Ryan was assigned to quartermaster and commissary detail at Leavenworth, Kansas, but was discharged due to illness in 1863.
[1] After his war service, Ryan returned to Appleton and, in 1864, was elected as a Democrat to the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Outagamie County in the 1865 session.
[1] Later in life, he was appointed U.S. consul at St. John's, Newfoundland, by President Grover Cleveland.
[3] After coming to Green Bay, Sam Ryan served as quartermaster at Fort Howard and was named a colonel of one of the first two militia regiments in the Wisconsin Territory.
[4] Sam Jr.'s younger brother James Ryan also came to Appleton and served as an editor on the Crescent.