[1] He gained his early education around the local schools at Dayton before entering the United States Military Academy in 1854 as a cadet and graduating in the Class of 1859, ranking 16th.

[4] He was initially stationed at New Mexico due to the advances of Henry Hopkins Sibley heading for Fort Union and proceeded to participate at the Battle of Valverde.

[1] Anderson was then sent on an expedition into Western Arizona, where he began a campaign against Apache generals Cochise and Victorio.

[4] He continued his engineering career as a private consultant until 1894 when his health began to fail him and moved to Southwestern Kentucky.

Soldiers' Home at Santa Barbara, California, he resided there in his final years until June 9, 1910, from a pneumonia outbreak and was buried at Kuttawa Cemetery.