R: Ramsey through Russell

Source: Scribner’s Dictionary of American Biography

RAMSAY, GEORGE DOUGLAS (February 21, 1802-May 23, 1882); soldier, the son of Andrew and Catherine (Graham) Ramsay, was born in Dumfries, Virginia. His father, a Scottish-born merchant of Alexandria, Virginia, moved to Washington, D. C., and it was from there that his son, at the age of twelve, received his appointment as a cadet to the United States Military Academy. Graduating on July 1, 1820, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the corps of light artillery. The next year, when the artillery was reorganized into regiments, he was assigned to the 1st Artillery. He was promoted to first lieutenant of the 1st Artillery in 1826 and in 1833 he became adjutant of that regiment, having previously served in garrisons in the New England states and at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and on topographical duty. In 1835 he was promoted to captain of ordnance, which grade he held for over twenty-six years. From 1835 to 1845 he commanded arsenals in Washington, D. C., New York; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia. During the military occupation of Texas in 1845 and 1846, Ramsay served as ordnance officer at Corpus Christi and at Point Isabel. He was with General Taylor's army in the Mexican War, was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious conduct in the several conflicts at Monterey, and was chief of ordnance of that army from June 1847 to May 1848. After the Mexican War he commanded, successively, the Frankford Arsenal in Pennsylvania, the arsenals at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, at St. Louis, Missouri, and at Washington, D. C., where he was on duty at the outbreak of the Civil War.

On April 22, 1861, he was promoted to the rank of major; on August 3 of the same year to lieutenant- colonel; and on June 1, 1863, to colonel of ordnance, continuing all the while in command of the Washington Arsenal which had become an important munitions supply depot for the Union armies. On September 15, 1863, he was appointed brigadier-general and chief of ordnance of the army, which post he held until September 12, 1864, when he was retired from active service for age. He continued to serve, however, by special assignment as inspector of arsenals until June 8, 1866, and in command of the Washington Arsenal until February 21, 1870, when he retired from all public duty. In 1865 he was brevetted major-general for long and faithful service in the army. After his retirement, he continued to make his home in Washington, D. C., where he was active in the vestry of St. John's Episcopal Church. On September 23, 1830, he married Frances Whetcroft Munroe of Washington, D. C., who died in 1835 leaving one child, Francis Munroe Ramsay [q.v.], who became a rear admiral in the navy. He was married a second time on June 28, 1838, to Eliza Hennen Gales of Louisiana, the niece and adopted daughter of Joseph Gales, 1786-1860 [q.v.]. They had three daughters and two sons, both of whom became army officers.

[J. V. Hagner, biog. sketch in Annual Reunion, Association Graduates U.S. Military Academy (1882); G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register ... U. S. Military Academy (1891); War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army), 1 series, volumes V, XI, XIX, XXV, XXVII, XXIX, XXXV, XXXVII, XL, XLI, XLII, LI, 3 series, volumes II, IV; Army and Navy Register, May 27, 1882; Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D. C.), September 25, 1830, June 30, 1838; Washington Post, May 24, 1882.]

S. J. H.



RANSOM, THOMAS EDWARD GREENFIELD (November 29, 1834-0ct. 29, 1864), soldier, was born at Norwich, Vermont, the son of Truman Bishop and Margaret Morrison (Greenfield) Ransom. His father, a distinguished educator and soldier, was killed at the storming of Chapultepec. He was a descendant of Joseph Ransom who settled at Lynn, Connecticut, about 1715. Thomas entered the preparatory course at Norwich University, a military college of which his father was then president. During the Mexican War he studied practical engineering on the Rutland and Burlington Railroad, under the tutelage of an older relative. He reentered Norwich in 1848 and completed the civil engineering course in 1851. After graduation, he went to Illinois to practise engineering and later he embarked in the real-estate business.

When the Civil War began, he was living in Fayette County. He raised a company which was incorporated in the 11th Illinois Infantry. He became major, and, on reorganization three months later, lieutenant-colonel. The command and instruction of the regiment soon devolved upon him, and he brought it to a high state of discipline and training. He served as a volunteer aide in the surprise of a Confederate force at Charleston, Missouri, on August 19, 1861, and was wounded in personal combat with a Confederate officer, whom he killed. At Fort Donelson his regiment bore the shock of the Confederate sortie with veteran steadiness. Surrounded on the retreat of supporting forces, it cut its way out, losing more than half its strength. Ransom, though severely wounded, refused to leave the field and retained command throughout the day. For his skill and bravery in this action, he was promoted to the rank of colonel. At Shiloh, his regiment surpassed its previous brilliant record. He was seriously wounded early in the action, but again refused to leave the battlefield and continued in command with conspicuous valor and success until late in the afternoon, when he was carried to the rear. He served on the staff of General John Alexander McClernand [q.v.] in the Corinth campaign and subsequently he commanded a brigade. Appointed brigadier-general, he led his brigade in the Vicksburg campaign with such ability that Grant rated him equal to the command of a corps. After the surrender of Vicksburg he was put in charge of an expedition against Natchez. This mission was executed with such energy and initiative that Grant wrote of him, "He has always proved himself the best man I have ever had to send on expeditions. He is a live man and of good judgment" (War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Army, series 1, XXXII, part 2, 141).

In October: 1863, Ransom joined the Texas expedition, and during the next three months conducted successful operations along the Gulf coast from Aransas Pass to Matagorda Peninsula. In March 1864, he took command of the XIII Corps, a part of the army concentrated for the Red River expedition. He commanded the advance guard at Sabine Cross-Roads, and with one tired division met the attack of three Confederate divisions. Due to faulty dispositions and to interference by his superiors, he was overwhelmed. Though badly wounded while rallying his troops, he retained command until the attack had been checked. When only partially recovered from his wound, he reported to Sherman on August 2, 1864, and was assigned to command the 4th Division, XVI Army Corps. He took part in the siege of Atlanta; and after General Dodge was wounded on August 19, commanded the corps in the turning movement south of Atlanta which terminated in a victory at Jonesboro, Georgia. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers on September 1, 1864, for gallant and meritorious service in the Atlanta campaign. He was next assigned to command the XVII Corps, pursuing Hood's army in north Georgia during the month of October. He was ill at the beginning of the campaign, but refused to quit the field and accompanied his command in an ambulance until the pursuit ended at Gaylesville, Alabama, on October 21. Here his illness became critical, and an escort started to carry him to Rome, Georgia, on a litter. He died while resting at a house six miles west of Rome. His body was sent to Chicago and interred in Rosehill Cemetery.

One of the most capable volunteer soldiers developed by the Civil War, Ransom was a man of irreproachable character and Cromwellian religious faith. Besides exceptional personal courage, power of physical endurance, and coolness in action, he displayed qualities of leadership of high order.

[W. C. Ransom, History Outline of the Ransom Family of America (1903); G. M. Dodge, W. A. Ellis, Norwich University, 1819-1911 (1911), volume II; M. E. Goddard, H. V. Partridge, A History of Norwich, Vermont (1905); James Barnet, ed., The Martyrs and Heroes of Illinois (1865); J. G. Wilson, Biographical Sketches of Illinois Officers (1862); T. M. Eddy, The Patriotism of Illinois, volume I (1865); F. B. Heitman, History Register and Dictionary  of the U. S. Army (1903); Proc. First Reunion of the Eleventh Regiment, Illinois Infantry, October 27, 1875, Civil War Pamphlets, p. 260, Library of Army War College.]

T.F.M.



RAUM, GREEN BERRY (December 3, 1829-Dec, 18, 1909), soldier, politician, was born at Golconda, Illinois, the son of John and Juliet Cogswell (Field) Raum, and a descendant of Konradt Rahm, an Alsatian who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1742. John Raum, who had served as an officer in the War of 1812, went to Illinois in 1823, was a brigade major in the Black Hawk War, member of the state Senate, and a clerk of the county and circuit courts. As a boy, Green Berry Raum studied in the public schools and with a tutor, worked on a farm and in a store, and made three trips to New Orleans on a flatboat. In 1853 he was admitted to the bar. He went to Kansas in 1856, but returned in two years to settle in Harrisburg. In 1860 he was alternate delegate to the National Democratic Convention which nominated Douglas and like his leader he supported the administration on the outbreak of war. He was commissioned a major of the 56th Infantry, Illinois Volunteers, which he had helped organize, on September 28, 1861. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel on June 26, 1862, colonel on August 31, 1862, and brigadier-general of volunteers on February 24, 1865. He participated in the siege of Corinth, the attack on Vicksburg, and the attack on Missionary Ridge, where he was seriously wounded in the thigh. Returning to the service on February 15, 1864, he took part in the Atlanta campaign, and was responsible for forestalling an attack by General Hood upon Resaca. The 56th Infantry proceeded on Sherman's march to the sea and the capture of Savannah, Georgia. Raum resigned from the service on May 6, 1865.

After the war he practised Jaw in Harrisburg, Illinois. In 1866 he aided in securing the charter for the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad, and served as its first president. In 1867, now an ardent Republican, he was elected to the Fortieth Congress where he spoke chiefly on railroad measures and others concerning the commercial development of southern Illinois. He opposed Johnson's reconstruction program and voted for all the articles of impeachment. He was defeated for Congress in the next election, but remained active in the party. From 1876 to 1883 he was commissioner of internal revenue and did much to suppress illicit distilling and violence to revenue agents, partly by aiding in the establishment of legalized distilleries. From 1883 to 1889 he practised law in Washington, D. C., and was engaged in various business enterprises.

In 1889 he became commissioner of pensions. His efficiency was attested by the secretary of the interior, but Raum himself, his son, Green Jr,, chief clerk of a newly created division of appointments and the operations of the bureau, were investigated by two committees from the House of Representatives. The first committee, by a vote of three to two, exonerated Raum of the charge of using his office to further business interests; the second, by a vote of three to two, upheld similar charges, the minority laying the vote to the impending political campaign. After his retirement from office in 1893 he moved to Chicago, where he began to practise law. He wrote the following books, The Existing Conflict between Republican Government and Southern Oligarchy (1884), and the History of Illinois Republicanism (1900). He was married on Oct 16, 1851, to Maria Field. They had ten children, eight of which survived their father. Raum died in Chicago and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

[An autobiographical sketch is to be found in Raum's History of Illinois Republicanism (1900); see also, Who's Who in America, 1908-09; F. C. Pierce, Field Genealogy (1901), volume II; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1927 (1928); Report of the Adj. General of the State of Illinois, volume IV (1901); House Document No. 3732, 51 Congress, 1 Session; House Document No. 1868, 52 Congress, 1 Session; Chicago Daily Tribune, December 19, 1909.]

T. C. P.



RAWLINS, JOHN AARON (February 13, 1831- September 6, 1869), soldier, was born at Galena, Illinois, the son of James Dawson and Lovisa (Collier) Rawlins. The family was Scotch-Irish, having settled originally in Culpeper County, Virginia. His father was born in Kentucky, and lived as a farmer in Missouri and later in Illinois. In 1849 he joined the gold rush to California, and was absent three years, during which time the conduct of affairs at home devolved chiefly upon the son. The farm was largely in timber, and its principal income was from the sale of charcoal to the lead mines in the vicinity. John's early education was scanty. He attended local schools, and had a year and a half at the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Illinois. He then studied law in the office of Isaac P. Stevens of Galena, was admitted to the bar in 1854, and practised in partnership with his instructor and later with a pupil of his own, David Sheean. He was married on June 5, 1856, to Emily, daughter of Hiram Smith of Goshen, New York. He rapidly gained prominence locally; was city attorney in 1857, and in 1860 was nominated for presidential elector on the Douglas ticket. After the fall of Fort Sumpter, he came out unqualifiedly for armed defense of the Union. He took an active part in the organization of the 45th Illinois Infantry, and was designated to become a major in that regiment. Meanwhile, Grant, then a resident of Galena, had reentered the army as colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry, and had been appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. Early in August 1861, he asked Rawlins to take a commission as lieutenant, and to become his aide-de-camp. He accepted, and soon after, on August 30, was appointed captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers on Grant's staff.

Just at this time his wife died of tuberculosis, after a long illness. He arranged for the care of his three children, reported to Grant at Cairo, Illinois, on September 14, and remained constantly with him from this time on as his principal staff officer and most intimate and influential adviser. Like most officers of the new army, he was without military-training, but in other respects he was admirably fitted for his position. He possessed a keen, penetrating mind, a remarkably retentive memory, a good practical knowledge of business methods, high moral standards, a strict sense of justice, tireless energy, and a great enthusiasm for his cause. In personal appearance he was not striking; his voice was low and quiet, but on occasion his manner could be most impressive, his language forcible and even violent, and he spoke his mind earnestly and convincingly, to his chief as well as to subordinates. Grant fully appreciated him and his work, and once, in asking a promotion for him, called him "the most nearly indispensable" officer of his staff (Wilson, post, p. 140).

It was Grant's custom personally to prepare outline drafts of important papers. These Rawlins verified, edited, and put in final form. This was no easy task, since Grant was often inclined to insist upon the original form, and to reject essential changes; but Rawlins showed both tact and persistence, and was generally able to prove his point. His influence upon Grant in the matter of temperance was freely exercised, strong, and salutary, but the necessity for it has some times been greatly exaggerated.

As Grant rose in rank and responsibility, Rawlins was promoted accordingly. He became major on May 14, 1862; lieutenant-colonel, November 1, 1862; brigadier-general of volunteers, August 11, 1863; and brigadier-general and chief of staff of the army-a new permanent position created by act of Congress, March 3, 1865. He received the brevet ranks of major-general of volunteers on February 24, 1865, and major-general in the regular army on April 9, 1865. Throughout the latter part of the war Rawlins had been suffering from an affection of the lungs, which finally proved to be tuberculosis, and, at the close of hostilities, he was unable to continue heavy work. In the hope that the dry air of the western plains might benefit him, he accompanied General Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad, on a trip over the proposed route, traveling with a military escort as far as Salt Lake City, Utah. The name Rawlins was later given by General Dodge to the town which grew up at one of their camp sites in Wyoming. He returned to Washington in the fall of 1867, having been absent four months, without material improvement in his health.

Upon Grant's election to the presidency, he at first considered giving Rawlins a military command in the Southwest, for the benefit of his health, but later tendered him an appointment as secretary of war, which he accented on March 11, 1869, resigning his commission in the army. His service in this office was brief, however, for he died in Washington five months later. On December 23, 1863, he had married Mary Hurlburt of Danbury, Connecticut, who, with two children of his first marriage, survived him.

[J. H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins (1916); J. R. Rollins, Records of Families of the Name Rawlins or Rollins in the U. S. (1874); F. B. Heitman, History Register and Dictionary  of the U. S. Army (1903); Army and Navy Journal, September 11, 1869; Evening Star (Washington, D. C.), September 6, 7, 1869.]

O.L. S., Jr.



RENO, JESSE LEE (June 20, 1823-September 14, 1862), soldier, was born at Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), the son of Louis and Rebecca (Quinby) Reno. He was of French descent, the family name having been originally Renault. His parents moved to Pennsylvania and he was appointed to the United States Military Academy from that state, graduating as a brevet second lieutenant of ordnance in 1846. He served in the Mexican War, being brevetted for gallant and meritorious conduct at Cerro Gordo, and captain for actions at Chapultepec. Following the war he served as assistant professor of mathematics at West Point in 1849, secretary of a board on heavy artillery technique in 1849-50, assistant to the ordnance board at the Washington arsenal in 1851-52, was on border and coast surveys in 1853-54, and in command of the arsenal at Mount Vernon, Alabama, from 1859 until its seizure by the Confederates in January 1861. He then commanded the arsenal at Leavenworth, Kansas, until the fall of 1861. He became permanent first lieutenant in 1853 and captain in 1860. Already of ripe experience when the Civil War commenced, he was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers in November 1861. He was given a brigade in Burnside's expedition into North Carolina the winter of 1861 and the spring of 1862, and from April to August commanded a division in the Department of North Carolina, taking part in the movement to Newport News, Virginia, and the Rappahannock in August. He was commissioned major-general on July 18, 1862. In the August campaign in northern Virginia Reno commanded the IX Corps of Burnside's right wing and took part in the battle of Manassas, August 29-30, and Chantilly on the first of September. In the Maryland campaign, still commanding the IX Corps, he entered Frederick, Maryland, with his troops in pursuit of Jackson and stayed in that city until the morning of September 13.

Stories of a certain Barbara Fritchie, who had, it was said, kept a Union flag waving from her dormer window while Frederick was occupied by the Confederates, interested Colonel Reno and he stopped at her house while his troops were marching out, talked with the aged widow and offered to buy the flag she had kept waving. She refused to sell or give away the flag made famous later by Whittier's poem, but presented a home-made bunting flag to Reno which he placed in his saddle pocket. The following day he was killed "while gallantly leading his men" at South Mountain. In an order published on September 20, Burnside eulogized him as "one of the country's best defenders" (War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Army, 1 series, volume XIX, part 1, p. 423). His body was taken to Baltimore by his brother and sent to Boston, where Mrs. Reno was then living. He was buried at Trinity Church, Boston, on September 20. The "Barbara Fritchie" flag, which had covered his casket, was given to his wife and was kept by her in his military chest for several years, and was then presented to the Boston Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. On November 1, 1853, he had married Mary Blanes Cross of Washington, D. C. The city of Reno, Nevada, was named in his honor.

[G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register ... U. S. Military Academy (1891); H. C. Quinby, Genealogical History of the Quinby (Quimby) Family, volume I (1915); E. D. Abbott, A Sketch of Barbara Fritchie (1928); Henry Gannett. Origin of Certain Place Names in the U. S., Department of the Interior, Bull. of the U. S. Geological Survey, no. 197 (1902); H. H. Bancroft, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, in History of the Pacific States of North America, volume XX (1890); Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D. C.), November 4, 1853; Daily Intelligencer (Wheeling, Virginia), Boston Daily Advertiser, September 16, 1862.)

D. Y.



REVERE, JOSEPH WARREN (May 17, 1812-April 20, 1880), naval officer, writer, adventurer, and general in the Civil War, was born in Boston, the grandson of Paul Revere [q.v.] and the son of John Revere, who married Lydia LeBaron Goodwin and was a physician in Boston and later professor of medicine in the University of the City of New York. Love of travel led Joseph to enter the navy as a midshipman in 1828, and his taste was abundantly gratified by a three-year Pacific cruise in the Guerriere, a year of pirate hunting in the Caribbean, service on the African coast, and, after promotion to passed midshipman in 1832, an enjoyable cruise in the Mediterranean and northward to Russia. In the autumn of 1836 he made an overland journey as dispatch bearer from Lisbon to Paris and back to Gibraltar. A China cruise, 1838-40, was followed by his promotion to lieutenant in 1841. In 1845 he was assigned to the California coast, where, in command of a landing party from the Portsmouth, he raised the flag at Sonoma on July 9, 1846, fought in Stockton's force at the San Gabriel River, and participated in subsequent naval activities on the Mexican west coast. He returned home in 1848 but was soon back in California in the midst of the gold rush as agent for naval timber land. He resigned from the navy in 1850 because of slow promotion and busied himself in developing a ranch he had purchased near Sonoma, and in 1851 made two profitable trading voyages down the Mexican coast. On his second voyage he rescued the crew of a shipwrecked Spanish vessel from hostile Indians, receiving in reward a medal from the city of Cadiz and an order of merit from Queen Isabella. While visiting Mexico city at the close of 1851 he accepted an offer to organize the artillery of the Mexican army, and served as colonel till the following spring, being badly wounded in February during an insurrection in Morelia, Mexico.

From 1852 until the outbreak of the Civil War, he divided his time between his home in Morristown, New Jersey, and extensive European travel. He first volunteered for the navy, but finding his services not immediately needed, entered the army on August 31, 1861, as colonel of the 7th New Jersey Volunteers. After fighting through the Peninsular Campaign and at Seven Pines and Antietam, he was made brigadier-general on October 25, 1862, and led the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, III Corps, at Fredericksburg, and the Excelsior Brigade, same division, at Chancellorsville. In the latter battle, May 3, 1863, after a severe action from daybreak till eight o'clock that morning, he found himself senior officer of the division, and, his forces being short of ammunition and without rations, he moved them without orders about three miles to the rear, where they remained until ordered back about three o'clock in the afternoon. For this action General Sickles sharply censured him and relieved him of the command. He was court-martialed and dismissed, but the sentence-severe in view of his previous record for ability and gallantry-was revoked on September 10, 1864, by President Lincoln, and his resignation accepted.

In later years he suffered from declining health and spent considerable periods in foreign travel. His death from heart trouble occurred suddenly at Busche's Hotel, Hoboken, New Jersey. His wife, Rosanna Duncan, whom he had married on October 4, 1842, and three of their five children survived him. He was author of A Tour of Duty in California (1849) and Keel and Saddle: A Retrospect of Fifty Years of Military and Naval Service (1872). The latter is largely autobiographical but contains also a number of romantic stories, both of fact and fiction, entertainingly written and reflecting the author's restless, adventure-loving spirit.

[J. W. Revere, A Statement of the Case of Brigadier· General J. W. Revere (1863); E. H. Goss, The Life of Colonel Paul Revere (2 volumes, 1891); War of the Rebellion: Official Records, 1 series, volume XXV; Army and Navy Register, April 24, 1880.]

A. W.



REYNOLDS, JOHN FULTON (September 20, 1820-July 1, 1863), Union soldier, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the son of John and Lydia (Moore) Reynolds. He was of Irish and French Huguenot ancestry, his grandfather, William Reynolds, having come to America from Ireland in 1762. He received his early education in John Beck's school in the Moravian village of Lititz, Pennsylvania, and a school at Longgreen, Maryland, and later returned to enroll in the Lancaster County Academy. In 1837 he entered the United States Military Academy from which he was graduated in 1841, twenty-sixth in a class of fifty-two. He was brevetted second lieutenant, 3rd Artillery, and October 23, 1841, received his regular commission. In 1843 he served in Florida; in 1844, at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina; in 1845, at Corpus Christi; and later at Fort Brown, Texas. The following year he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and accompanied General Taylor to Mexico. For bravery at Monterey, he was brevetted captain, and on February 23, 1847, was brevetted major for especial gallantry in action at Buena Vista. For several years after the Mexican War, he did garrison duty in various New England forts, at New Orleans, and Fort Lafayette, New York. He accompanied an expedition overland to Salt Lake City in the summer of 1854; was promoted captain, March 3, 1855, and was commended for his service against the Rogue River Indians in Oregon. In December 1856, he arrived at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, remaining there until 1858, when he crossed the plains again in the campaign against the Mormons. He was stationed at Fort Vancouver, Wash., 1859-60, and in September 1860, he was appointed commandant of cadets at West Point, where he also served as instructor in artillery, cavalry, and infantry tactics.

With the beginning of the Civil War, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, assigned to the 14th Infantry and ordered to New London to recruit his regiment. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers on August 20, 1861, and was assigned to the Pennsylvania Reserves. In May 1862, he was made military governor of Fredericksburg. He participated in the fighting at Mechanicsville and later at Gaines's Mill where, on June 28, 1862, he was taken prisoner and sent to Richmond. After spending six weeks in Libby Prison, he was exchanged for General William Barksdale [q.v.] through the efforts of the civil authorities of Fredericksburg. He rejoined the army on August 8, and was assigned command of the 3rd Division, Pennsylvania Reserves. He joined Pope on his march to Warrenton on August 21, 1862, and engaged in fighting on August 29 and 30. When Pope's forces retired to Washington, Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin [q.v.] requested Reynolds' assignment in command of the Pennsylvania militia to withstand the expected invasion. He later returned to the Army of the Potomac in command of the I Army Corps. On November 29, 1862, he was appointed major-general of volunteers. He participated in the Rappahannock campaign, and at Fredericksburg his corps and Meade's division broke the enemy line, but, receiving no support, could not hold the gain. At Chancellorsville on May 2 and 3, 1863, he urged Hooker to attack the enemy's left flank, and, had his plan been executed, the Union forces might well have triumphed. On June 1, 1863, he was promoted to the rank of colonel in the regular army.

When it was apparent that the Confederates would force a decisive battle on Northern soil, Reynolds was assigned the left wing of the army and ordered to prevent Longstreet from striking Washington. Sharp engagements at Thoroughfare Gap and Aldie, Virginia, accomplished this goal. On June 28, 1863, Meade succeeded Hooker in command and immediately ordered Reynolds to occupy Gettysburg. Reynolds set his three corps, I, III, and XI, in motion. Assigning command of the I Corps to Abner Doubleday [q.v.], Reynolds set out from Red Tavern on the morning of July 1, 1863, starting Wadsworth's division along with him. At Gettysburg about nine o'clock in the morning, he found the cavalry under Buford sorely pressed and therefore hurried back to speed up Wadsworth's Division. Returning to the battlefield at the head of the 2nd Wisconsin Regiment, Reynolds turned to them as they reached a woods and called out, " ... push forward men and drive those fellows out of the woods" (Huidekoper, post, p. 9). A moment later a sharpshooter's bullet killed him. His body was carried from the battlefield in a blanket swung between soldiers' muskets, and on July 4, 1863, he was buried in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

He had never married and was survived only by his three brothers, of whom one was William Reynolds [q.v.]. Fully six feet in height, with dark hair and eyes, very erect in carriage, he was a commanding figure. He was a superb horseman, an exceptionally courageous, self-reliant officer who executed his orders with a personal force that inspired his troops to heights of valor. His advice was frequently sought by his brother officers, who recognized his military genius and appreciated his charity of thought and freedom from personal bias. A monument erected to his memory stands on the spot where he fell on the battlefield of Gettysburg. [G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register ... U. S. Military Academy (1891); F. B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the U. S. Army (1903); H. S. Huidekoper, Address at Unveiling of the . .. Statue of Major-General J. F. Reynolds at Gettysburg (n.d.); J. H. Brown, Oration on Major-General J. F. Reynolds (1888); J. G. Rosengarten, in Reynolds M emorial, Addresses Delivered Before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. (1880); Daily Evening Express (Lancaster, Pennsylvania.), July :z, 3, 6, 1863.]

C.C.B.



REYNOLDS, JOSEPH JONES (January 4, 1822-February 25, 1899), soldier, sixth son and seventh child of Edward and Sarah (Longley) Reynolds, was born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. His father, a hatter, moved with his family to Lafayette, Ind., in 1837. Joseph attended the common schools of Flemingsburg, and in 1838 matriculated at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind. While there, he received an appointment as a: cadet to the United States Military Academy, entering in 1839, and graduating in 1843, standing tenth in a class of thirty-nine. Among his classmates was U. S. Grant, with whom he formed a lasting friendship. Upon graduation he was appointed brevet second lieutenant, 4th Artillery, with station at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and later at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1845 he was assigned to General Taylor's force engaged in the military occupation of Texas. He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant on May 11, 1846, and in the fall of the same year was assigned to the teaching staff of the United States Military Academy where he remained until 1855. He next served, as first lieutenant, 3rd Artillery, on frontier duty at Fort Washita, Indian Territory, until 1857, when he resigned from the army to become professor of mechanics and engineering in Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri. In 1860 he returned to Lafayette to enter a grocery business with one of his brothers.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed colonel of the 10th Indiana Volunteers and applied his military knowledge very ably in· the organizing and training of the new troops. He was appointed brigadier-general of Indiana Volunteers and, on May 17, 1861, was made brigadier-general of United States Volunteers and assigned to command a brigade and later the Cheat Mountain district in the Department of Western Virginia under General Rosecrans. At Cheat Mountain in September he successfully repelled a Confederate advance and thereby secured that portion of western Virginia for the Union. Owing to the death of the brother with whom he was in partnership, he was obliged to resign in January 1862, and look after the business. While thus employed, he unofficially assisted the state authorities in organizing new regiments. In August 1862, he again entered the service as colonel of the 75th Indiana Volunteers and in September was recommissioned brigadier-general of United States Volunteers. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in November and assigned to command a division in the Army of the Cumberland. He was in the engagement at Hoover's Gap, Tennessee, on June 24, 1863, and in the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, on September 19 and 20, 1863. In October 1863, he became chief of staff of the army of the Cumberland and took a prominent part in the battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the following month. In January 1864, he was transferred to the command of the defenses of New Orleans and in the following July he assumed command of the XIX Army Corps and organized the forces for the capture of the coast defenses and city of Mobile, Alabama. In the fall of 1864 he commanded a district on the Mississippi from Memphis to its mouth. For the next two years he commanded the Department of Arkansas. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in September 1866 and reverted to the rank of colonel of the 26th Infantry, to which grade in the regular army he had in the meantime been appointed.

During the troublesome days of reconstruction he commanded with admirable tact and judgment, successively, the subdistrict of the Rio Grande, the district of Texas, the fifth military district comprising Texas and Louisiana, and the Department of Texas. In 1867 he was brevetted brigadier-general for gallant and meritorious service at Chickamauga, and major-general for similar services at the battle of Missionary Ridge. He was transferred to the cavalry and from 1872 to 1876 commanded in turn Fort McPherson, Nebraska, Fort D. A. Russell, Wyo., and the district of South Platte. He was retired from active service on June 25, 1877, for disability contracted in line of duty, and thus ended his long and varied career of public service which both in peace and war was characterized by ability and devotion to duty. He was elected United States senator by the Texas legislature in 1871, but his election was contested in the Senate and the seat awarded to Morgan C. Hamilton. After his retirement, Reynolds settled in Washington, D. C., where he died. His wife, Mary Elizabeth Bainbridge, whom he had married on December 3, 1846, two daughters and two sons survived him.

[Who's Who in America, 1899-1901; G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register ... U. S. Military Academy (1891); Annual Reunion, Association of Graduates, U.S. Military Academy, 1899 (1899); G. I. Reed, Encyclopedia of Biographical of Ind., volume I (1895); Cat. and Direct. of Officers (Wabash College) (1923); C. W. Ramsdell, Reconstruction in Texas, Studies in History, Econ. and Public Law, Columbia Univ., volume XXVI (1910); Journal of the House of Rep. (Texas), 12th Legislature (1871); Wash. (D. C.) Post, February 27, 1899; New York Times, February 27, 1899.]

S. J. H.  



RICHARDSON, ISRAEL BUSH (December 26, 1815--November 3, 1862), Union soldier, the son of Israel Putnam and Susan (Holmes) Richardson, and a descendant of Israel Putnam [q.v.], was born in Fairfax, Vermont. He was appointed a cadet to the United States Military Academy from Vermont in 1836. Upon graduation, July I, 1841, he was commissioned brevet second lieutenant, 3rd Infantry, and at once saw active service against the Seminole Indians in Florida. He was promoted to second lieutenant on September 30, 184r. After the campaign against the Seminoles, he served in various garrisons from 1842 to 1845, when he joined the army of military occupation in Texas. In the Mexican War he served in General Taylor's army at Palo Alto, Resaca-de-la-Palma, and Monterey during 1846 and was promoted to first lieutenant on September 21 of that year. From February 1847 to the end of the war he served in General Scott's army, being actively engaged in every important battle from the siege of Vera Cruz to the capture of Mexico city. For gallant and meritorious services during this campaign he was twice brevetted, first as captain and later as major. For the calm intrepidity with which he led his company at Cerro Gordo, his comrades dubbed him "Fighting Dick," a name he bore until his death. For seven years following the war he served in various garrisons in the Southwest. He was promoted to the rank of captain on March 5, 1851. In 1855 he resigned from the army and took up farming at Pontiac, Mich.

At the outbreak of the Civil war he organized the 2nd Michigan Volunteer Regiment of which he became colonel on May 25, 1861. Near the end of June he reported with his regiment in the defenses of Washington, D. C., and shortly thereafter was assigned to the command of a brigade. At the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, his brigade, guarding Blackburn's Ford on the flank of McDowell’s army, was able to cover the retreat of the Union forces in an orderly manner. After the battle of Bull Run he was promoted brigadier-general of United States Volunteers with rank from May 17, 1861. The following March he was given command of a division in Sumner's corps, with which he served throughout the Peninsular campaign. His prudence and skill in the command of his division won for him the promotion to major-general of Volunteers on July 4, 1862. After the withdrawal of the Union army from the Peninsula Richardson's division was assigned to Hooker's I Corps. At Antietam, on September r7, 1862, his division won glory in the sanguinary struggle which drove the Confederates from the "Bloody Lane," but its brave commander fell mortally wounded while directing the fire of a battery. He died at Sharpsburg, Maryland, on November 3, 1862. ·with his massive frame and iron expression, his unpretentious manners and absolute fearlessness, he had been a real leader of men and his untimely death was an inestimable loss to the Union. He was twice married: first on August 3, 1850, to Rita Stevenson of El Paso, Texas, who died the following year, and again on May 29, 1861, to Frances A. Traver of Kalamazoo, Mich., who with their infant son survived him. [J. A. Vinton, The Richardson Memorial (1876); G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register .. . U.S. Military Academy (1891); Records of the Adjutant-General, and of the Pension Bureau, Washington, D. C.; War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army); A. M. Hemenway, ed., The Vermont History Gazeteer, volume II (1871); Charles Lanman, The Red Book of Mich. (1871); Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, November 5, 8, 12, 1862; New York Times, November 6, 1862.

S.J.H.



RICKETTS, JAMES BREWERTON (June 21, 1817-September 22, 1887), Union. soldier, the son of George R. A. and Mary (Brewerton) Ricketts, was born in New York City. An ancestor, William Ricketts, member of an old English family, settled in the Jerseys in early colonial days. James was appointed a cadet to the United States Military Academy from New York on September 1, 1835, and was graduated on July 1, 1839, commissioned second lieutenant, 1st Artillery, and assigned to duty on the Canadian frontier. He served at various stations in New York and Maine until the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846, when he was transferred with his regiment to General Taylor's army in Mexico; he took part in the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. From 1847 to 1861 he served at different stations throughout the United States and participated in hostilities against the Seminole Indians in Florida in 1852. He was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant on April 21, 1846, and to captain on August 3, 1852. At the beginning of the Civil War he commanded a battery in General McDowell's army. At Bull Run, on July 21, 1861, he was dangerously wounded and taken prisoner, being-exchanged after six months for a Confederate officer. For his distinguished service at Bull Run he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. He recovered sufficiently from his wounds to return to duty on May 8, 1862, and was assigned to comm and a di vision in General McDowell's corps with which he fought at Cedar Mountain and Manassas.

In September 1862, his division became part of General Hooker's corps and participated in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam where he was again seriously wounded. He remained with h is division until October when his injuries compelled him to leave the field, and he served on court martial duty until March 1864. He now took command of a division in General Sedgwick's corps and fought in the battle of the Wilderness, at Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg until July 6, 1864, when his corps was hurried towards Washington to intercept General Early's advance on that city. In the battle of Monocacy which followed, Ricketts was conspicuous for his gallantry. General Lew Wallace, the Union commander said:" ... the splendid behavior of Ricketts and his men inspired me with confidence" (War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Army, I series, XXXVII, pt. I, 197). With his division Ricketts now joined General Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley. At the decisive battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864, he was temporarily in command of the VI Corps, which he was ably conducti ng when he was wounded for the sixth time by a bullet that passed through his chest. Even this wound did not dispirit the heroic general. By April 1865, he was again able to command his division.

After the War he commanded a district in Virginia until he was discharged as a brigadier-general of volunteers on April 30, 1866, reverting to the grade of major in the regular army. In January 1867 he was retired as a major-general for wounds received while in command of a corps. He was brevetted five times for gallant and meritorious services. After his retirement he made his home in Washington, D. C., where he died after much suffering from his old wounds. He was twice married, first, in 1840, to Harriet Josephine Pierce, daughter of Colonel B. K. Pierce, who died, leaving one child, and in 1856, to Frances Lawrence, daughter of J. T. Lawrence, of Jamaica, of which union two of five children survived.

[Information from the family; G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register ... U. S. Military Academy (18 91); Henry J. Hunt, memorial in Annual Reunion, Association Graduates, U. S. Military Academy, 1888; Harper's Weekly, November 12, 1864; Frank Leslie's illustrated Newspaper,  January 11, 1862; Army and Navy Register, September 24, 1887; New York Times, September 23, 1887.]

S. J. H.



RIPLEY, JAMES WOLFE (December 10, 1794- March 15, 1870), soldier, the son of Ralph and Eunice (Huntington) Ripley, was born in Windham County, Connecticut. He was a descendant of William Ripley who came to Hingham, Massachusetts, from England in 1638. He received his elementary education in the county schools and in 1813 was appointed a cadet to the United States Military Academy. Under the pressure of wartime demands he was graduated on June 1, 1814, commissioned second lieutenant of artillery, and ordered to duty at Sacketts Harbor, New York. After the war he served in garrisons until 1817 when he joined General Jackson on the Escambia River in Florida and served for two years under that intrepid fighter in the Seminole Indian war and the subsequent invasion of Florida. During this time he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. Following several years of garrison and recruiting duty, he was detailed in 1823 as assistant commissioner under James Gadsden [q.v.] to run the boundaries of the Indian reservations of Florida. He was commended by his chief and William Pope Duval [q.v.], governor of the territory, for his excellent work on this detail.

After eight more years of garrison and recruiting duty, he was ordered to Charleston Harbor in 1832 when South Carolina threatened nullification of the federal tariff act. His work there was highly praised by General Winfield Scott in command at Charleston, who wrote to the Secretary of War, "Captain Ripley has no superior in the middle ranks of the Army, ... in general intelligence, zeal, or good conduct" (Cullum, post, p. 120). Having transferred to the ordnance corps, Ripley was assigned to command the arsenal at Kennebec, Maine, in 1833, where he remained for eight years and received his promotion to major. From 1841 to 1854 he commanded the armory at Springfield, Massachusetts. Through his efforts this institution was rebuilt and transformed into a more modern arms production plant. For meritorious services here during the Mexican War he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. In 1854 he was transferred to command the arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts, and in the same year was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. The next year he went to California as chief-of-ordnance of the Pacific department and in 1857 was made inspector of arsenals.

At the outbreak of the Civil War he was on a special mission in the Orient. He hurried home and on April 23, 1861, was appointed chief-of-ordnance of the army with the rank of colonel and the following August was promoted to brigadier-general. He devoted himself with energy if not always with the best judgment to the task of supplying the army-with arms and ammunition. In the large disbursements which this involved he continually fought favoritism, fraud and political influence, maintaining throughout unquestioned personal integrity. He was retired on September 15, 1863, but continued to serve as inspector of armaments until 1869. He was brevetted major-general in 1865 for long and faithful service. This venerable officer had the distinction of having served his country continuously for over fifty-five years and in four wars. On August 11, 1824, he married Sarah Denny who, with three of their nine children, survived him. He died at Hartford, Connecticut, and was buried in Springfield Cemetery.

[H. W. Ripley, Genealogy of a Part of the Ripley Family (1867); C. C. Denny, Genealogy of the Denny Family (1886); G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register. .. U.S. Military Academy (1891); Annual Reunion, Association of Graduates, U. S. Military Academy, 1870; F. B. Heitman, Historical Register and Directory of the U.S. Army (1903); F. A. Shannon, The Organization and Administration of the Union Army (2 volumes, 1928); Congress Globe; 37 Congress, 2 Session; Hartford Daily Courant, March 17, 1870.]

S. J. H.



ROBERTS, BENJAMIN STONE (November 18, 1810- January29, 1875), soldier, engineer, inventor, was born at Manchester, Vermont, of Welsh ancestry, the son of General Martin and Betsey (Stone) Roberts. His grandfather was General Christopher Roberts, of the colonial wars. After a common-school preparation, he was graduated from the United States Military Academy with the class of 1835, fifty-third in a class of fifty-five. He joined the 1st Dragoons as a lieutenant, and after frontier service in Iowa and Kansas, resigned in the year 1839 to become chief engineer of the Champlain & Ogdensburg Railroad. He became geologist of the state of New York in the year 1841, and the following year was an assistant to George Washington Whistler [q.v.] in the construction of a railway in Russia from St. Petersburg to Moscow. When he returned to the United States he studied law and began to practise in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1843. He served as lieutenant-colonel of the state militia from 1844 to 1846. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, he was reappointed a first lieutenant with the Mounted Rifles, and was promoted captain in February 1847. He participated in the battles of General Scott's campaign and was brevetted major on September 13, 1847, for gallantry in leading a storming party at the taking of Chapultepec (Smith, post, p. 164). On November 24, 1847, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for gallantry in action against Mexican guerrillas near Matamoras, and when he returned to the United States, he received a sword of honor from the state of Iowa.

During the following decade, he served at various parts of the frontier, and was promoted to the rank of major, 3rd Cavalry, on May 13, 1861, commanding the southern military district of New Mexico under General Canby, and participating in engagements at Fort Craig, Albuquerque, Valverde, and Peralta. For gallant and meritorious service at Valverde, he was brevetted colonel on February 21, 1862. He was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers the following June, and as a member of General Pope's staff, was engaged in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Sulphur Springs, and Second Manassas (Ropes, post, p. 20 ff.). For gallant services in this campaign he was brevetted brigadier-general and major-general on March 13, 1865. In the fall of 1862, he was detached to lead an expedition against hostile Chippewa Indians in Minnesota, but was recalled to Washington in 1863 to command a unit in the defenses of that city. In the summer of 1864, he was placed in command of the 1st Division, XIX Corps, in Louisiana, and until January 1865, was chief of cavalry, Department of the Gulf. During the remainder of the year he commanded the district and the cavalry division of West Tennessee, and after discharge from the volunteer service on  January 15, 1866, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, 3rd Cavalry.

He served in New Mexico during 1867 and 1868, and was an instructor in military science at Yale College from 1868 to 1870. He was retired from active service on December 16, 1870, and entered upon the practice of law and the prosecution of claims before the government in Washington. While so engaged, he organized a stock company to finance the manufacture of a breech-loading rifle of his own invention, and although he succeeded in negotiating a European contract, the venture was not successful. He died of pleuro-pneumonia at Washington, D. C., in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Anson and Laura (Pierpont) Sperry, of Plattsburg, New York, to whom he was married on September 18, 1835. They had three children. Among his writings are, Description of Newly Patented Solid Shot and Shells for Use in Rifled Ordnance (1864), and Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant (1869), an address delivered at Yale College.

[R. B. Moffat, Pierrepont Genealogy (privately printed, 1913); F. B. Heitman, Historical Register and Directory of the U.S. Army (1903); J. H. Smith, The War with Mexico (1919) volume II; Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, volume II (1887); J. C. Ropes, The Army Under Pope (1881); Annual Reunion, Association of Graduates, U.S. Military Academy, 1875.]

C. D.R.



ROBINSON, JOHN CLEVELAND (April 10, 1817-February 18, 1897), soldier, born at Binghamton, New York, the son of Dr. Tracy and Sarah (Cleveland) Robinson, was a descendant of the Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims in Leyden. His early schooling was under tutors and at Oxford Academy, Oxford, New York. He entered the United States Military Academy in June 1835 and left in March 1838 to study law. The following year he became a second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry. During the Mexican War he was regimental and brigade quartermaster, and saw action at the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and at the siege of Monterey. After the war he continued in the army, becoming captain in 1850. Between the two wars which were the high spots of his career, he was engaged in various services in the expanding West, with the exception of one period of campaigning against the Seminole Indians in Florida in 1856-57. Of his service in Utah in 1857-58, he wrote clearly and engagingly, expressing the opinion that the large expedition directed against the Mormons was a part of a plot to denude the eastern states of troops, so that "the dissolution of the Union" might be the easier (J. C. Robinson, "The Utah Expedition," Magazine of American History, April 1884, p. 340).

Robinson was in command of Fort McHenry when the 6th Massachusetts Infantry was attacked in the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, on April 19, 1861. Although commanding only sixty men, threats and cajoling on the part of city officials failed to move him. He turned the guns towards the city, secretly revictualled the fort, and made such an excellent show of resistance that the rioters decided it was best not to attack at that time. He was elected colonel of the 1st Michigan Volunteers while on a recruiting trip in the West in September 1861. On April 28, 186.i, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers and assumed command of the 1st Brigade of Kearney's division of the III Corps, Army of the Potomac. He served with distinction throughout the Peninsular campaign, and later commanded the 2nd Division in the I and V Corps. His military career in the Civil War was full of honors. He was brevetted for actions at Gettysburg and for gallant conduct in the battle of the Wilderness. He served continuously with the Army of the Potomac until Spotsylvania, where he was wounded in the left knee while leading his command and suffered amputation of the leg. Upon his recovery, he was given command of military districts in New York. In June 1864 he was brevetted major-general, and in March 1865, by special appointment of the president, he became military commander and commissioner of the Bureau of Freedmen in North Carolina, with the rank of brigadier-general bestowed for bravery at Spotsylvania. He was commander of the Department of the South in 1867, and in 1868 was commander of the Department of the Lakes. He was retired with the rank of major-general on May 6, 1869.

After his retirement Robinson was lieutenant-governor of New York from 1872 to 1874, and thereafter was prominent in the activities of veterans' organizations. He was commander-in-chief of the G. A. R., 1877-78, and president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac in 1887. On the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth, a statue was dedicated to him at Gettysburg, at the place where, with two brigades, he held at bay five brigades of the enemy for four hours and materially aided the Union victory. Three years before his death he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for "most distinguished gallantry" at Laurel Hill, Virginia. He spent the latter years of his life in Binghamton, being totally blind from the year 1893 as a result of his old wound. On May 15, 1842, he married Sarah Maria Pease, in Green Bay, Wis. From this marriage, seven children were born.

[New York State Monuments Commission. In Memoriam, Abner Doubleday .. . and John Cleveland Robinson (1918); E. J. and H. G. Cleveland, The Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families (1899), volume II; C. E. Robinson, Robinson Genealogy (1926), volume I; Army and Navy Register, February 20, 27, 1897; New York Times, February 19, 1897.]

D. Y.



RODMAN, ISAAC PEACE (August 18, 1822- September 30, 1862), legislator, Union soldier, was born at South Kingstown, Rhode Island, the eldest of sixteen children of Samuel Rodman and his first wife, Mary Peckham, both of pre-Revolutionary ancestry. His father, a prosperous merchant, was a descendant of Thomas Rodman, a Quaker physician, who settled in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1675. Rodman received a common-school education, and at an early age entered business as an associate of his father. For several years he was president of the town council of South Kingstown and director of the Wakefield Bank. He entered state politics, serving in both branches of the legislature. On June 17, 1847, he was married to Sally Lyman Arnold, the daughter of Governor Lemuel N. Arnold. They had seven children.

When the Civil War was imminent, Rodman, true to his religious training, was strongly on the side of peace, but when war was declared, he was a member of the state Senate and strongly supported the government, giving proof of his loyalty by accepting a captaincy in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry on June 6, 1861. For his gallantry at the first battle of Bull Run he was later commissioned lieutenant-colonel. He was assigned to command the 4th Rhode Island Volunteers and was commissioned colonel on October 30. He spent the winter of 1861-62 at Alexandria, Virginia, training his regiment. In the early spring of 1862 Rodman joined Burnside in North Carolina, his regiment being in General Parke's 3rd Brigade, and took a distinguish ed part in the capture of Roanoke Island on February 8, 1862. At this battle his troops being the only ones wearing blue overcoats, were mistaken by the enemy for regulars, and consequently received the heaviest fire. Rodman himself believed this to be his hottest engagement. At the battle of New Bern on March 14, at his own suggestion, he was permitted to charge a weak point in the enemy trenches with the bayonet. His regiment pierced the defenses, captured cannon and colors, and turned the tide of battle. Burnside gave him full credit for his perspicacity and bravery, and for this and his gallantry at the capture of Fort Macon in April he was advanced to the rank of brigadier-general on April 28, 1862.

Rodman's campaigning in the swamps of North Carolina undermined his health, and, ill with typhoid, he was sent home to South Kingstown to recuperate until August. Still weak from fever, he joined Reno's IX Corps for the Maryland Campaign at Frederick and was given the 4th Division. On the morning of September 13 he was ordered to support Pleasanton's cavalry reconnaissance in the mountains, but missed the road and supported other force s. The following day he took active part in the battle of South Mountain and advanced across a ford against heavy hostile fire towards Sharpsburg. At the battle of Antietam on September 17, he was wounded in the chest while leading his troops and died twelve days later. His body was moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where it lay in state in the Old State House, and he was buried at South Kingstown.

[C.H. Jones, Genealogy of the Rodman Family (1886); W. W. Rodman, Notes on Rodman Genealogy (1887); War of the Rebellion : Official Records (Army), 1 series, volume XIX; Annual Report of the Adj.- General of the State of R. I., 1865, volume I (1893); Frederick Phisterer, Statistical Record of the Armies of the U.S., (1907), supp. volume to Campaigns of the Civil War; J. R. Bartlett, Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers (1867); Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island (1908), volume II; J. D. Cox, Reminiscences of the Civil War (1900), volume I; Boston Daily Advertiser, October 6, 1862.]

D. Y.



RODMAN, THOMAS JACKSON (July 30, 1815-June 7, 1871), soldier, inventor, was born on a farm near Salem, Ind. His father, James Rodman, was a descendant of Thomas Rodman, a Quaker physician, who came to Newport, Rhode Island, from Barbados in 1675. His mother was Elizabeth (Burton) Rodman of Virginia. Although his early educational advantages were quite limited, he entered the United States Military Academy in 1837 and was graduated four years later, seventh in a class of fifty-two members. He was commissioned in the ordnance department, and was promoted through all grades to the rank of captain in 1855, and lieutenant-colonel in 1867. From the first, he demonstrated marked gifts as an inventor, with a decided bent towards Mechanics and the details of practical shop construction-his earlier service having been spent with government arsenals at the Alleghany Arsenal, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Virginia, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During the Mexican War, he served as ordnance officer at Camargo and Point Isabel.

After studying closely the heavy ordnance devised by George Bamford [q.v.] and used by Americans in the War of 1812, and the improvements in manufacture developed by Henri Joseph Paixhans of the French army and Dahlgren of the American navy, Rodman conceived the original idea of casting guns upon a hollow core, cooling the inner surface by a flow of water so that each successive layer of metal was compressed by the shrinkage of outer layers. He received little or no encouragement from the ordnance department, which rejected the offer of his invention and refused him an opportunity to develop his ideas, so the manufacture of ordnance under Rodman's patented processes was begun by private enterprise. The results demonstrated a marked increase in strength and endurance for heavy ordnance and much greater resistance to gas erosion in the bore.

About the same time, his experiments resulted in the successful manufacture of so-called mammoth and perforated-cake or prismatic gunpowder, both types being used by him in the testing of his large-bore cannon. A detailed description of his work is contained in his admirable book, Reports of Experiments on the Properties of Metals for Cannon, and the Qualities of Cannon Powder, published in 1861. His inventions were finally approved and adopted by the government in 1859, about fourteen years after their conception, and his methods were promptly utilized by the governments of Russia, Great Britain, and Prussia. Rodman was placed in command of the arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts, and during the Civil War, supervised the casting of twelve-inch, fifteen-inch, and twenty-inch smooth-bores, and of twelve-inch rifled guns. He applied his methods to the casting of projectiles, and greatly increased the capacity of his plant for making field and sea-coast artillery carriages. His guns were mounted by Captain Ericsson in the newly constructed monitors of the navy and many military authorities of the period held that Rodman's inventions had a pronounced deterrent effect in staying' foreign intervention during a critical period of the Civil War. His personal application and his interest in the success of his labors were so constant at this time that he suffered a severe illness as a result in the summer of 1864, recovering only with difficulty. In 1865, he was honored with the brevets of lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, for faithful, meritorious, and distinguished services in the ordnance department.

At the close of the war he was transferred to the command of Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, where, with characteristic energy, he perfected elaborate plans for the construction on a large scale of a combined armory and arsenal. Adequate Congressional appropriations were secured and the work was started when Rodman's health, already impaired, broke down under the strain of responsibility, and he died at his po st after a prolonged illness. He was survived by his widow, Martha Ann (Black) Rodman, daughter of a Presbyterian clergyman of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to whom he had been married in 1843, and by five sons and two daughters.

[Information from Mrs. Florence Rodman Butler, of Honolulu; W.W. Rodman, Notes on the Rodman Family (1887); G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register .. . U. S. Military Academy (1891); Army and Navy Journal, June 17, August 5, 1871; Orders from the Ordnance Office, War Department, Series 1871; New York Herald, June 8, 1871.]

C. D. R.



ROSECRANS, WILLIAM STARKE (September 6, 1819-March 11, 1898), soldier, was born in Kingston township, Delaware County, Ohio, the eldest son of Crandall and Jemima (Hopkins) Rosecrans. He was a descendant, in the sixth generation, of Harmon Hendrick Rosenkrans, who came to America about 1657. The family had been represented in Ohio since about 1809. His great-grandfather had served as a captain in the Revolutionary War, and his father with the same rank in the War of 1812. His mother was a descendant of Stephen Hopkins [q.v.], one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He received his preparatory education in the public schools, entered the United States Military Academy in 1838 and was graduated in 1842. He was commissioned brevet second lieutenant of engineers and his first duty was on the fortifications of Hampton Roads, Virginia. In 1843, after having been promoted second lieutenant, he was brought back to West Point, where he served four years as assistant professor in the departments of engineering and of natural and experimental philosophy. On August 24, 1843, he was married to Ann Eliza, the only daughter of Judge Adrian Hegeman of New York City. For the next ten years he was assigned to various posts in New England, and became a first lieutenant, but resigned his commission on April 1, 1854. He began civil life as an engineer and architect in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained for a year, and then was engaged in coal mining and river navigation in western Virginia. He returned to Cincinnati in 1857 as head of an oil refining company.

On April 19, 1861, he became a volunteer aide-de-camp to General McClellan, then commanding in Ohio. He was made colonel and chief engineer of the department of Ohio, and also appointed colonel of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in June, but almost immediately was commissioned brigadier-general in the regular army. In McClellan's campaign in western Virginia he commanded a brigade, and won the battle of Rich Mountain in July, one of the first battles of the Civil War. He succeeded McClellan as commanding general of the department of the Ohio, and later as chief of the new department of western Virginia, he continued the operations which ended, late in the fall, in the complete expulsion of the Confederate forces, and the formation of the state of West Virginia.

In May 1862, he commanded the left wing of Pope's Army of the Mississippi which formed a part of Halleck's command in a movement upon Corinth, the important railway junction of northern Mississippi. In June, when Pope was called east, Rosecrans succeeded him in command. His reduced force constituted the left wing of the army in the region of Corinth, now under the command of Grant, who had succeeded Halleck. Early in September the Confederate general, Price, moved up and occupied Iuka, on the Memphis and Charleston Railway twenty miles' southeast of Corinth. General Van Dorn, cooperating with him, was at Holly Springs, fifty miles southwest, and Grant planned to concentrate upon Price before the two Confederate forces could effect a junction. Rosecrans attacked Price, but fail ed to cut off his retreat to the south, and returned to Corinth. Price and Van Dorn joined forces and attacked his entrenched position there on October 3, 1862. The battle was hotly contested, and losses were heavy on both sides. The advantage was with the Confederates on the first day, but on the second they were decisively defeated and driven back to Holly Springs. Rosecrans followed, but was unable to bring the enemy to battle again. He was now promoted major-general of volunteers and ordered to relieve Buell in Kentucky, his command finally being reorganized a s the Army of the Cumberland, with three army corps.

After the battle of Perryville in Kentucky, the Confederate forces under General Bragg had fallen back into Tennessee and were concentrating at Murfreesboro. Rosecrans joined Buell's army on November 2, and, after reorganizing the army, advanced to Nashville where he remained for a month, accumulating supplies to provide against probable interruption of communications. Late in December he moved out again st Bragg, and the two armies met on Stone River, just west of the town, on December 29. Both moved to the attack two days later, each army advancing the left wing. Bragg gained the first success and rolled up the Federal right, but Rosecrans, by great exertion, established a new line which held against all attacks. Fighting continued for the next two days, and on January 3, 1863, Bragg retreated to Shelbyville, twenty-five miles south. Here the armies faced each other for six months, undertaking only minor operations.

On June 23 Rosecrans began an advance, and in nine days very skilfully maneuvered Bragg out of his positions at Shelbyville and Tullahoma, and back into Chattanooga. For some time Rosecrans had felt that he had been hampered in developing the efficiency of his command by the headquarters in Washington. During the six months of waiting at Murfreesboro there arose an unfortunate controversy between Rosecrans, Halleck, and Stanton over Halleck's offering a major-generalship either to Grant or to Rosecrans depending upon which of the two first won an important victory. A testy and untactful letter to headquarters, referring to this auctioning off of military honors, brought Rosecrans into decided disfavor in Washington. Now, as after the battle of Murfreesboro, Halleck constantly pressed Rosecrans to advance, and as before, Rosecrans steadily declined to move until he considered the time ripe. At last, on August 16, he came forward, made a feint up the Tennessee River above Chattanooga, then crossed in force below that place and maneuvered Bragg out of it. Rosecrans followed him, his lines greatly extended, but Bragg, having been reinforced, turned to face him and defeated him badly in the hard-fought and bloody battle of Chickamauga on September 19 and 20, 1863. Rosecrans had to fall back to Chattanooga where he was besieged. The disaster at Chickamauga was brought about on the field by an officer who executed to the letter an order from Rosecrans which was obviously in error and which opened up a wide gap in the Federal line.

The army was in a most desperate situation and all the resources of the North were turned to its relief. Strong reinforcements which Rosecrans had previously requested were now put in motion toward Chattanooga and Grant was placed in command of all the western armies. The error at Chickamauga cost Rosecrans his command. He was relieved on October 19, and was assigned to command the department of the Missouri. In December 1864, he was sent to Cincinnati, Ohio, to await orders, and remained on this status or on leave until March 28, 1867, when he resigned his commission in the regular army. On March 13, 1865, he received the brevet rank of major-general for his services at Murfreesboro. Rosecrans was generally regarded as an able commander and has been called the "greatest strategist of the war ... " (Cist, post, p. 235). He accomplished an incredible amount of work, and in campaign seemed to be able to do without sleep. He had a hot temper, which he was not always able to control, and was often hasty and indiscreet in speech. He especially resented interference from above with his plans, and seemed to persist the more obstinately in his own decisions. These characteristics brought him into conflict with his superiors, as in the Tullahoma and Chickamauga campaigns, and ultimately led to his relief. He was, however, well liked in the army and was affectionately called "Old Rosy" by the soldiers.

In 1868 and 1869 he was minister to Mexico. He returned to Ohio, declined the Democratic nomination for governor, and soon afterward went west to engage in mining operations first in Mexico and later in California. From 1881 to 1885 he was a representative in Congress from California, and became chairman of the committee on military affairs. By special act of Congress he was commissioned a brigadier-general on the retired list of the regular army, March 2, 1889. Upon leaving Congress he was appointed register of the treasury and served until 1893. He then returned to California and took up his residence on his ranch at Redondo, near Los Angeles, where he remained until his death. He took an active interest in civic affairs and was particularly energetic in trying to induce Americans to invest in Mexico. He was buried at Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, but was reinterred in 1902 with much ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D. C., the president being the principal speaker on the occasion. He was survived by three of his eight children. While at West Point he had been converted to the Roman Catholic church and converted his brother, Sylvester Horton Rosecrans [q.v.], to that faith.

[Allen Rosenkrans, The Rosenkrans Family in Europe and America (1900); Timothy Hopkins, John Hopkins ... and Some of his Descendants (1932); G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register ... Officers and Graduates, U.S. Military Academy (1891); Biographical Directory American Congress (1928); L. W. Mulhane, "Major-General Wm. Starke Rosecrans," Records of the American Catholic Historical Society, September 1924; Joseph Taggart, Biographical Sketches of the Eminent American Patriots (1907); H. M. Cist, The Army of the Cumberland, in Campaigns of the Civil War, volume VII (1882); War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army), passim; San Francisco Bulletin, March 11, 1898.]

O. L. S., Jr.



ROUSSEAU, LOVELL HARRISON (August 4, 1818- January7, 1869), soldier, congressman from Kentucky, was born near Stanford, Lincoln County, Kentucky, of inconspicuous parentage. His father, who had removed to Kentucky from Virginia, died in 1833 and left a large family with scanty resources. The boy managed to attend the common schools for a short time, but soon he was forced to the pounding of rock in the construction of the turnpike from Lexington to Lancaster. On becoming of age he settled in Louisville, where he took up the study of law, and, proceeding feverishly without the aid of a teacher for fourteen hours a day, he acquired a great deal of information but undermined his health. In 1840 he moved across the Ohio into Indiana and settled in Bloomfield, where he was admitted to the bar the next February,. He served as a Whig in the state House of Representatives during 1844 and 1845. On the outbreak of the Mexican War he became a captain in the 2nd Indiana Infantry. He participated in the battle of Buena Vista and was mentioned for gallantry in the engagement. On June 23, 1847, he was honorably mustered out, and four days after his return he was elected to the state Senate. However in 1849, a year before his term of office had expired, he returned to Louisville. His constituency refused to let him resign, so theoretically he still served Indiana.

In Louisville he established a reputation as an able criminal lawyer. In 1855 he helped to quell the riot that broke out there, incident to. the Know-Nothing movement. Five years later he was actively back in politics with a seat in the Kentucky Senate. So vigorous was his opposition to secession that he resigned from the Senate in 1861 and began to raise troops for the Union. To keep from violating the neutrality Kentucky had announced, he set up his training camp across the river from Louisville, in Indiana, and called it Camp Jo Holt. His efforts were largely responsible for saving the state for the Union. On September 9, he became colonel of the 3rd Kentucky Infantry, and on October 1 he was promoted to be brigadier-general of volunteers. He played a prominent part at the battle of Shiloh and later at Perryville so distinguished himself that he was promoted to be major-general of volunteers on October 8, 1862. He fought in the Chickamauga engagement and also in the battle of Nashville. He took part in many minor activities in Alabama, Mississippi, and western Tennessee. He was an excellent soldier, handsome in appearance, and beloved by his men. In January 1865 the Radical element in Kentucky supported him for the federal Senate, and he was barely defeated by James Guthrie. A few months later he was elected to the federal House of Representatives by a majority of almost a thousand votes. Shortly before the meeting of Congress he resigned from the army, on November 30, 1865. Forsaking his radicalism, within less than a month he was in the thick of the Reconstruction debates, boldly opposing the Freedmen's Bureau Bill and other legislation and policies that appeared to him extreme. As he listened to the vindictive speeches of his fellow members of Congress who had fought only with their tongues during the war, he lost his temper, and at times his better judgment, and made bitter comments. Josiah B. Grinnell, of Iowa, replied in a tone which greatly enraged him, and, upon the farmer's delay in offering an apology, in the corridors of the Capitol he beat the Iowan in the face with a cane. The House, urged on by Thaddeus Stevens, reprimanded Rousseau, whereupon he resigned his seat on July 21, 1866, and stood for reelection (Address of Hon. Lovell H. Rousseau to his Constituents, 1866). His Kentucky constituency returned him, and he served until March 3, 1867. The same month he reentered the army and was made a brigadier-general with the brevet rank of major-general in the regular army and was soon dispatched to Alaska to receive that territory from the Russians. The next year he was summoned to Washington to testify in the Johnson impeachment proceedings. He arrived too late, and on expressing a desire not to be returned to Alaska he was put in charge of the department of Louisiana. He died in New Orleans the following year and was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.

[American Annual Cyclopedia ... 1869 (1870); Lewis and R. H. Collins, History of Kentucky (2 volumes, 1874); Biographical Cyclopedia of ... Kentucky (1896); F. B. Heitman, Historical Register and Directory of the U.S. Army (1903), volume I; Kentucky Statesman (Lexington), January 14, 1869.]

E. M. C.



RUGER, THOMAS HOWARD (April 2, 1833-June 3, 1907), soldier, was born in Lima, Livingston County, New York, the son of Thomas Jefferson Ruger and Maria (Hutchins) Ruger. His father, an Episcopal minister, moved to Janesville, Wis., when the lad was thirteen years of age. The latter received academic schooling in preparation for the United States Military Academy and entered in his seventeenth year. As a cadet he was reticent and retiring, unusually diligent and careful of speech, and, though without college training, was graduated number three in the class of 1854. Within a year he resigned his commission in the corps of engineers to practise law at Janesville.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry, and became colonel a few months later. He participated creditably in the Maryland and Shenandoah operations of 1861-62, and distinguished himself at the battle of Antietam. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers on November 29, 1862, and ably commanded a brigade in the Army of the Potomac throughout the Rappahannock and Pennsylvania campaigns of 1862-63. At Gettysburg, where he succeeded to the command of a division, his brilliant service won him the brevet of brigadier-general, United States Army. On August 15, 1863, he was ordered to New York City to suppress draft riots. In the following October he was transferred to a brigade in the West, and took part in all of Sherman's operations. He commanded a division in the Tennessee campaign against Hood, and in the subsequent operations in North Carolina from February to June 1865. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers for his services at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864.

Following the war, he commanded the department of North Carolina for a year, and served as provisional governor of the state of Georgia from January to July 1868. He had been appointed colonel of the 33rd Infantry, Regular Army, on July 28, 1866, and was transferred to the 18th Infantry in 1869. During the years 1871- 76, he served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy, where he maintained a high standard of scholarship and discipline. Until the year 1878 he commanded the department of the South, and until 1885, the district of Montana-taking command during the latter year of the important infantry and cavalry school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He became a brigadier- general on March 19, 1886, and a major-general on February 8, 1895. He commanded various military departments during this period and successfully conducted an expedition against hostile Indians in the Northwest. He also suppressed serious railway riots in Sacramento and San Francisco, Cal. He was retired from active military service by operation of law on April 2, 1897, and spent two years traveling with his family on the continent of Europe. Upon his return, he made his home in Stamford, Connecticut, and lived the rest of his life very quietly in the enjoyment of his books and his garden. He was survived by his wife, Helen Lydia Moore, to whom he had been married in 1857, and their two daughters.

[Who's Who in America, 1906-07; G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register ... Officers and Graduates, U. S. Military Academy (1891); 0. 0. Howard, biographical sketch in Annual Reunion, Association of Graduates, U. S. Military Academy, 1908 (1908); J. D. Cox, The March to the Sea (1906), and Atlanta (1909), volumes IX and X in Campaigns of the Civil War; New York Times, June 4, 1907.]

C. D. R.



RUSSELL, DAVID ALLEN (December 10, 1820- September 19, 1864), soldier, the son of David Abel and Alida (Lansing) Russell, was born in Salem, New York. His father was a congressman from New York from 1835 to 1841. David was appointed a cadet to the United States Military Academy in 1841 and was graduated in 1845, number thirty-eight in a class of forty-one members. He was commissioned brevet second lieutenant in the 1st Infantry and assigned to duty at Fort Scott, Kansas, being promoted to the rank of second lieutenant on September 21, 1846. During the Mexican War he served in General Scott's army, participated in the battle of Cerro Gordo and minor engagements, and was brevetted first lieutenant for meritorious conduct. After th e Mexican War he served in garrisons and on frontier duty in Oregon and Washington where he was engaged in hostilities with the Yakima Indians in 1855 and 1856. He was promoted to first lieutenant on  January 1, 1848, and to the rank of captain on June 22, 1854.

At the beginning of the Civil War he served in the defenses of Washington, D. C. As colonel of the 7th Massachusetts Volunteers he commanded with distinction in the Peninsular and Maryland campaigns during the summer and autumn of 1862. He became a brigadier-general of volunteers in November 1862 and was assigned to the command of a brigade in the VI Corps in the Army of the Potomac, participating in the battle of Fredericksburg in December, and in the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. At Rappahannock Station, Virginia, on November 7, 1863, he led his brigade in a gallant charge against Confederate intrenchments which resulted in the capture of a large number of prisoners, some artillery, and eight battle flags. In recognition of his heroic services on this occasion, he was designated by General Meade to go to Washington and present the -captured battle flags to the secretary of war. He had also to recover from a wound which he had received in the charge. He resumed command of his brigade in January 1864 and continued in that capacity until May, when he was assigned to the command of a division. He fought in all the battles of Grant's Virginia campaign of 1864 from the Wilderness to Petersburg. Early in July 1864, his division accompanied the VI Corps in a hurried move to repel Early's raid on Washington and afterwards joined Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley. At Winchester on September 19, 1864, while leading one of his brigades at a critical moment of the battle, he received a wound in the breast. He concealed the wound from his men, and remained in the saddle, urging them forward, until, a little later in the day, he was killed by a fragment of shell which passed through his heart. For his gallant and meritorious conduct he was four times given brevet grades in the regular army, the last being that of major-general at Winchester. General Wright, in command of the VI Corps, wrote in his official report that Russell was "an officer whose merits were not measured by his rank, whose zeal never outran his discretion, whose abilities were never unequal to the occasion, a man tenderly just to his friends and heartily generous to his foes" (War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Army, 1 series, XLIII, part I, 151).

[G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register . .. Officers and Grads., U.S. Military Academy (1891); Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument on the Battlefield of Gettysburg (192 6); N. V. Hutchinson, History of the Seventh Volunteer Infantry (1890); Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1887-88), volumes III, IV; records of the Pension Bureau and Adj.-General's office, Washington, D. C.; Albany (New York) Evening ]our., September 26, 1864.]

S. J. H.



Source: Dictionary of American Biography, Volume VIII, Edited by Dumas Malone, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930.