Rains was rewarded for his contribution at Cumberland Gap by being appointed to and nominated for the rank of brigadier general on November 4, 1862. When Gen. Braxton Bragg was concentrating his army at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, that same month, Rains's brigade of troops from North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee traveled to Murfreesboro and was assigned to the division of Maj. Gen. John P. McCown in Hardee's Corps. At the Battle of Stones River on December 31, 1862, Rains was shot through the heart and killed instantly while leading his brigade forward in an attack against Union artillery. His last words were "Forward my brave boys, forward!" The Confederate States Senate had not acted to confirm Rains's nomination as brigadier general on the date of his death.