[James Brewerton]. American general, born in New York, on the 21st of June 1817. He graduated at West Point in 1839 and entered the artillery service. He was engaged in frontier duty until the Mexican war, in which he served with distinction at Monterey and Buena Vista. He was again employed on the frontiers and in 1859 had an engagement with the Mexican bandit Cortinas. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was placed in command of a battery of rifled guns, which he used skillfully at the battle of Bull Run. But being severely wounded, he was captured and for eight months was a prisoner in Richmond. His commission as brigadier-general was made to date from the battle. He commanded a division in the Third corps of Gen. Pope’s army, and was wounded in the second battle of Bull Run. At Antietam, when Gen. Hooker was wounded, Ricketts succeeded to the command of his corps. He was engaged in the subsequent campaigns against Richmond and in the Shenandoah Valley, and reached the rank of major-general. He was retired from active service in 1867, and served in courts-martial for two years longer. He died at Washington, DC, on the 22nd of September 1887.
