He was commissioned a First Lieutenant, Engineers, June 13, 1864, and advanced through the grades to Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army, February 5, 1897, and to Brigadier General, January 22, 1904.  He retired at his own request after 40 years of service, January 23, 1904.

During the Civil War he served in the Division of West Mississippi and the Department of Louisiana. He was in charge of the defense of Natchez, acting chief engineer 16th Army Corps at Siege of Spanish Fort, Alabama, and as Chief Engineer, Army of Observation on the Rio Grande, Texas, June-August 1865.

He was in charge of the defense of Washington, DC during the Spanish-American War, 1898.

He died on June 15, 1915 and was buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery.

His wife, Elisabeth Wallbridge Cleveland Allen, 1846-1929, is buried with him.

NEW YORK, February 20, 1919 - Mrs. Charles J. Allen, widow of General Allen, died on Monday at her residence, 149 East Fortieth Street.  She was a daughter of George Washington Cleveland of Des Moines, who served in the Union Army as a Captain.  She married in 1869, soon after her husband graduated from West Point.

Mrs. Allen wasa charter member of the Washington Cathedral Committee and had long been an active member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.  Services will be held in St. Saviour's Chapel of the Cathedral of St. John the Devine at 3 o'clock this afternoon. Burial will take place in the Arlington National Cemetery.

ALLEN, ELIZABETH W C WID OF ALLEN, CHARLES J
DATE OF DEATH: 06/15/1915
DATE OF INTERMENT: 06/26/1915
BURIED AT: SECTION W  SITE LOT 432
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
 WIFE OF CJ ALLEN - BRIG GEN US ARMY

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