James S. Rains

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For the Confederate general killed at the Battle of Stones River, see
James E. Rains
.

James S. Rains
Birth nameJames Spencer Rains
BornOctober 2, 1817
Tennessee (probably Warren County), US
DiedMay 19, 1880(1880-05-19) (aged 62)
Kaufman County, Texas, US
Buried
Seagoville, Texas, US
32°39′19.5″N 96°33′23.0″W / 32.655417°N 96.556389°W / 32.655417; -96.556389
AllegianceMissouri (Confederate)
Service/branchMissouri State Guard
Years of service1861–1862, 1864
RankBrigadier-General
Commands held8th Division, Missouri State Guard
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
RelationsEmory Rains (brother)

James S. Rains (October 2, 1817 – May 19, 1880) was a senior

California Gold Rush. He was appointed to command of the 8th Division of the MSG in May 1861, and may have commanded all MSG forces at the Battle of Carthage later that year. In August, his men were routed at the Battle of Dug Springs
, an incident which became known as "Rains's Scare".

He saw further action in the battles of

Grange movement and the Greenback Party, losing the 1878 election for Lieutenant Governor of Texas as a Greenback candidate. While campaigning for the Greenbacks in the 1880 United States presidential election, he died on May 19, of apoplexy
.

Early life and career

James Spencer Rains was born on October 2, 1817,[1] within the state of Tennessee. Historian Bruce S. Allardice believes that his birthplace was most likely in Warren County. Alexander Duncan was his uncle,[1] and Emory Rains was his brother. By 1840, he resided in Newton County, Missouri.[2] He took up farming in Newton County and Jasper County,[1] and spent much of his life near Sarcoxie.[3] He served in the militia and was a judge in Newton County from 1840 to 1842.[1]

Having a significant interest in politics,

general in the California militia.[1]

Returning to Missouri in 1852, he re-entered politics.

1860 United States Presidential Election, and developed ties with the breakaway Confederate States of America. He refused an election to the United States Congress in 1861 due to his pro-Confederate sympathies.[2]

American Civil War

Recruiting and Carthage

Main article: Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War
Map of the geographic divisions of the Missouri State Guard. Rains commanded the   8th District.

After the Camp Jackson affair in May 1861 galvanized Missouri secessionists, and the state government created the pro-secession Missouri State Guard (MSG), a militia organization. Rains was appointed to command the 8th District of the MSG.[5] Rains' brigadier general's commission dated to May 18. Rains was an effective recruiter, but proved to have little military talent. One of Rains' friends stated that he was "profoundly ignorant of everything related to military affairs"[1] and historians William Garrett Piston and Richard W. Hatcher refer to him as "the poorest commander in the Missouri State Guard".[6] Historian Thomas W. Cutrer described Rains as "manifestly incompetent".[7]

After the Missouri State Guard was defeated by Union Army forces at the Battle of Booneville, MSG commander Sterling Price ordered Rains and Brigadier General William Y. Slack to form their commands at Lexington, Missouri, and then head south.[8] Rains was in overall command of the column southbound from Lexington, as he had recruited the majority of its men.[9] The troops marched to Lamar in the southwestern portion of the state.[10]

On July 5, the

Governor of Missouri Claiborne Fox Jackson was in nominal command of the MSG, but allegedly turned over command of the force to Rains despite several other officers having more military experience than him, supposedly due to the fact that Rains led the largest MSG force on the field.[12] The MSG held good terrain, although this was more by accident than tactical planning, and Rains positioned himself on the far right of the MSG line, where even if he was in command of the whole MSG force, he would only be able to command the cavalry of his own force. In the words of historians David C. Hinze and Karen Farnham, Rains was "unable to conceptualize battle beyond a regimental scope" and "did little to help the confused situation and in fact made it substantially worse".[13]

During the fighting at Carthage, Rains personally led a 250-man

outflank the Union line,[14] Rains' cavalry was pounded by Union artillery fire, and he halted his troops in some woods to reform. Seeing Union forces retreating but isolated from the rest of the MSG, Rains decided to move his men south to try to cut off the Union retreat.[15] Later in the battle, Rains' force became the only MSG unit with a chance of cutting off the Union retreat, but Rains halted the unit so that he could go find the rest of the MSG and confer with other officers.[16] He was eventually unable to prevent the Union forces from reaching the Spring River; Hinze and Farnham blame the failure to cut off the Union retreat on inept leadership of the MSG cavalry.[17]

Dug Springs, Wilson's Creek, and Lexington

The fighting at Dug Springs

On August 2, Rains' men were

Wilson's Creek on August 6.[19] Along with several other MSG officers, Rains joined Price on August 9 in pushing McCulloch to order an attack for the next day.[20] Early in the morning of August 10, Rains was informed that a forage train had sighted Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon's Union forces advancing against the camp. Rains sent messengers to Price and McCulloch; the Battle of Wilson's Creek was about to begin.[21]

The first major response to Lyon's approach resulted from the individual initiative of one of Rains' subordinates,

Jayhawkers. Rains made it to Stockton, where he incorrectly determined that the Kansans were more than his force could handle, so Price brought up the rest of the MSG and defeated them in the Battle of Dry Wood Creek on September 2.[26]

Price continued north with the MSG to Lexington, which Rains' men reached on September 13. After brief fighting, Rains' men withdrew, but Price, after receiving ammunition supplies, surrounded the Union garrison on September 18. Rains' division was on the east side of the Union position in the

Siege of Lexington.[27] The garrison surrendered on September 19 after the MSG advanced up the hill, pushing waterlogged hemp bales in front of them as protection.[28]

Later service

In early March 1862, Rains' MSG division fought in the

Major General Thomas C. Hindman pushed Confederate forces into northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri in August 1862, Rains commanded his infantry force, which was stationed at Elkhorn Tavern.[31] On September 10, when Hindman had to return to Little Rock, Arkansas, Rains was placed in command in Hindman's absence, with orders to hold the line and not begin an offensive.[32] According to historian William L. Shea, Rains spent his time in command at Elkhorn Tavern "playing cards and consuming copious amounts of whiskey".[33]

Union attacks in September and October drove the outlying Confederate cavalry back, with Rains and the infantry making a difficult withdrawal across the

Missouri Expedition, where he recruited.[2] When Price's campaign ended in failure, Rains took his recruits to Arkansas,[30] where they entered Confederate service.[2]

Later life and death

After the war, Rains first lived in

Grange movement in the 1870s and joined the Greenback Party. As the Greenback candidate, he lost the 1878 election for the Lieutenant Governor of Texas. In 1880, he campaigned for the Greenbacks in the United States Presidential election.[2] He was selected to be a delegate to the 1880 Greenback National Convention, but died on May 19, 1880, at his home in Kaufman County,[30] due to apoplexy.[2] He was buried in Seagoville, Texas.[30]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Allardice 1995, p. 190.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sanders, Justin M. (April 30, 2019). "Rains, James Spencer (1817-1880)". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  3. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, p. 53.
  4. ^ a b Hinze & Farnham 2004, p. 54.
  5. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, pp. 35–38.
  6. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, p. 38.
  7. ^ Cutrer 2017, p. 142.
  8. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, p. 81.
  9. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, p. 55.
  10. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, p. 78.
  11. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, pp. 106–107, 112–113.
  12. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, p. 115.
  13. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, p. 127.
  14. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, pp. 134–136.
  15. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, pp. 151, 153.
  16. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, pp. 172–173.
  17. ^ Hinze & Farnham 2004, pp. 173–175.
  18. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, pp. 139–141.
  19. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, pp. 156–157.
  20. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, p. 161.
  21. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, pp. 192–193.
  22. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, p. 196.
  23. ^ Castel 1993, p. 42.
  24. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, p. 275.
  25. ^ Piston & Hatcher 2000, p. 287.
  26. ^ Castel 1993, pp. 49–50.
  27. ^ Castel 1993, pp. 50–51.
  28. ^ Castel 1993, pp. 54–55.
  29. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, pp. 197–198, 201, 203.
  30. ^ a b c d e f g Allardice 1995, p. 191.
  31. ^ Bearss 1966, p. 284.
  32. ^ Bearss 1966, p. 286.
  33. ^ Shea 2009, p. 26.
  34. ^ Cutrer 2017, pp. 142–143.
  35. ^ Christ 2010, pp. 31–32.
  36. ^ Shea 2009, p. 53.

Sources

External links
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