John Aaron Rawlins (February 13, 1831-September 6, 1869) A practicing lawyer prior to the Civil War. A close aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War, in which he attained the position of brevet major general. After the Civil War, Rawlins served as Secretary of War under President Grant from March 13, 1869 until his death from tuberculosis on September 6, 1869. Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822-July 23, 1885) Graduated from West Point in June 1843 and served with Zachary Taylor in the Mexican-American War from 1845-1847. Grant resigned from the Army in April 1854 and rejoined the Army in 1860 at the outset of the Civil War by organizing a volunteer infantry company in Galena, Illinois. In 1862 he was promoted to the rank of Major General. Following Grant's capture of Vicksburg in 1863, Tennessee, Lincoln promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general, a grade last held by�George Washington, and appointed him general in chief of all Union armies. After the Civil War, he served as interim Secretary of War under President Andrew Johnson from 1867 to 1868. Grant was elected President of the United States in 1868 and was reelected in 1872.
