Rawlins, John Aaron

Life Span
to
    Full name
    John Aaron Rawlins
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    2
    No. of Children
    5
    Family
    James Dawson Rawlins (father), Lovisa Collier (mother), Emily Smith (first wife, 1856),  Mary E. Hurlburt (second wife, 1867)
    Occupation
    Military
    Attorney or Judge
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Democratic
    Government
    Grant Administration (1869-77)
    Local government
    Military
    Union Army
    US military (Post-Civil War)

    John Aaron Rawlins (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Although a Democratic presidential elector in 1860, [Rawlins's] impassioned patriotism in 1861 attracted the attention of fellow townsman Ulysses S. Grant, who, when appointed brigadier general in August, offered Rawlins a staff position…. Rawlins's career intertwined with that of Grant for the rest of his brief life. Appointed adjutant with the rank of captain of volunteers, he was promoted to major (May 1862) after the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. He then served as lieutenant colonel (November 1862-August 1863) during the Vicksburg campaign and was appointed brigadier general after Vicksburg fell. As adjutant he headed Grant's staff throughout the war, a position recognized formally when he was confirmed as brigadier general in the regular army in March 1865 to fill the newly created post of chief of staff to the commanding general. As chief of staff Rawlins organized headquarters paperwork, issued orders in his commander's name, and maintained offices in the field. He wrote clumsily, and Grant sometimes actually drafted orders for him to sign. Grant invariably drafted his own reports; Rawlins merely inserted copies of pertinent correspondence and verified facts and dates.
    John Y. Simon, "Rawlins, John Aaron," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00828.html.
    How to Cite This Page: "Rawlins, John Aaron," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/12284.