Ingbret volunteered for service with Company E, 4th Minnesota Regiment on October 1, 1861, at the age of 18 years.; He left for Fort Snelling for the front lines the next month on November 27th. His body suffered greatly during the last four years of duty. In June 1862, he was reported sick at Camp Big Springs, Mississippi. Three months later, in September, he was in the Jefferson General Hospital in St Louis, Misouri, where he remained through October.
In December 1862, Ingbret was "fined ten dollars by order of General Quinby for falling out of ranks while on the march to Memphis." During March and April 1863 he was hospitalized in Memphis. In September 1863, he fought in the battle of Chickamauga. Two months later her fought in the battle of Chattanooga.
From Tennessee, he moved on into Alabama. He was discharged in December 1863 in Huntsville, Alabama having fulfilled his enlistment. However, he immediately re enlisted on January 1, 1864, in Huntsville for an extra bounty of $60.00.
On April 24, 1864, Ingbret was reported "absent without leave" --had "left for Minnesota." The exact date of when he returned for duty is unknown. However, in December, he was one of the General Sherman's 60,000 men who marched across Georgia to the sea and witnessed the fall of Savannah. His efforts must not have gone unnoticed for, despite the fact that he had been absent- without-leave earlier in the year, he was promoted to the rank of Corporal in May 1865. He was discharged in July at Louisville, Kentucky. His discharge pay was $210; from this, $30 was deducted to repay the above mentioned $10 fine and some military equipment he had lost.
Ingbret received a Civil War pension of $12 a month, beginning in 1888. He resided at Leavenworth National Home, Leavenworth, Kansas for an unknown period of time. In October 1909 he was admitted to the Minnesota Soldier's Home in Minneapolis, MN, suffering from heart trouble and rheumatism. His admission papers state that he was a carpenter but had unable to work for three years. In July 1912, he was transferred to the Battle Mountain Sanitarium in S Dakota where he resided for three months. In October 1912, he was re admitted to the Minnesota Soldiers' Home and his pension was increased to $19 a month. He died in the hospital there five years later on 16 February 1917, at age 73, dying from ostrosarcoma of the left thigh - a malignant tumor.