Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/187

Rh the West Indies, remaining there until the close of the war. He then returned to South Carolina, was elected a delegate to the State constitutional < i in- vention of 1868, and was a member of the state senate in 1S7O. He was elected a representative ln'iii Suuth Carolina to congress, as a Republican, to fill the vacancy caused by the non-reception of Benjamin F. Whittemore, serving from 4 March, 1869, till 15 Aug., 1876. He took part in the de- bate on the civil-rights bill, and was a member of the committee on freedmen's and Indian affairs. He was a conservative, and his political life was remarkably pure.

RAINS, Gabriel James, soldier, b. in Craven county, N. C., in June, 1803 ; d. in Aiken, S. C., 6 Sept., 1881. He was graduated at the U. S. mili- tary academy in 1827, assigned to the infantry, and served in garrison and against hostile Indians till the Mexican war, being promoted captain on 25 Dec., 1837, and brevetted major, 28 April, 1840, for gallantry in the action with the Seminoles near Fort King, Fla., where he routed a superior force, and was twice severely wounded. One of his in- juries was considered mortal, and several obituary notices of him were published. He was one of the first to be engaged in the Mexican war, being one of the defenders of Fort Brown in May, 1846. When the demand for the surrender of this post was made by Gen. Ampudia. Capt. Rains gave the deciding vote against compliance with it in a coun- cil of officers. After the battle of Resaca de la Palma he was ordered to the United States on re- cruiting duty, and organized a large part of the recruits for Gen. Scott's campaign. He became major on 9 March, 1851, and from 1853 till the civil war was on the Pacific coast, where he made a reputation as a successful Indian fighter, and in 1855 was a brigadier-general of Washington terri- tory volunteers. He was made lieutenant-colonel on 5 June, 1860, but resigned on 31 July, 1861, and joined the Confederate army, in which he was com- missioned brigadier-general. He led a division at Wilson's Creek, did good service at Shiloh and Perrysville, and after the battle of Seven Pines, where he was wounded, was highly commended by Gen. Daniel H. Hill for a rapid and successful flank movement that turned the tide of battle in favor of the Confederates. He was then placed in charge of the conscript and torpedo bureaus at Richmond, organized the system of torpedoes that protected the harbors of Charleston, Sa- vannah, Mobile, and other places, and invented a sub-terra shell, which was successfully used. At the close of the war Gen. Rains resided for some time at Augusta, Ga., but he afterward re- moved to Aiken, S. C. His death resulted from the wounds that he had received in Florida in 1H40. His brother, George Washington, sol- dier, b. in Craven county, N. C., in 1817 : d. in New- burg, 21 March, 1898, was graduated at the U. S. military academy, assigned to the engineers, but was transferred to the 4th artillery, and in 1844-'6 was assistant professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology at West Point. He served with credit during the war with Mexico on the staffs of Gen. Winfield Scott, and Gen. Pillow, and was bre- vetted captain and major for gallantry at Con- treras, Churubusco. and Chapultepec. Afterward he served on garrison and recruiting duty and against the Seminole Indians in 1849-'50, and was promoted captain, 14 Feb., 1856. On 31 Oct. of that year he resigned and became part proprietor and president of the Washington iron-works and the Highland iron-works at Newburg, N. Y. He en- tered the Confederate army in 1861, was eommis- sioned colonel, and was at once given the task of building and equipping a powder-mill. This he did under great difficulties, and created at Au- gusta, Ga., the Confederate powder-works, which veiv. at the close of the war, among the best in the world. He was promoted brigadier-general before 1865. Since 1867 he had been professor of chem- istry and pharmacy in the medical department "f the University of Georgia, and he was dean of the faculty till 1884. Gen. Rains had obtained three patents for improvements in steam portable en- gines. He had published a treatise on " Steam Portable Engines " (Newburg, N. Y., 1860) ; " Ru- dimentary Course of Analytical and Applied Chemistry " (Augusta, Ga., 1872) ; " Chemical Qualitative Analysis " (New York, 1879) ; a pam- phlet " History of the Confederate Powder- Works," which he read before the Confederate survivor*' as- sociation (Augusta, 1882), and numerous essays. Gabriel James's son, SEVIER McCLELAN, soldier, b. in 1851, was graduated at the II. S. military acad- emy in 1876, and killed in the action of Craig's Mountain, Idaho, with hostile Indians, 3 July. 1*77.

RAINS, James Edward, soldier, b. in' Na>h- ville, Tenn., 10 April, 1833; d. near Murfreesboro', Tenn.. 31 Dec., 1862. After graduation at Yale in 1854 he studied law, was city attorney of Nash- ville in 1858, and attorney-general for his judicial district in 1860. He was a Whig, and in 1857 ed- ited the " Daily Republican Banner." In April, 1861, he entered the Confederate army as a private, was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and made com- mandant of a garrison of two regiments at Cum- berland gap. In 1862 he was commissioned briga- dier-general. While ordering a charge at the battle of Stone river, 31 Dec., 1862, he received a bullet through his heart.

'''RAINS. John''', pioneer, b. near New river. Va., about 1750; d. in Nashville, Tenn., in 1821. In June, 1769, he was one of a party of hunters that penetrated as far west as Cumberland river, and returned with such glowing accounts of the coun- try as greatly aided James Robertson in forming a colony for its settlement. The colony, number- ing about 300, among whom were Rains and his family, arrived at the present site of Nashville in December, 1779. Rains had singular skill in wood- craft, and such prowess as an Indian fighter as to be generally given command in the many expedi- tions it was necessary to lead against the Chero- kees, who continually harassed the settlement. He had an intense love of the woods, and no great regard for the refinements of civilized society. His definition of political freedom was a state wherein every man did as he pleased, without encroaching upon the rights of his neighbor. Physicians and attorneys he considered the bane of civilized soci- ety. He once said : " All was health and harmony among us till the doctors came bringing diseases and the lawyers sowing dissensions; and we have had nothing but death and the devil ever since."

RAINSFORD, William Stephen, clergyman, b. in Dublin, Ireland, 30 Oct., 1850. His early education and training were obtained under tutors a) home. He was graduated at the University of Cambridge, England, in 1872, ordained deacon in 1ST- by the bishop of Norwich, and priest in 1875 by the same bishop. He was curate of St. Giles's church, Norwich, in 1872-'6, went to Canada in 1877, and was assistant rector of St. James's cathedral, Toronto, in 1878-'82. In 1883 he was called to the rectorship of St. George's, New York city, which post he still (1898) occupies, and is also chaplain of the 71st regiment National guard. He received the degree of D. D. from Trinity in