Brigadier General James Ancil Shipton (March 10, 1867 – February 15, 1926) was a senior United States Army officer.

James Ancil Shipton was born in Ironton, Ohio on March 10, 1867, and was raised on a farm.

[1] On 26 July 1917, Brigadier General Shipton and two other officers, Captains Glenn Preston Anderson and George F. Humbert, departed for France with orders to "investigate the subject of antiaircraft defense as developed by the British and French at schools and at the front.

Shipton mainly concentrated his attention on logistical matters while Anderson and Humbert were heavily involved in the actual development of the service.

was "to protect our own forces and establishments from hostile attack and observation from the air" by keeping "enemy aeroplanes at a distance.

Shipton installed his first anti-aircraft defense system at Is-sur-Tille to protect Ordnance Depot No.

On June 8, 1918, GHQ approved a request to install air defense artillery at airfields that experienced aerial bombardment.

Nonetheless, the immediate post war era saw "the creation of a fledging organization manned by well-trained personnel" whose wartime efficiency was higher than French and British anti-aircraft gunners.

On September 14, as the division was engaged in combat, Shipton received orders to withdraw his brigade and proceed to another front.

He moved into Wright's headquarters and quickly set to work in bringing up French artillery to the front.

Bivouacking at le Faux Bois Nauginsard at 5:00 o'clock the following morning, the men of the brigade found themselves in a swampy wilderness.