page_title: John Aaron Rawlins
section_title: Approval of Brooklyn Bridge construction
hierarchical_section_title: John Aaron Rawlins / Secretary of War (1869) / Approval of Brooklyn Bridge construction
context_page_description: John Aaron Rawlins was a general officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a cabinet officer in the Grant administration. A longtime confidant of Ulysses S. Grant, Rawlins served on Grant's staff throughout the war, rising to the rank of brevet major general, and was Grant's chief defender against allegations of insobriety. He was appointed Secretary of War when Grant was elected President of the United States.
  Rawlins was a self-made man who overcame an impoverished family background, scanty education, and an absentee father who was prone to drink. After studying law, Rawlins passed the bar in 1854 and started a practice in Galena, Illinois. He was a Douglas Democrat at the outbreak of the Civil War; a noted public speaker, he gave a notable pro-Union speech at the start of hostilities, and he soon became close friends with Ulysses S. Grant, a Galena resident, United States Military Academy graduate, and Mexican–American War veteran who had served in the Army for 11 years. Rawlins persuaded Grant to drill and muster a local volunteer militia company and send them to the state capital in Springfield so they could be inducted into federal service.
context_section_description: One of Rawlins' last and most complicated acts as Secretary of War was the approval of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, a steel suspension bridge to connect the borough of Manhattan and the then independent city of Brooklyn over the East River.  Controversy ensued when shipping interests demanded a high grade of the bridge to allow large ships to pass under, while the bridge construction company demanded a lower bridge span.  Although Rawlins was severely ill he took several days minutely and carefully going over the construction plans to settle the matter. The bridge company desired a maximum 130 feet height while the shipping interests wanted a minimal 140 feet height. In front of both shipping and bridge representatives, Rawlins fixed the maximum height of the Brooklyn Bridge at 135 feet above the East's high water mark. The bridge company was prohibited from giving a different order of approval of the bridge's construction. Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge followed several months later, but Rawlins condition was terminal and he did not have long to live. The Brooklyn Bridge was finally completed in 1883 under much celebration and is one of the oldest working bridges in the United States.
caption: Celebration opening night of the Brooklyn Bridge, 1883
exif: {}