author
John Codman Ropes
1836–1899
A Boston lawyer who became one of the 19th century’s careful chroniclers of war, he brought a sharp legal mind to military history. Best known for his Civil War studies, he also helped found the law firm that became Ropes & Gray.
1 Audiobook
The Campaign of Waterloo: A Military History Third Edition
by John Codman Ropes
About the author
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 28, 1836, John Codman Ropes grew up in a Boston mercantile family and was educated at Harvard, graduating from Harvard College in 1857 and Harvard Law School in 1861. In 1865, he and John Chipman Gray founded the Boston firm that later became Ropes & Gray.
A spinal illness left him with a permanent disability and kept him from serving in the Civil War, but it also helped turn his attention toward military history. He became known as a rigorous student of campaigns and command decisions, writing on the American Civil War as well as on Napoleon’s campaigns. His books include The Army under Pope, The Story of the Civil War, and The Campaign of Waterloo.
Ropes was admired for treating military history with the care of a lawyer weighing evidence. He died in Boston on October 28, 1899, leaving behind a reputation both as a successful attorney and as a serious historian whose work helped shape how later readers understood war.