The family subsequently moved the short distance into Washington, D.C., and George entered the Military Academy in 1814 at the unusually early age of 12.

He returned to peacetime responsibilities as the commandant of several arsenals until assigned to serve on the Ordnance Board on the eve of the Civil War.

When in September 1863, Ramsey was named to replace Brigadier General James Ripley as Chief of Ordnance, he was serving as Commandant of the Washington Arsenal.

A friend of President Lincoln's, he was selected for his new post over the objections of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who had previously been irritated by Ramsay's independence, and who preferred the appointment of Captain George T. Balch.

[citation needed] He was interred at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.[3] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army.