He was admitted to the bar in 1891 and was a lawyer in private practice and prosecuting attorney for Fulton County, Illinois, from 1896 to 1900.

He served in the Spanish–American War, and was later in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1917 to 1919 and 1921 to 1934 and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

In this capacity, he investigated claims of subversion in the Army and he also oversaw dozens of courts-martial.

Chiperfield was elected simultaneously as a Republican to the Seventy-first and Seventy-second Congresses to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative-elect Edward J.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress