RUFUS L. CHASE
Rufus L. Chase, elected Department Commander in 1920,
was a native of New York. Born in March, 1847, he was
only fourteen years of age when Fort Sumter was fired upon.
Accordingly, some three years passed by before his
enlistment in Company D, Third New York Cavalry, in
August, 1864.
At the close of the war young Chase returned to his native
State, studied dentistry, and qualified himself for the practice
of that profession. Perhaps it was in the decade of the
seventies that he moved west -- locating at Parkersburg in
Butler County, Iowa, where he practiced dentistry for two
years. He was then appointed Deputy State Auditor and
moved to Des Moines, where he continued to reside until the
end of his career in January, 1928.
For almost fifty years Comrade Chase served the Grand
Army of the Republic in an official capacity as a delegate to
the State Encampment, member of the legislative committee,
member of the Council of Administration, Assistant Quarter
Master General, Assistant Adjutant General, National
Assistant Adjutant General, and Department Commander.
To National Grand Army matters he gave much time and
attention. In civic matters, too, he was prominent for many
years. It was largely through his influence that the National
Encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic were held
in Des Moines in 1922 and in 1926.
Source: The Iowa Department of the Grand Army of the Republic
page 145
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