James B. Ricketts

Gen. James B. Ricketts, c. 1861-1865

Library of Congress

Quick Facts

Significance:

US Army general

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

June 21, 1817

Place of Death:

Washington, DC

Date of Death:

September 22, 1887

Place of Burial:

Arlington, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Arlington National Cemetery

James B. Ricketts was a career US Army officer. He graduated from the US Military Academy. He served in the US-Mexican and Seminole wars. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was captain of Battery I of the 1^st U.S. Artillery.

First Manassas

Ricketts led his artillery at the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) in 1861. He was wounded four times, then captured by Confederate soldiers. His wife Fanny travelled into hostile territory to nurse her husband.

The Confederates used Ricketts as a hostage. They threatened to execute him if Confederates held by the US were convicted of piracy and hanged. This did not happen. After his release the Army promoted him to brigadier general.

Second Manassas, Antietam, & the Overland Campaign

Ricketts returned to the army in 1862 . He led infantry at the Second Battle of Manassas and Antietam, where he was again injured by a horse falling on him. He returned to field command 19 months later, leading a 6^th Corps division in the 1864 Overland Campaign.

Monocacy

At the Battle of Monocacy, Ricketts commanded the 3^rd division of the 6^th Corps. They engaged in the heaviest fighting of the battle. His division confronted Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's forces on the Thomas and Worthington farms. During this battle, Federal forces took roughly 1,300 casualties. Ricketts' division had the majority of the killed and wounded.

After holding the Confederate forces for nearly the entire day, the US troops fell back to Baltimore. US forces lost the battle, but were able to delay the Confederates long enough for the Army to reinforce Washington, DC, Ricketts rejoined the 6^th Corps in Washington, DC, to pursue the Confederates.

Shenandoah Valley Campaign

Ricketts then served in Gen. Philip Sheridan's Fall 1864 campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. At the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, Ricketts took temporary command of the 6^th Corps. While in that role, he took a bullet in his chest. Disabled by the wound, he left the army for treatment and did not return until April 1865.

Ricketts retired from the army in 1867, permanently affected by the injury he received at Cedar Creek. He died at his Washington, DC, home twenty years later.