CIVIL WAR COLONEL SIOUX INDIAN CUSTER KILLERS 2d CAVALRY RAWOLLE DOCUMENT SIGNED

Description

RARE
DOCUMENT SIGNED
by Civil War Hard-Fighting Colonel and Sioux Indian Wars Captor of Custer’s Killers!
WILLIAM CHARLES RAWOLLE
(1840 – 1895)
CIVIL WAR BVT
LT. COLONEL
US VOLS, FOR SERVICE IN THE WEST INCLUDING THE CAVALRY CAMPAIGN IN EAST TENNESSEE, EXPEDITION IN NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI and FOR GALLANT, DARING AND GOOD CONDUCT IN THE
BATTLE OF BRICES CROSS ROADS, MISS
.,
CIVIL WAR BVT MAJOR
VOLS, FOR GALLANT and MERITORIOUS SERVICE IN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC FROM AUG. 1862 to JAN 1863 INCLUDING THE
BATTLES OF 2
d
BULL RUN, VIRGINIA, SOUTH MOUNTAIN and ANTIETAM, MARYLAND, WARRENTON, SULPHER SPRINGS and FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA
,
CIVIL WAR CAPTAIN
“
L
” Co.,
2
nd
NEW YORK HEAVY ARTLILLERY, and REGIMENTAL ADD’L AIDE-DE-CAMP TO BRIGADIER GENERAL SAMUEL D. STURGIS
-&-
SIOUX INDIAN WARS CAPTAIN
“B,” “E”
and “
K
” Co.,
2
nd
UNITED STATES CAVALRY LIEUTENANT, RQM and REGT. ADJUTANT, 1868—1895 – COMMANDING THE REAR GUARD OF “
E
” Co., 2
nd
CAVALRY AT THE
BATTLE OF POWDER RIVER
ON MARCH 14, 1876, WHERE HE WAS WOUNDED-IN-ACTION and COMMANDING “
B
” Co., ARRIVING AT THE BATTLE OF
LITTLE BIG HORN
TOO LATE TO SAVE GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER, BUT WAS ENGAGED IN THE ENSUING SKIRMISH TO SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURE THE SIOUX INDIAN WARRIOIRS RESPONSIBLE FOR GEN. CUSTER and THE
7
th
REGIMENT CAVALRY OFFICERS’ DEATHS
!
Col. Rawolle is Buried in Brooklyn’s Historic Green-Wood Cemetery.
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HERE’S A RARE CIVIL WAR DATE OFFICIAL US ARMY MILITARY DOCUMENT
SIGNED THRICE
BY RAWOLLE FOR HIS and HIS BLACK “
NEGRO
” SERVANT’S PAY OF
7.
11
DATED,
JULY 14, 1864
.
This
HISTORIC DOCUMENT
measures 16” x 11½” and is in VERY FINE CONDITION.
Note: All the biographical material pictured in the listing photos is included with the autograph.
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION RE COL. RAWOLLE
Col. Wm. C. Rawolle, 2nd U.S. Cavalry. William Charles Rawolle, born in Prussia in or about 1841, joined the Union Army in Oct. 1861 and was commissioned first as a 1
st
Lieutentant, then as a Captain.
He distinguished himself at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam in Sept. 1862, while serving as aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Samuel D. Sturgis, commander of the 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps. Sturgis praised Rawolle:
"
He was invaluable at all times, carrying orders, placing the artillery in favorable positions, bringing up ammunition, and making himself useful in every department."
Rawolle accompanied Sturgis out west and then to Tennessee, and participated in the fighting in Jan. 1864 around Dandridge, Tenn., again garnering high praise from Sturgis.
On 6 June 1868 Rawolle was commissioned a 2nd Lieut. in the 2nd Regiment U.S. Cavalry and by 1876 he held the rank of 1st Lieut., Co. B, 2nd Cavalry, but was transferred that month to Co. K, 2nd Cavalry. He participated in the Sioux Wars, and by 1880 he was married and stationed at Fort Custer, Montana. He died on June 10, 1895, at Brooklyn, NY.
WILLIAM CHARLES RAWOLLE – CIVIL WAR SERVICE SUMMARY
Enlisted on 10/1/1861 at Flushing, NY as a 2nd Lieutenant (21 years old).
On 10/26/1861 he was commissioned into "L" Co.
NY 2nd Heavy Artillery
He was discharged for promotion on 6/21/1862
On 6/21/1862 he was commissioned into
US Volunteers Aide-De-Camp
He Resigned on 8/11/1865
(Subsequent service in US Army from 06/06/1868 until
his death)
Promotions:
* 1st Lieut 3/4/1862
* Capt 6/21/1862 (Captain & Additional Aide-de-Camp)
* Major 3/13/1865 by Brevet
* Lt Colonel 3/13/1865 by Brevet
Other Information:
born in Prussia
died 6/10/1895
Sources used by Historical Data Systems, Inc.:
- New York:
Report of the Adjutant-General 1893-1906
- Heitman: Register of United States Army 1789-1903
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Federal (USV)
William Charles Rawolle
(1840 - 1895)
Home State:
New York
Command Billet:
Aide de Camp
Branch of Service:
Artillery
Unit:
2nd Division, IX Corps
Before Antietam
He came to America with his family at a young age. At 21 years old he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Battery L, 2nd New York Heavy Artillery (later called the 34th Independent Battery, Light) on 26 October 1861, and promoted First Lieutenant to date from 4 March 1862. He was appointed Captain and Acting Aide de Camp, US Volunteers on 21 June 1862.
On the Campaign
He was aide to General Sturgis, Second Division, Ninth (IX) Army Corps in Maryland. From the General's after-action
Report
:
[on 14 September on South Mountain] ... Discovering a battery of the enemy some 1,500 yards to our right, and so posted as to expose our line to a flank fire, I directed my aide-de-camp, Captain Rawolle, to open upon it with Captain Durell's battery. The enemy's battery was silenced in a few moments, and withdrawn from the field. These batteries, under the able direction of Captain Rawolle, rendered material aid afterward, and from the same point, to the troops of General Hooker while hotly pressed on the hills to the right of the Hagerstown road ... [at Antietam] On the morning of the 17th the enemy opened a heavy artillery fire, from which their projectiles fell thick in our camp, and I sent Captain Rawolle forward with Captain Durell's battery ... My aide-de-camp and ordnance officer, Captain W. C. Rawolle, I cannot commend in too high terms. He was invaluable at all times, carrying orders, placing the artillery in favorable positions, bringing up ammunition, and making himself useful in every department. I would commend this officer to special consideration, as I look upon him as one of the most promising young officers in the service.
The rest of the War
He continued on General Sturgis' staff in the Western Theater. On 13 March 1865 he was honored by brevets to Major for "gallant and meritorious service" in the Army of the Potomac (including at 2nd Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Warrenton, Sulphur Springs, and Fredericksburg), and to Lieutenant Colonel for service in the West (including the East Tennessee Cavalry Campaign, expedition in Northern Mississippi, and at Brice's Cross Roads, MS). He resigned his commission on 11 August 1865.
After the War
He was given a commission in the Regular Army as 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd US Cavalry on 6 June 1868. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 26 April 1869. He served as Regimental Quartermaster from 15 July 1870 to 15 September 1874, and Adjutant from 31 March 1878 to 31 August 1880. He commanded the rear guard - Company E of the 2nd Cavalry - at the Battle of Powder River on 14 March 1876, and was wounded in action there. He led Company B on the Little Big Horn Campaign later that year. He was again promoted, to Captain, on 20 December 1880. In 1895, not yet 55 years old, he "died suddenly of heart failure while on a sick leave visit to his Brooklyn home at 263 Hicks Street."
References & notes
Basic information from Heitman
1
and Phisterer
2
. His
gravesite
is on Findagrave. The quote about his death from a
bio sketch
on the Green-Wood Cemetery site. His brother Frederick (1842-1903) was a civil and railroad engineer, and had a very successful glycerin business (Marx & Rawolle) in Brooklyn from 1870 to his death.
Birth: 08/28/1840 in PRUSSIA
Death: 06/10/1895; Brooklyn, NY; burial in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.
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