dragoons (commanded by Kearny). Post Adjutant at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas territory. |
| May 27, 1846 | Departs Leavenworth for the Mexican territory of New Mexico with Col. Stephen Watts Kearny. (June 5,1846?) With 1658 troops. |
| August 16, 1846 | Kearny's (now General) Army of the West captured Stanta Fe without firing a shot. |
| September 1846 | Kearny departs for California with 300
dragoons. (Apparently Rufus was among this group.) Col. Sterling Price Arrives in Santa Fe. Mormon Battalion Arrives in Santa Fe. |
| October 6, 1846 | Kit Carson meets up with Kearny and tells him that California is under U.S. control. Kearny sends 200 Dragoons back to Santa Fe and continues on to California, after convincing Carson to go along. |
| January 29, 1847 | Price, with Ingalls, fight a battle at Embudo Pass to quell an uprising |
| February 3,1847 | Price and Ingalls at the battle and siege
of Taos Pueblo. Unrest is quelled after these two decisive victories. As a result of his distinguished performance in these battles he was promoted to 1st Lt. on this date. |
| June 23, 1847 | Brigham Young arrives at the Great Salt Lake declares "This is the place." |
| 1848 | Gold discovered in California, starting of
the California Gold Rush. William T. Sherman is the Assistant
Adjutant in California. Oregon becomes a Territory of the US. Rufus Ingalls appointed Captain in the quartermaster department. |
| September 10, 1848 | Captain Ingalls arrives at Monterey. Quartermaster duties will take him to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Monterey. |
| May 25, 1849 | Captain Rufus Ingalls, Assistant Quartermaster, arrives in the Oregon Territory. |
| 1850 | New Mexico and Utah become Territories. California enters the Union. |
| September 1851 | Tom Fitzpatrick, Indian Agent, negotiates treaties among the Indian tribes. |
| 1852 | Ingalls and Grant are together again, at Columbia Barracks during the construction of Ft. Vancouver. Their 100 acres of potatoes are washed out in a flood of the Columbia river. |
| 1853 | Washington Territory (including present day Idaho and a small part of Montana) created from the Oregon Territory. |
| August 9, 1853 | Grant promoted to Captain and assigned to Humbolt Bay, California |
| October 1853 | Gunnison Massacre in the Utah Territory. Capt. John Gunnison's survey crew attacked by Pahvant Indians, Gunnison and six others killed. Gunnison had published a book The Mormons in 1852. |
| April 11, 1854 | Grant resigns his commission. Financial troubles makes it difficult to return to his beloved wife and children in the East. Grant's father, Jesse, pleads with Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, to not accept it. William T. Sherman's resignation was pending at the same time. |
| March 27, 1854 | Ingalls in Washington, DC writes a letter to General Jesup regarding settling accounts and the upcoming expedition across the continent to California |
| Spring 1854 | Steptoe Expedition to deliver horses to California from Ft. Levenworth are ordered to Salt Lake City to investigate Gunnison massacre. Ingalls and the expedition spend the winter in Salt Lake City. Expedition consists of 175 soldiers, 150 civilians and 1,000 horses. |
| August 31, 1854 | Steptoe expedition reaches Salt Lake City. |
| November 24, 1854 | Captain Ingalls writes a letter recommending the Army maintain the facility he built in the Rush Lake Valley as a 'reserve'. He built two large adobe buildings and is grazing the horses in this valley. |
| December 21, 1854 | Lt. Col. Edward J. Steptoe receives a letter from informing him of his appointment as Governor of Utah Territory to replace Brigham Young. (Not verified. However, Steptoe was requested to be Governor by the President) |
| December 30, 1854 | Ingalls, Steptoe and many others sign a letter petitioning President Franklin Pierce to keep Brigham Young as Governor of the Utah Territory. (Not verified) |
| Spring 1855 | Steptoe expedition leaves Salt Lake City with the Governorship of Utah unresolved. Nearly 100 Mormon women leave with the expedition. |
| August 25, 1855 | Ingalls writes a report regarding the results of the expedition to the Quartermaster General. |
| 1857 | Increasing anarchy in the western
Territories causes President Buchanan replace Brigham Young
as Governor of Utah and to assign Gen. W.S. Harney to command the military forces in
the West. Harney was replaced by and Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. Brigham
Young resists the appointment of a new Governor, imposes martial law and calls up the
Militia to repel the Army. Bloody Kansas. |
| 1858~1861 | Ingalls is Quartermaster General for the Department of Oregon. |
| Summer 1859 | The Pig War, a dispute over claim to San Juan Island by US and Britain nearly brings the two nations to war. Capt. George Pickett and 9th infantry sent to protect Americans by Gen. W.S. Harney. Ingalls resupplies troops and may have been involved in negotiations as a member of Harney's staff. This is officially called the 'San Juan Affair'. |
| Summer 1859 | British dispatch 5 warships and Royal Marines to San Juan Island. President Buchanan sends General Winfield Scott, US General in Chief, to resolve the tense situation. Island is jointly occupied by US and UK until arbitration by Kaiser Wilhelm in 1872 determines it belongs to the US. The pig was the only casualty. |
| 1859 | Ingalls writes a detailed report on a
year-round resupply route to Salt Lake City from Ft. Vancouver. Ingalls traveled
with the Jesuit Father Pierre De Smet, known for his good relations with
the Indians. Oregon becomes the 33rd state. |
| April 1, 1861 | Abraham Lincoln, General Winfield Scott and Secretary of State Seward initiate a plan to reinforce Fort Pickens in Pensacola Harbor, Florida. Rufus Ingalls is named in the order. The force leaves Brooklyn Navy Yard on the USS Powhatan on April 7th arriving on the 17th. The plan was so secret that the Secretary of the Navy was not told, he ordered the Powhatan to accompany the forces reinforcing Fort Sumter. |
| April 13, 1861 | Fort Sumter signals the start of the War of the States. Ingalls was off the coast on board a ship that was in the plan to reinforce Ft. Sumter. |
| July 12, 1861 | Rufus relieved of duty at Fort Pickens. Ordered to report to the Army of the Potomac as the aide to Major General George McClellan. |
| January 12, 1862 | Major Rufus Ingalls. Approved by the Senate in April. |
| June 1,1862 | General Robert E. Lee appointed General of the Army of Northern Virginia. |
| July 10, 1862 | Lt Col Ingalls appointed Chief Quartermaster, Army of the Potomac. He would serve in this position throughout the war despite the numerous changes in command. |
| November 7, 1862 | Ambrose Burnside takes command of the Army of the Potomac. |
| January 29, 1863 | General Order 2 Posted near Falmouth, VA appointing General Hooker's staff lists Colonel Rufus Ingalls as Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac. |
| May 23,1863 | Ingalls a Brigadier General |
| July 1, 1863 | Battle of Gettysburg starts, Major General George Gordon Meade's command of the Army of the Potomac lists Brigadier General Rufus Ingalls as Chief Quartermaster. |
| March 9, 1864 | Ulysses S. Grant appointed General of all the US Armies. Rufe and his good friend of more than 20 years are teamed up again. |
| June 15, 1864 | Siege of Petersburg begins. Ingalls directs the construction of City Point Depot, possibly the busiest port in the world, to supply the huge army. |
| November 8, 1864 | Lincoln reelected. |
| March 1865 | Major General Rufus Ingalls |
| April 2, 1865 | The siege of Petersburg ends, General Lee's army retreats. Petersburg and Richmond evacuated. |
| April 9, 1865 | Lee and Grant draft and agree to the terms of surrender. Rufus Ingalls among the few present in the room during the negotiations. |
| April 10, 1865 | Generals Ingalls, Phillip Sheridan and John Gibbon ask Grant's permission to visit the Confederate camps in order to meet with old friends and classmates. They return with Confederate Generals Cadmus Wilcox (best man at Grants wedding), Henry Heth (served with Grant in Mexico), George Pickett (knew Grant from Mexico and Ingalls from Oregon). Union General George Gordon also joined the reunion. |
| April 1865 | Grant and Longstreet were long-time friends, Grant offered a cigar and they had a friendly talk. Longstreet had introduced Grant to Julia Dent Grant and was also present at his wedding. Longstreet endorsed Grant for the Presidency and President Grant appointed him to the Ambassadorship of Turkey and as a railroad commissioner. |
| May 4, 1866 | Brevet Major General R. Ingalls, Assistant Quartermaster General, is ordered on a tour of inspection from Fort Leavenworth through Colorado,Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and back by way of the Gulf of California, the Colorado river, and Denver City to make recommendations on routes and modes of supply for that huge portion of the country. The report is presented to the House of Representatives by resolution on February 27, 1867. |
| July 1866 | Rufus Ingalls reverts to his permanent rank of Lieutenant-Colonel as a Deptuty Quartermaster General of the Army |
| February 23, 1882 | Brigadier General Ingalls appointed Quartermaster General of the Army. |
| August 1, 1883 | General Ingalls retires from the army after 40 years of service. Moves to Oregon. |
| 1891 | Moves to NY City as his health begins to fail to be near the best medical care. |
| January 15,1893 | Rufus Ingalls dies in New York City. Survived 74 years against unbelievable odds. |
Updated April 20, 2001 © L.R. Davis
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