William Young Warren Ripley (December 31, 1832 – December 16, 1905) was a Union Army officer from Vermont in the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Malvern Hill.

Early life William Y. W. Ripley was born in Middlebury, Vermont, on December 31, 1832.Erik S. Hinckley and Tom Ledoux, They Went to War: A Biographical Register of the Green Mountain State in the Civil War, 2010, pages 15–16 He was educated at the Troy Conference Academy in Poultney (now Green Mountain College) and the Lima Institute, in Lima, New York.Rutland Historical Society Quarterly, Rutland’s Mayors, Volume XII, Number 2 (1982), page 20 He then began a career in Rutland at the Ripley family's marble business and the Ripley family-owned Rutland County National Bank.Rutland Historical Society Quarterly, The Last of the Rutland Ripleys, Volume XIX, Number 4 (1989), page 47

Military service Beginning in 1858, Ripley was a lieutenant in the Rutland Light Guards, a volunteer militia unit commanded by Horace Henry Baxter.Rutland County Historical Society, Proceedings of the Rutland County Historical Society, Volume 1, 1882, pages 26–27

Baxter subsequently became adjutant general of the Vermont Militia. In May 1861 Ripley entered the Union Army for the Civil War as captain and commander of the Rutland Light Guards, which was mustered in as Company K, 1st Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He served with the regiment in Washington, D.C. and Virginia during the entire three months of its service, including taking part in the Battle of Big Bethel.Otis Frederick Reed Waite, Vermont in the Great Rebellion, 1869, page 60Roy Martin Marcot, Civil War Chief of Sharpshooters Hiram Berdan: Military Commander and Firearms Inventor, 1989, page 108

In the Fall of 1861 Ripley joined the 1st United States Sharpshooters as lieutenant colonel and second in command.Henry Perry Smith, William S. Rann, History of Rutland County, Vermont, 1993, page 80 He took part in several battles, including the Battle of Malvern Hill in July 1862, at which he was seriously wounded. Ripley's wounds proved serious enough to prevent him from returning to the field.Charles Augustus Stevens, Berdan's United States Sharpshooters in the Army of the Potomac, 1861–1865, 1892, pages 528–529

In August 1862 he was appointed commander of the 10th Vermont Infantry with the rank of colonel, but declined because of the physical disability caused by his wounds.Rutland Historical Quarterly, Rutland in the Civil War (Part 1), Volume 41, Number 2 (2011), page 5

In 1864 he was appointed to command the 1st Division of the Vermont Militia with the rank of major general. The militia had an active role providing patrols and security within the state and along the border with Canada, particularly following the October 1864 St. Albans Raid. He served until a post-Civil War reorganization of the militia eliminated the division headquarters.Vermont Adjutant General, Annual Report, 1865, page 8

Medal of Honor At the Battle of Malvern Hill Ripley was commended for returning to the rear at a critical juncture in the fight to bring up two regiments that had been in reserve, which he then led into battle himself. He continued to fight until a bullet struck his leg and he had to be carried from the field.Robert G. Steele, With pen or sword: lives and times of the remarkable Rutland Ripleys, 1979, page 146

In 1893 Ripley was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Malvern Hill. The citation reads:

Later life After the Civil War Ripley returned to his family's business interests, operating the marble company with his brother Edward as Ripley Sons, and serving on the board of directors and as president of the Rutland County National Bank.American Bankers Association, Proceedings of the Convention of the American Bankers' Association, 1897, page 333Stone, an Illustrated Magazine, Vermont Monuments at Gettysburg, Volume 1, November 1888, pages 170–171

In 1867 Ripley was elected president of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers, succeeding George J. Stannard, who had been the organization's first president.Reunion Society of Vermont Officers, Annual Meeting Proceedings, 1885, page 473 He was also active in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States,Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Annual Meeting Proceedings, 1902, page 105 the Grand Army of the Republic,Don Wickman, Rutland Herald, Service Not Forgotten, November 10, 2006 and the Medal of Honor Legion.Medal of Honor Legion, Roster of the Medal of Honor Legion, 1898, page 15

In 1889 the Ripleys sold the marble business to the Vermont Marble Company, headed by fellow Civil War veteran Redfield Proctor.Stone, an Illustrated Magazine, The Vermont Marble Company and the Village of Proctor, Volume XIX, Number 6 (November 1899), page 521

A Republican, Ripley was a delegate to the 1868 Republican National Convention.Republican National Convention, Official Proceedings, 1903, page 42 In 1880 he was a presidential elector, and cast his ballot for the Garfield and Arthur ticket.Charles S. Forbes, The Vermonter magazine, History of the Republican Party, Volumes 9–10, (September 1904), page 70

The city of Rutland was organized separately from the town in the late 1800s, and Ripley served as the city's mayor from 1899 to 1900, succeeding Percival W. Clement.City of Rutland, Annual Report of the City of Rutland, Volumes 15–20, 1908, page 17

Ripley authored a history of his Civil War experiences, 1883's Vermont Riflemen in the War for the Union.William Y. W. Ripley, Vermont Riflemen in the War for the Union, 1861–1865, 1883, title page

Death and burial Ripley died in Rutland on December 16, 1905.Malone (N.Y.) Farmer, Death Notice, Wm Y. W. Ripley, December 20, 1905 He was buried in Rutland's Evergreen Cemetery.

Family William Y. W. Ripley was the brother of Edward H. Ripley. E. H. Ripley served in the Civil War as commander of the 9th Vermont Infantry Regiment. As a brevet brigadier general, he commanded brigades in the XVIII and XXIV Corps. He led some of the first troops to enter Richmond following the Lee's retreat, and warned Lincoln of a plot to assassinate him when he visited Virginia during the waning days of the war.Gerald Linderman, Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War, 2008, pages 310–311David Herbert Donald, Lincoln, 2011, page 577

Julia Caroline Dorr, the wife of Seneca M. Dorr, was the half-sister of William and Edward Ripley.The Vermonter magazine, The Vermonter, 1913, page 4

William Y. W. Ripley was married to Cornelia Ann Thomas Ripley. Their children included: Hastings Warren Ripley (January 30, 1871 – April 24, 1871); Mary Elizabeth Ripley Pease (1857–1936); William Thomas Ripley (1860–1893); Janet Warren Ripley Dorr (1863–1954); Thomas Emerson Ripley (1865–1956); and Charles Edward Ripley (1867–1893).Rutland Historical Quarterly, The Last of the Rutland Ripleys, page 49

Thomas E. Ripley was the father of author and screenwriter Clements Ripley.Vermont Historical Society, Description, Papers of Charlotte Clement Ripley (1864–1923), 2007, page 1

William Y. W. Ripley's sister Helen was the mother of John Ripley Myers.The Hamilton Review, Alumni Notes, March 1900, page 155Rutland Historical Quarterly, The Last of the Rutland Ripleys, page 47

The son of Clements Ripley, William Y. W. Ripley (1921–2013), called Warren, was a notable South Carolina newspaper editor and historian.Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier, Retired newspaper editor Ripley dies at 92, September 7, 2013

References

External links William Y. W. Ripley at Political Graveyard at