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I think you've been given enough info that you may be able to find out when he came.
First, as those who told you that the rule was five years of residency said, it was the generally accepted principle.One year before that, he would have filed a declaration of intent-a very simple document which only had to be witnessed.
However, there were exceptions...the biggest of which being ANYONE living in a state at the time of its admission to the Union was automatically given citizenship. Next, there were any number of places they could have been naturalized--from the post master to the justice of the peace to the county clerk. However, you're not missing anything by not having the physical document. They only thing they said was, "I, ________ ____________, do hereby disavow my allegiance to the __(title of ruler)___ of ___(country)___.
Just my luck to find this beautiful document and have it only tell me that my ancestor disavowed his allegiance to the emperor of France. There isn't another clue to be had from these documents until after 1905. Also, there was no age requirement for seeking citizenship, so any male who could understand the document could sign it. A father could get citizenship for his daughters, but sons old enough for conscription had to take the oath for themselves.
Next, most people never really worried about naturalization in the early years because it didn't carry much weight. Everyone who claimed to be a citizen when moving into a town was taken at his word. The only benefit to citizenship was voting--but without birth certificates, SS numbers or any other consistent recordkeeping, there was no way of checking a man's citizenship claims, anyway.
Women did, indeed, gain citizenship automatically by marrying a citizen. However, it's interesting that the converse is also true. For several generations, a woman would LOSE her citizenship by marrying a non-citizen. The rule of thumb was that a woman was automatically a citizen of any country by virtue of her husband's citizenship.
But enough on naturalization--that's not really where you'll find what you need. The real treasure trove will be the National Archives in St. Louis, MO. They keep EVERY record on EVERY federal employee all the way back--and they have a special unit which handles nothing but military personnel. They'll have everything from his enlistment papers (which includes info on parents, etc) to his pension papers. If you go to the NARA website, they'll walk you through the request process. You'll be able to find out every conflict he fought in, every promotion he earned, every place he was ever stationed, every commission, every dependent...you name it.
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