Officer, Artillerist · Confederate

Roswell S. Ripley

1823 – 1887

An Ohioan who married into Charleston and commanded its harbor defenses through most of the siege.

He settled in Charleston before the war, but no address has been established for him here and none is claimed. The 1852 directory and the 1861 Ford census are the places to look.

Charleston

Ripley married a Charleston woman and settled in the city, resigned from the army and went into business — so that when South Carolina left the Union, an Ohioan was among the officers who took up its defense. He was not unique in this, but he was conspicuous.

He commanded the Department of South Carolina from August to November 1861 after his promotion to brigadier, then a coastal district from December 1861 to May 1862. He went to Virginia with Lee's army and was wounded at Sharpsburg in September 1862, returned to South Carolina that fall, and held various district commands through the end of 1864 — which put him inside the defense of Charleston for most of the siege. He was responsible for the harbor and its approaches, and his reports are the ones Johnson leans on for the Confederate side of nearly every action.

Life

Born at Worthington, Ohio, and a graduate of West Point in 1843. He served in Mexico under Winfield Scott and wrote a two-volume history of that war. He surrendered with Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina.

He was a difficult man by every account. Douglas Southall Freeman wrote that he “took a violent dislike to Lee” for reasons no one could establish; Lawrence L. Hewitt observed that he seldom got along with either his superiors or his subordinates; and his sympathetic biographer allows that he had trouble with anger management. He also differed with Beauregard over the value of Morris Island, an argument Johnson takes up in his appendix and answers on Beauregard's side.

Service

  1. Brigadier GeneralcommissionedDepartment of South Carolina, artillery · Confederate armyAugust 1861 to November 1861Davis & Melton 2020
  2. Brigadier Generalcommissionedartillery · Confederate armyDecember 1861 to May 1862Davis & Melton 2020
  3. Brigadier GeneralcommissionedFirst Military District of South Carolina, artillery · Confederate armyNovember 1862 to December 1864Davis & Melton 2020 Johnson 1890

Each rank is the rank held at the time described. A later promotion is shown only in its own dated entry.

Places

Not yet documented.

Burial

Not yet documented.

Photographs

Roswell S. Ripley
Roswell S. Ripley1861–1865

What is established, and on whose authority

  • verifiedBorn at Worthington, Ohio, 14 March 1823; died 26 March 1887.Davis & Melton 2020
  • verifiedGraduated from West Point in 1843 and served in Mexico under Winfield Scott.Davis & Melton 2020
  • verifiedMarried a Charleston woman, settled in the city, resigned from the army and went into business before the war.Davis & Melton 2020
  • verifiedCommanded the Department of South Carolina from August to November 1861, and a coastal district from December 1861 to May 1862.Davis & Melton 2020
  • verifiedWounded at Sharpsburg in September 1862.Davis & Melton 2020
  • verifiedCommanded the First Military District of South Carolina, responsible for the harbor and its approaches.Johnson 1890
  • not establishedHis Charleston address.no source
  • not establishedBurial place.no source
  • verifiedThe portrait plate catalogued here as “Roswell S. Ripley” shows this person.Library of Congress

Identity: verified. Last checked 31 August 2026.

Corrections to this record are welcome through the publisher.