James Wolfe Ripley

Ripley, James Wolfe (1794-1870) U.S. army officer. Ripley was born in Connecticut and graduated from West Point in 1814 with a commission as a second lieutenant in artillery. When the Civil War began he was inspector of arsenals, but he was soon appointed head of the Ordnance Department and given the rank of brigadier general. Though he did improve the organization of the department, he is best known for his resistance to breechloading rifles for the infantry and repeating carbines for the cavalry. Eventually his lack of imagination and stubborness brought him into conflict with President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and they forced him into retirement in 1863.

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