The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-09-11

Hon. John a. -Rawiins, Secretary Of War,
died at Warrington City, st four o'clock r. NJ.
on Monday. His sickness was consumption,
resulting from . cola contracted in the army
in 1858. For the last six month his health has
been improving up to Last week, when he was
taken with internal hemorrhages under which
he sank rapidly into death. President Grant,
Who had been telegraphed for the moment his
case became alarming, reached Washington an
hour aftcr his death. During the last few
hours of his illness, Gen. Rawlins expressed q
strong desire to see the President, asking IRE
qusutly, When win he comet" %g
0cn Rawlins leaves wife and two chill
dren. His wife, lying dangerously sick at
Danbury, Conn.,, was not with him at the time
Of bis death, and the sad event was announced
to her in telegram by President Grant. His
children arc both boys, quite young, to pro-
vide for whose education alone the Secretary
expressed adesire to live. At their special re-
quest, he gave them in charge of the officers
of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee,
to see that their education should be provided
for.
Gen. Rawlins was born at East Galena, Ill.,,
in 1SSo, and was, consequently, but thirty
nine years old at the time of his death. His
father did small business as charcoal burner,
was Of dissipated habits and in INDECENT cir
cuinstances, so that the youth of Gen. R. was
one Of cherries hard work, with little oppor-
tunity Of gaining an education except such as
was Afforded by few months attendance in
winter at the public school. At the age of
twenty-five, however, he had picked up edu-
cation enough to encourage him to adopt the
law - profession, and at that age he entered
the Office Of j. P. Stevens, ESQ, in Galena, as
student. He was admitted to the bar il
year, and then became the law partner of Mr.
Stevens. BY 1860 he had attained considera-
BILE eminence ct the bar; and being also
somewhat Of politician, and an ardent adj
mirer Of Stephen A. Douglas, he was placed
in 1860 upon the Douglas electoral ticket, and
as such made ar able canvas in his congress
sional district.
When, in 1861, Sumpter was fired upon, and
President Lincoln called for volunteers to fight
the rebels, Gen. Rawlins was among the first
to enlist. Entering the army as lieutenant,
he rose rapidly, and on the 18th of September
reported to Gen. Grant at Cairo, as Assistant
Adjutant General, with the rank of Captain.
From that time forth, until the close of the
war, his history is SO closely identified with
that of Gen. Grant, that his personality is
nearly lost in that of his chief The union
between the two was thenceforth as close as
that of body and soul. "There was not a
movement on the chess-bOard of war, on which
Grant was the player, which was not fore
known by Rrwlins. He it was who gave form
to the intentions of Grant who extricated
order from the ,angled ideas of his superior ;
who put into shape the conceptions of Grant !;
and who was to the G. leral what the belt
wheel is to the motive-power of the steam
engine. He it was who communicated to the
complex machinery of the war the power
which Grant originated"
When Gen. Grant was transferred from the
West to the Potomac, Gen. Rawlins was trans
ferred with him as his chief of staff; and
when, at the close of the war, the Office of
General of the Armies " was conferred upon
General Grant, Rawlins by the same act was
promoted to the position of chief of staff of
the armies. When Grant became President,
he was no more able to get along without the
counsel of Rswlins than he was in the army,
and he gave him the position in the cabinet
that brought him into the most intimate rels-
tons with him-the Office Of Secretary of War.
His administration Of that department, like
that of every other position he held, was
marked by laborious industry, rigid economy,
great ability, and better than these. an honest
purpose. Gen. Rawlins was man whom the
country can lilly spare. 1t is only now, when
the grave has closed over him, that the coun-
! try will examine his record, and learn, for the
first time, how faithful and valuable servant
it has lost. When this examination shall take
place, there will then be given to his memory
that love, respect, admiration and apprecia.
ton which should have been his in life.
State Agricultural Society.
The State Fair commences at Decafnr Sem