James Wolfe Ripley graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1814. Upon graduation he was commissioned a second lieutenant of artillery. He then was assigned to took part in the defense of Sacketts Harbor near the end of the War of 1812. He served in Florida under General Andrew Jackson during the Seminole War.
Between 1832–1833, he commanded the Federal forces in Charleston harborande was promoted to major of ordnance in 1838. Thereafter he served twelve years as Superintendent of the Springfield Armory (1842–1854) during which time he vastly improved the armory and the weaponry produced by the armory.
He was the driving force behind the development the 1855 model .58 caliber rifled musket, became the principal weapon for the Union infantry during the Civil War.
In 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil War, Ripley was appointed as the 5th Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army. He then modernizing the federal forces heavy artillery by ordering all smooth-bore cannons be rifled and purchased large quantities of parrot and ordnance rifled cannons.
However, historians are critical of his reluctance to equip the Union army with automatic rifles and machine guns. He claimed they would be problematic during battle. He was replaced as head of the Ordnance Department on September 15, 1863, mostly because of his opposition to the introduction of breech loading rifles.
Thereafter was became the inspector of fortifications on the New England coast until his death in Hartford, CT on March 16, 1870. He was buried in Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts.
The uncle of Confederate Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley, he was commissioned Brigadier General, US Volunteers on August 3, 1861 and served as Inspector of Armament of Forts of the New England Coast until 1869.