General John A. Rawlins: No Ordinary Man by Allen J. Ottens

Abstract

Reviewed by: General John A. Rawlins: No Ordinary Man by Allen J. Ottens Joan Waugh (bio) General John A. Rawlins: No Ordinary Man. By Allen J. Ottens. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2021. Pp. 577. Cloth, $35.00.) Allen J. Ottens, author of the first stand-alone biography of John A. Rawlins to appear in over one hundred years, is a professor emeritus of counselor education and supervision at Northern Illinois University and a lifelong student of the American Civil War. His volume is a well-researched and comprehensive depiction of Rawlins’s short (1831–69) but crowded life as a lawyer in Galena, Illinois; as Ulysses S. Grant’s top aide and staff adjutant from 1861 to 1868; and then, briefly, as President Grant’s secretary of war. It offers a fresh perspective on and welcome revision of Rawlins’s accomplishments as staff officer, his personal and family life, his relationship with Grant in history and in memory, and his vocal support for African American civil rights. The book’s early chapters document the forces that shaped the character of the boy and the man. John Rawlins was born in East Galena, Illinois, to a large and struggling working-class family. Northwest Illinois was rich in ore, and in his youth Rawlins labored in the charcoal pits that dotted the area, securing a solid if scattered education. Ambitious, he studied law in Galena with a local attorney and became a partner in the firm. He married Emily Smith of New York in 1856, purchased a house the following year, and soon was the father of three children. Rawlins imbibed from his mother a loathing of alcohol abuse, becoming “a sworn enemy of drink” (17). Rawlins was also an eloquent speaker on behalf of the Democratic Party and backed Stephen Douglas over Abraham Lincoln in the hotly contested presidential election of 1860. The swift and shocking dissolution of the United States spurred the twenty-nine-year-old to abandon mere party concerns and declare his fervent support for the Union cause. From this time, John Rawlins’s destiny was tied to that of Ulysses S. Grant, a former U.S. Army officer who had recently arrived in Galena to work in his father’s leather goods store. At first, the two men were only friendly acquaintances, but the thirty-nine-year-old Grant’s deft handling of the war’s early military organization in Galena drew Rawlins’s respect. In August 1861, Brigadier General Grant offered, and Rawlins accepted, a position as adjutant on his staff in Cairo, Illinois. Emily died of tuberculosis that same month, and a grieving husband was left to make funeral arrangements and to find a home for their children. Those distressing tasks completed, newly minted Captain Rawlins joined Grant and, because of his position as chief of staff to a rising commander, assumed an increasingly vital role throughout the war. [End Page 256] Rawlins proved adroit in mastering the headquarters’ load of paperwork involved in managing staff in the field offices. Grant typically drafted his own reports, which Rawlins fact-checked and supplemented, proving to be honest, efficient, and trustworthy. Ottens describes Rawlins as “dedicated, conscientious, compulsive—and always with a grip on circumstances at headquarters and on himself ” (166). A striking-looking man with a full black beard, Rawlins had a quick temper and was prone to outbursts of violent and colorful swearing. But his competence and loyalty were unquestioned and valued, and he was rewarded with promotion to major in 1862, later to lieutenant colonel, and finally to brigadier general in the regular army as chief of staff to Lieutenant General Grant. Grant was subject to attacks on his character and generalship at every step of his war career. Charges of drinking, incompetence, and a brutal indifference to death and suffering dogged him and affected his reputation after the war. Some journalists and disgruntled military officers contended that John Rawlins deserved much of the credit that Grant claimed. They insisted that he kept Grant abstemious and also provided the brainpower for Grant’s military campaigns. Ottens offers a nuanced and convincing description of the Grant-Rawlins relationship, dismissing outright that Rawlins dictated strategy to...