Eleazar Wheelock Ripley American Lundy’s Lane

Eleazar Wheelock Ripley was born in New Hampshire in 1782. He moved to Massachusetts to pursue a career in law and ended up serving as a state senator. Despite the general unpopularity in his state regarding a war with Britain, Ripley was a vocal supporter of a declaration of hostilities. President Madison thus appointed him as a lieutenant colonel. Ripley’s reputation increased after successfully marching his troops four hundred miles to Plattsburg. In spring of 1813, he was promoted to colonel and was injured in an explosion at Sacket’s Harbour. Ripley spent the rest of 1813 in convalescence but remained active in recruiting for the army. By the summer of 1814, Ripley was a general serving in the Niagara region under Jacob Brown. From the start Ripley was against Brown’s planned invasion of the Niagara peninsula; he thought the force was too small to make any lasting impact on Canadian soil. This caused considerable strain between the two men with Brown becoming convinced that Ripley was unreliable. This was not at all the case and during the campaign, Ripley performed valiantly, notably at Lundy’s Lane where his men came to the rescue of Winfield Scott’s battered troops and when they captured several pieces of British artillery from a hill near the battlefield. He received little recognition for his efforts. After the war Ripley practiced law in New Orleans having resigned from the army. He went on to support Andrew Jackson’s successful presidential nomination and was himself elected to Congress in 1834. He was ill for much of his later years and died in March of 1839.