 Colonel Stotsenburg was a native of New Albany, Indiana, and entered the United States Military Academy from that state on July 1, 1877.He was graduated in 1881, and assigned to the Sixth Cavalry, with which he served in New Mexico, Arizona, Nebraska, and Fort Myer, Virginia.After graduating from the Infantry and Cavalry School of Application at Fort Leavenworth, he was appointed a Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December 1897.