Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Boardman, Charles R. |
Notes |
Charles Ruggles Boardman had a long and distinguished career in the Wisconsin National Guard. He was born in the Town of Empire in Fond du Lac County, WI on October 28, 1860. His parents were Napoleon Boardman and Mary Louise Tallmadge. His father had served as an officer in the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry and later commanded the 2nd Missouri Light Artillery during the Civil War. Charles graduated from High School in 1878 and soon began his military avocation when he enlisted in the Fond du Lac Guards, a local militia company. He entered the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1880 and graduated in 1884. While he was in college he rose to the rank of lieutenant in a battalion of students led by General Charles King. Following his graduation he moved to Oshkosh, WI. Here he worked for the Daily Northwestern and later started Globe Printing Company in 1895. He married Adelaide Paige on June 13, 1888 and the couple had one son, Robert Paige Boardman. His interest in the Wisconsin National Guard continued in Oshkosh where he became the captain of Company F, 2nd Wisconsin National Guard. He would command Company F from 1886 until 1892. In 1892 he was promoted to the rank of Major and commanded a battalion of the 2nd Wisconsin National Guard. He became Adjutant General of the State of Wisconsin in 1897 and served in that post for sixteen years. His duties in Madison kept him from serving in Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War. At the outbreak of World War I in 1917, Boardman was recalled to active duty and was appointed by the governor to command the 1st Brigade Wisconsin Infantry with the rank of Brigadier General. When the Wisconsin National Guard became part of the National Army, Boardman was given command of the 64th Infantry Brigade, 32nd Infantry Division. He served as the brigade commander from December 1917, through their training period in Texas and during the occupation of a sector in Alsace, France. He was relieved of duty as brigade commander at his own request on July 4, 1918 and returned to the US where he worked for the Liberty Loan campaign. In 1908 he had organized the Wisconsin National Life Insurance Company, which he headed as president until he retired in 1946. He died in Oshkosh, WI on April 6, 1950 at the age of 89. |
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Charles R. Boardman, 2nd Wisconsin National Guard - FP2004.35.37
Photograph, Cabinet
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