The Life of John A. Rawlins,: Lawyer, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff, Major General of Volunteers, and Secretary of War

Wilson, James Harrison

The Neale Pub. Co, 1916

Bound in publisher's navy cloth, with gilt lettering. Minor cover wear. Hardcover.  Good binding and cover. Clean, unmarked pages. 514 p. Portrait frontis. Wilson provides the only competent biography of Grant's chief of staff and right-hand man on the battlefield." - Eicher 557; Nevins II, page 101. Howes W528.  

John Aaron Rawlins (1831-1869), was a lawyer from Galena, IL, who was instrumental in the career and success of Gen. U.S. Grant. In Galena he gave a rousing speech at a recruitment meeting the cemented Grant's determination to fight for the Union. Rawlins joined Grant as his Chief of Staff and personal confidant. He had a principal role in all of Grant's campaigns. Ron Chernow's recent biography of Grant gives Rawlins the vital, and underappreciated role, as the guardian of Grant's sobriety. Rawlins was promoted to a Brevet Major General in the Union army. He later served as President Grant's Secretary of War, a post he held until his death in 1869, when he succumbed to tuberculosis, a disease he contracted while serving in the field with Grant. Rawlins was only 38.

Early signature of Addie L. Baker, Cambridge, Mass & Washington D.C. 

From the library of Richard J. Sommers. Dr. Sommers was a military historian at the U.S. Army Military History Institute. Sommers authored a number of books on the Civil War, notably The Siege at Petersburg, and taught for 44 years.