Background
Isaac Ridgeway Trimble was born in Culpeper, Virginia, on May 15, 1802. He was the son of John and Rachel Ridgeway Trimble. His family moved to Kentucky shortly after Isaac's birth.
West Point, New York, United States
In 1822, Trimble graduated seventeenth in a class of twenty from the United States Military Academy.
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1837
Isaac Ridgeway Trimble was born in Culpeper, Virginia, on May 15, 1802. He was the son of John and Rachel Ridgeway Trimble. His family moved to Kentucky shortly after Isaac's birth.
In 1822, Trimble graduated seventeenth in a class of twenty from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned in the artillery.
Isaac Ridgeway Trimble was commissioned a second lieutenant in the artillery. His principal service as a subaltern was on the survey of a road from Washington to the Ohio River. About this time the development of railroads in the United States offered an attractive field to young West Point graduates and many resigned from the army to engage in this work, among them six members of Trimble's class, including himself.
His own resignation took effect on May 31, 1832, and for three years he was an assistant engineer on the Boston and Providence Railroad. Thereafter, he was chief engineer successively of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad, the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore, and the Philadelphia & Baltimore Central, and from 1859 to 1861 general superintendent of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad.
At the beginning of the Civil War, he took an active part in obstructing the movement of Union troops to Washington by burning bridges north of Baltimore. In May 1861 he went to Virginia and received a commission as colonel of engineers in the state troops. On August 9, 1861, he was commissioned brigadier-general in the Confederate service and in September was charged with the construction of batteries on the Potomac River to prevent the passage of United States vessels.
In 1862 he was assigned to the command of a brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia and was charged with the removal of the stores from the depot at Manassas Junction when the army was withdrawn to meet McClellan on the Peninsula. Trimble's brigade remained on the Rappahannock as a part of Ewell's division.
It took part in Jackson's famous operations in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 and did conspicuous service in the battles of Winchester and Cross Keys. After this campaign, it took part in the Seven Days' battles in the vicinity of Richmond. In the campaign against Pope's army in northern Virginia in 1862, Trimble's command saw action in the battle of Cedar Mountain, the engagement at Hazel Run, and in Jackson's march around Pope to Bristoe Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Jackson reached this station at dark after a forced march of some twenty-five miles under an August sun. The Union depot of supplies at Manassas Station was about seven miles away, but Jackson was unwilling to order his infantry to proceed any farther that night. When, however, Trimble volunteered to take part in his brigade and advance on Manassas, Jackson gladly acquiesced, and the depot was captured at dawn of Aug. 27 by Trimble assisted by J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry.
In the battle of Manassas that followed Trimble was so seriously wounded that he was unable to perform field service for many months. In October of that year when Jackson was promoted to command a corps he recommended that Trimble be commissioned major-general and placed in command of his old division.
Trimble returned for duty in 1863 just as the Gettysburg campaign opened, and on June 18 was assigned by General Lee to the command of the troops in the Shenandoah Valley. He led his troops in this campaign as far north as Carlisle, Pa. , where he received orders to return. On the second day at Gettysburg, he was assigned to the command of a division in Hill's corps, of which the commander, Gen. William D. Pender, had been seriously wounded. With two brigades he took part in the third day's attack in support of Pettigrew's division on Pickett's left. In this engagement, he was seriously wounded, lost a leg, and was left a prisoner when the Confederate army retreated. The Union authorities, remembering the part he had played early in the war in obstructing troop movements and fearing his influence in the important border state of Maryland, did not permit his exchange until February 1865. He was on his way to join Lee when the latter surrendered at Appomattox.
After the war, he made his home in Baltimore, where he died in 1888.
Quotes from others about the person
"Of all the soldiers whom Maryland furnished to the Southern Cause, General Trimble performed the most distinguished services, obtained the highest rank, and won the greatest name."
Isaac Trimble was twice married. His first wife was Maria Cattell Presstman, who died in 1855. His second wife was Maria's sister, Ann Ferguson Presstman. By his first marriage, Isaac had two sons, David Churchill Trimble and William Presstman Trimble.