Sold – President U.S. Grant Works to Support the Family of His Wartime Aide-de-camp, General John Ra

A fellow Galena, Illinois native, John A. Rawlins served as Grant’s aide-de-camp during the Civil War, and is credited for a mostly successful effort to keep his longtime friend sober and effective. He rose to the rank of brigadier general and U.S. Army chief of staff, and was appointed Secretary of War when Grant became President in March 1869. Rawlins died of tuberculosis on September 6, 1869, after only six months in office, and left a surviving second wife, along with three children from a previous marriage. Grant was named trustee of the benevolent fund established for the family and also served as executor for the Rawlins children.   

Document Signed as President, Washington, Nov. 27th 1869, a manuscript receipt for a $500 contribution to a fund to assist the family of Rawlins, received by former Union General Daniel Butterfield.   

“Received at the hand of Genrl. Butterfield, Five Hundred Dollars being the Subscription of Messrs. Benkard & Hutton to the Rawlins Fund.” The New York mercantile firm of Benkard & Hutton imported dry goods from France and was also a major force in the silk trade with the Orient. Accompanied by the imprinted transmittal envelope, franked by Grant’s secretary, former Union Brigadier General Horace Porter.