Ducat was an immigrant from
County Dublin, Ireland, where he was born in Kingstown on February 24, 1830. He moved to Illinois in 1851, where he was a civil engineer and an insurance agent. Ducat began his war service on May 2, 1861, as 2nd lieutenant of the
12th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He became 1st lieutenant on May 11, 1861, captain on August 1, 1861, major on September 24, 1861, and lieutenant colonel on April 1, 1862. He was wounded at the
Battle of Fort Donelson in February 1862. After his service with the 12th Illinois Infantry ended on October 30, 1862, Ducat served as the
Inspector General of two major Federal armies in the
western theater, mainly in the
Army of the Cumberland. He was discharged on February 19, 1864. On February 21, 1866,
President Andrew Johnson nominated Ducat for appointment to the
brevet grade of
brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865, and the
U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on April 10, 1866. Following the war, he was a leading executive in the insurance industry in
Illinois and a world-renowned specialist and author in fire prevention and protection who wrote one of the standard reference works on the topic:
The Practice of Fire Underwriting. In 1873, Ducat wrote the military code for the
Illinois National Guard and became its commander with the grade of
major general. Ducat died January 29, 1896, at Downers Grove, Illinois, and was buried in
Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois. ==See also==