Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/217

Rh appointed secretary of war, 9 March, 1869, which office he held till his death. Before entering the army Rawlins had never seen a company of uni- formed soldiers nor read a book on tactics or mili- tary organization, but, he soon developed rare ex- ecutive abilities. During Grant's earlier career he was assistant adjutant-general, but as Grant was promoted and his staff became larger. Rawlins be- came chief of staff. Early after joining Grant. Rawlins acquired great influence with him. He was bold, resolute, and outspoken in counsel, and never hesitated to give his opinion upon matters of importance, whether it was asked or not. His relations with Grant were closer than those of any other man, and so highly did the latter value his" sterling qualities and his great abilities that, in a letter to Henry Wilson, chairman of the sen- ate military committee, urging his confirmation as brigadier - general, he declared that Rawlins was more nearly indispensable to him than any officer in the army. He was a man of austere habits, se- vere morals, aggressive temper, and of inflexible will, resolution, and courage. He verified, re-ar- ranged, and re-wrote, when necessary, all the state- ments of Grant's official reports, adhering as closely as possible to Grant's original drafts, but making them conform to the facts as they were understood at headquarters. While he did not originate the idea of running the batteries at Vicksburg with the gun-boats and transports and marching the army by land below, he was its first and most per- sistent advocate. His views upon such questions were sound and vigorous, and were always an im- portant factor in Gen. Grant's decisions concern- ing them. At Chattanooga he became an ardent advocate of the plan of operations devised by Gen. William F. Smith, and adopted by Gens. Thomas and Grant, and for the relief of the army at Chat- tanooga, and for the battle of Missionary Ridge, where his persistence finally secured positive or- ders from Grant to Thomas directing the advance of the Army of the Cumberland that resulted in carrying the heights. He accompanied Grant to the Army of the Potomac, and, after careful study, threw his influence in favor of the overland cam- paign, but throughout the operations that followed he deprecated the repeated and costly assaults on the enemy's intrenched positions, and favored the flanking movements by which Lee was finally driven to the south side of the Potomac. It has been said that he opposed the march to the sea, and appealed to the government, over the head of his chief, to prevent it : but there is no evidence in his papers, nor in those of Lincoln or Stanton, to support this statement. It is doubtless true that he thought the time chosen for the march somewhat premature, and it is well known that he opposed the transfer of Sherman's army by steamer from Savan- nah to the James river for fear that it would leave the country open for the march of all the southern forces to a junction with Lee in Virginia before Sherman could reach that field of action, and it is suggested that the recollection of these facts has been confused with such as would justify the state- ment above referred to, but which was not made till several years after his death. He was a devot- ed and loyal friend to Gen. Grant, and by far too good a disciplinarian to appeal secretly over his head to his superiors. His whole life is a refuta- tion of this story, and when it is remembered that Gen. Grant does not tell it as of his own knowl- edge, it may well be dismissed from history. Rawlins, as secretary of war, was the youngest member of the cabinet, as he was the youngest member of Grant's staff when he joined it at Cairo in 1861. He found the administration of the army as fixed bv the law somewhat interfered with by an order issued by his predecessor, and this order he at once induced the president to countermand. From that time till his death he was a great suf- ferer from pulmonary consumption, which he had contracted by exposure during the war; but he performed all the duties of his office and exerted a commanding influence in the counsels of the presi- dent to the last. A bronze statue has been erected to his memory at Washington. He was married twice. After his death provision was made by a public subscription of $50,000 for his family.

RAWSON, Albert Leigbton, author, b. in Chester, Vt., 15 Oct., 1829. After studying law, the- ology, and art, he made four visits to the Orient, and in 1851-'2 made a pilgrimage from Cairo to Mecca with the annual caravan disguised as a Mo- hammedan student of medicine. He also explored the Indian mounds of the Mississippi valley, and visited Central America in 1854-'5, publishing " The Crania of the Mound-Builders of the United States and of Central America." He travelled in the Hudson bay territories in 1863. Mr. Rawson has been adopted as a brother by the Ad wan Bedawins of Moab and initiated by the Druzes in Mount Lebanon, is a founder of the Theosophical society in the United States, and is a member of various literary, scientific, and geographical so- cieties. He has received honorary degrees, includ- ing that of LL. D. from Oxford 'in 1880. He has published many maps and has illustrated books from original sketches, including "The Life of Jesus," by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (New York, 1871), has executed more than 3.000 engravings, con- tributed to magazines, and is the author of " Bible Dictionaries" (Philadelphia, 1870-'5) ; "Histories of all Religions" (1870): "Statistics of Protestant- ism" (1870); "Antiquities of the Orient" (New York, 1870) ; " Vocabulary of the Bedawin Lan- guages of Syria and Egypt " (Cairo, 1874) ; " Dic- tionaries of 'Arabic, German, and English " (Leip- sic, 1876) ; " Vocabulary of Persian and Turkish Languages " (Cairo, 1877) ; " Chorography of Pales- tine " (London, 1880) ; a translation of " The Sym- posium of Basra" (1880); "Historical and Archae- ological Introduction to the Holy Bible " (New York, 1884): and "The Unseen World" (1888).

RAWSON, Edward, colonial secretary, b. in Gillingham, Dorsetshire, England, 16 April, 1615; d. in Boston. Mass., 27 Aug., 1693. He settled in Newbury, Mass., about 1636, was graduated at Harvard in 1653, and represented Newbury in the general court, of which he was clerk. For many years he was secretary of Massachusetts colony, and he was also chosen "steward or agent for the receiving and disposing of such goods and commodities as should be sent to the United colonies from England toward Christianizing the Indians." He is believed to have been one of the authors of a small book published in 1691, entitled "The Revolution in New England Justified." and signed " E. R." and "S. S." He published "The General Laws and Liberties concerning the Inhabitants of Massachusetts" (1660). His son, Grindall, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass.. 23 Jan., 165'J; d. in Mendon, Mass., 6 Feb., 1715, was graduated at Harvard in 1678, and was pastor of a church in Mendon from 1680 until his death. He was instructed by the commissioners for the propagation of the gospel, in 1698, to visit the Indians in New England. An account of this visit was published in the "Massachusetts Historical Collections" (1st series, vol. x.). Several interesting anecdotes are recorded of Rev. Grindall Rawson in connection with Cot-