- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
Find a Grave Emma Hurlburt Rawlins
It began at the Lum house after the surrender of Vicksburg and it would end a little more than 6 years later when John A. Rawlins would succumb to the illness that had taken his 1st wife in 1861. It was at the William Samuel Lum house where General Grant would set-up his headquarters and Lietenant Colonel Rawlins would meet a 22 year old (soon to be 23) Connecticut lady that had been sent south to be a governess. As she was a “northern” girl, she became the go-between to parley favors from the Union officers to get supplies and goods for the Lum family. At one point Lieutenant Colonel Rawlins said (after he saw he being escorted by Union soldiers) - - -
"I do not think it just the thing for a United States soldier wearing the United States uniform to be acting as coachman for a lot of rebel women."
By September 15, 1863 he would disclose to his friend James Harrison Wilson - - -
“the great interest which Miss Hurlbut had excited in him, and on my return to headquarters he confessed that he hoped to make her his wife.”
James Wilson continues his narrative - - -
“she was in every way worthy of him, he {Rawlins} had the best wishes of his family and friends, and especially of both General and Mrs. Grant. It was a pleasure to all to see this strong and rugged man softened and humanized by the smiles of a beautiful and interesting woman. It was a still greater pleasure to see him fairly made happy a few months later, by the union of her lot with his for life.”
They were married on December 23, 1863, and share almost 6 years together before tragedy would befall. More on their story can be found here - - -
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/gen-john-a-rawlins.104572/
John’s Letters to Emma
Photo Courtesy of National Archives
Old Wilderness Tavern, VA May 7, 1864 -
“We crossed the Rapidan on the 4th instant with the entire of the Potomac, without opposition, were met by the enemy at this place on the forenoon of the 5th and after a very sanguinary battle which closed only with the night of the 6th, found ourselves this morning masters of the field, the enemy having withdrawn.”
Towards the end of May he is stilled “filled with confidence in the superiority of their numbers”, as shown by this letter to Emma dated May 25th - - -
“I have every confidence, if the Government will keep up this army to its present numbers, all will go well and that before many months, perhaps weeks, Lee’s army will be defeated, and the last hopes of the Confederacy extinguished in the bloody storm that called it into existence.”
On May 31st he tells his wife this rather sad tale - - -
"I enclose you a rose bud from the yard of a beautiful residence just in rear of one of our batteries occupied by the 4th U.S. Artillery, and in front of a battery of the enemy, and from which residence, strange to say, the women folks - a mother, four grown-up daughters and several small children - refuse to go, but sought shelter in the cellar during the cannonading yesterday. The house was struck by canon shot and shell at least twenty times, and is marked much by bullets from the enemy’s sharpshooters. These women and children were requested by officers to leave, but they would not, and thought it very hard that the Yankees would put a battery where they did, thereby drawing the fire of the enemy upon them. I mention this to show you that war has not softened in any way its features since you looked it in the face at Vicksburg.”
Like a good husband, he does personal favors for his wife - - -
City Point, VA - July 18, 1864
“Enclosed I send you photograph with autograph of Major General Winfield S. Hancock, one of the best and most gallant of soldiers. Put it along side of the lamented Sedgwick in you album of heroes.”
His letters continue, during the winter of 1863/64, Rawlins developed a persistent cough. It was the onset of tuberculosis. This was a disease he was familiar with as his 1st wife, Emily died in August of 1861 from consumption/tuberculosis. As this is an infectious disease, it would not only kill him in a few years, unfortunately, his wife Emma would die from it in 1874. His letters to his wife begins mentioning his coughing during the summer of 1864.
Find a Grave Emma Hurlburt Rawlins
City Point, VA - June 17, 1864
"My health is still improving, and you may be assured no one seems less likely to be a subject of consumption than I. The doctors have all assured me that my lungs are not affected, and if you saw me now you would concur in their opinion.”
City Point, VA - July 22, 1864
“My cough is still annoying me, but I have a fresh gallon of very old Bourbon and a bottle of cod liver oil, but how I wish the necessity for its use no longer existed”.
This from a teetotaler as he had witnessed his father slip into alcoholism. His letter are filled with facts of each battle, camp life, the people (mostly from Washington) who cam visiting and always his health - - -
City Point, October 16, 1864
“Mr. Antrobus, the artist whom you met at Chicago and who painted the General’s portrait, is also with us. He is glad that he did not then get a sitting of me for the reason that I now look so much fleshier than then. I was weighed today and find that I am ten pounds heavier than my usual weight which is 155 pounds. I now weigh 165 and am daily getting heavier. My cough is also better.”
2 Day later he would write - - -
“Never since I used to work on the farm have I had such an appetite as now. My digestion is good and I have no doubt of my recovery.”
His health continues to be a concern as he writes - - -
City Point, November 22, 1864
“We must be patient, and content our minds to the performance of the duties demanded by the times in which we live. The privation consequent upon our being so much separated, an at times of sickness, too, when we could be of so much comfort to each other were we together, as will bear and submit to without complaint, knowing that in doing so we are but fulfilling the requirements made upon hundreds of thousands of our countrymen and countrywomen, and feeling too in so doing we are but filling the measure of service we owe our country.”
Public Domain
At some point in 1864 she would give birth to a daughter, Mary. Emma made a good friend in Julia Grant, and at times she was able to visit her husband at City Point, but there were times she was unable to visit as seen here - - -
City Point, December 11, 1863
“Mrs. Grant arrived yesterday morning. She had your letter, also your despatch, and is considerable disappointed that you did not come she says she thinks you must be a very considerate and obedient wife to ask your husband if you should come to see him, that she intended having your visit here as a surprise to me and the next time she sees you she intends to give you some instructions as to how manage me.”
His letters were faithfully sent and one of his last that was dated a few days before the surrender still speaks of his health, but also includes his "excitement of victory" - - -
Sutherland Station, April 4, 1865
“The evacuation of Richmond and the apparently great demoralization of Lee’s army have decided the General to follow it up to its final destruction, if possible to do so; hence it is not probably that I shall reach City Point for some time. So please, after visiting Petersburg and Richmond, make your preparations to return to Danbury. . . If we are brought to a halt by the enemy, or for the want of supplies, I may get to see you before you start home, which I desire so much to do. My health is much better than when lying still at City Point. The excitement of victory and of army life agrees with me . . . Don’t’ fail to write me often.”
His Death
John Aaron Rawlins died on September 6, 1869 in Washington, DC. He was 38 years old and left his wife Emma, and his 3 children from his 1st wife James, Jane (Jennie) and Emily. The children of of John and Emma, never lived more than a few years. Daughter Mary lived the longest, dying in 1869. Son Willie, born and died in 1867 and youngest daughter Violet was born August 17, 1869 and lived 17 days dying 3 days before her father.
At the time of his death he was serving as the 29th Secretary of War under his war time friend, General Grant, now President. For Emma it was an amazing time in her life. She had a “front row seat” to one of the greatest periods of American history, but the adversity she faced seems too much for one to bear. After her husband’s death, Emma eventually re-married a musician in 1872, and at that point, President Grant, as co-guardian of the Rawlins children, thought it best to send the children to be raised by their maternal grandparents. She traveled to Wyoming in hopes of a cure to her consumption, but died there in 1874. She was 34 years old. She was taken home to Danbury Connecticut and is buried in the Hurlburt family plot where her 3 children rest. John A. Rawlins is buried at Arlington Cemetery.
General Ely Parker gave the funeral oration in memory of John A. Rawlins
“The nation knew not the value of the rough diamond it possessed until it had passed beyond its reach. He had ever wished to die doing his duty, and his wish was gratified; and if his spirit still takes cognizance of the concerns of this earth and his country’s welfare, it is with a clearer view of the wise purposes of God in the conduct of human affairs, and that whatever is done is for the best.
Friend to truth! of soul sincere,
In action faithful, and in honor clear.”
In action faithful, and in honor clear.”
Sources
1. “The Life of John A. Rawlins” by James Harrison Wilson
2. http://www.battleofchampionhill.org/history/lum.htm
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14283969/mary-emeline-rawlins