Roswell S . Ripley Roswell Sabine Ripley ( March 14 , 1823 – March 29 , 1887 ) was an officer in the United States Army during the Mexican - American War and , despite being Northern - born , a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War . He was also an author and a prosperous South Carolina businessman . Early life and career . Ripley was born in Worthington , Ohio , a small village in Franklin County not far from Columbus . His family relocated to the state of New York , where he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy . He graduated in 1843 , ranking 7th out of 39 cadets . Other classmates in his year included Ulysses S . Grant , William B . Franklin , William S . Rosecrans , Samuel G . French and Franklin Gardner . He was assigned as a second lieutenant to garrison duty , as well as becoming an artillery instructor . Lieutenant Ripley served in the Mexican - American War on the staffs of Gen . Zachary Taylor and Gen . Gideon Pillow , seeing action at the battles of Monterey , Vera Cruz , Cerro Gordo , Contreras , Churubusco , Molino del Rey , Chapultepec , and the capture of Mexico City . For gallantry in action , Ripley was brevetted captain for Cerro Gordo and major for Chapultepec . He published a " History of the Mexican War " ( 2 vols . , New York , 1849 ) . He was engaged in the Second Seminole War in Florida in 1849 , where again he saw combat . Following the war , he was on garrison duty in various posts in the South , including Fort Moultrie on Sullivan ' s Island , South Carolina . Also living on the island was a wealthy widow , Alicia Middleton ( 1824 - 1899 ) , from Charleston . They married in 1852 . The novelist William Gilmore Simms was living on the island at the time , and tells of an incident during their courtship involving Ripley ' s boots and a barman . Alicia ' s uncle was Arthur Middleton Manigault , later a Confederate general . Ripley resigned from the army in 1853 and moved to Charleston to settle his wife ' s estates . From 1853 – 1854 he was the publisher , along with Charles G . Baylor , of the Baltimore Daily American Times . He later established a successful business , and , over time , Ripley became a supporter of states rights . He joined the South Carolina state militia and became a major of ordnance . Civil War . After South Carolina seceded from the Union , Ripley became a lieutenant colonel in the Army of South Carolina . He and his men helped garrison Fort Moultrie . He helped direct the fire from a battery during the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 13 , 1861 . On August 15 , 1861 , he was appointed as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and assigned command of the Department of South Carolina and its coastal defenses . From December 1861 until May 1862 , he had charge of the Second Military District of South South Carolina . Transferred to field command in Virginia , Ripley commanded an infantry brigade ( comprising two Georgia and two North Carolina regiment s ) in the defenses of Richmond , Virginia , in June 1862 . Assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia , Ripley ' s Brigade participated in the battles of Mechanicsville , Gaines Mill , and Malvern Hill during the Peninsula Campaign . Despite being depleted from recent fighting and illness , Ripley ' s Brigade fought in the Maryland Campaign at the Battle of South Mountain and the Battle of Sharpsburg in September 1862 . He suffered a severe wound in the neck at Sharpsburg , but soon recovered and rejoined the army . In November , he was involved in the defense of Fredericksburg . Criticized for his performance at Antietam , General Ripley in early 1863 returned to South Carolina and took charge of the First Military District . His men constructed a series of improved defenses around Charleston , and Ripley commanded the troops that repelled a Union Navy attack on April 7 , 1863 . He continued in command of Charleston ' s fortifications until the city was evacuated in late 1864 and fought under Joseph E . Johnston at Bentonville . Postbellum . After the war , Ripley , whose wife and daughter had left him , went abroad and resided in England for over twenty years . In the late 1880s , he returned to the United States and settled in New York City , where he died of a massive stroke . He was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston . His uncle , James Wolfe Ripley , had led the Federal troops in Charleston Harbor during the Nullification Crisis , and was the Chief of Ordnance of the U . S . Army during the first half of the Civil War .