Roswell Sabine Ripley

Born in Ohio, he moved with his family to New York at about age 5, and was appointed to the United States Military Academy at age 16. After graduating from West Point in 1843, he was on garrison artillery and instructor duty to 1847, then served with distinction, earning 3 brevets, in the Mexican War. He was on the Seminole campaign of 1849 - 50, and again in garrison until he resigned his commission in 1853.

Subsequent to leaving US Army service, he settled in South Carolina, where he was a businessman and also active in the state militia.

He was named Major of South Carolina ordnance in 1860. As a Lieutenant Colonel he commanded the reconditioned forts Moultrie and Sumter at Charleston, SC. In 1861, he was appointed Brigadier General, CSA and after serving with Pemberton in South Carolina was appointed a brigade commander in the Army of Northern Virginia.

He commanded his brigade in D. H. Hill's Division in Jackson's Command in Maryland. General Hill later reported:

Brigadier-General Ripley received a severe wound in the throat from a Minie-ball [at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862], which would have proven fatal but for passing through his cravat. After his wound was dressed, he heroically returned to the field, and remained to the close of the day with his brigade.

Because of his wound, he returned to South Carolina as commander of the 1st Artillery District. After the fall of Charleston, in 1864, Ripley joined the Army of the West at Bentonville. After Bentonville, he left the United States for Britain where he stayed for about 20 years.

Biographic basics from Warner1 and his gravesite online via Findagrave.

03/14/1823; Worthington, OH

03/23/1887; New York City, NY; burial in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC