James S. Rains (October 2, 1817 – May 19, 1880) was a senior officer of the Missouri State Guard (MSG) who fought in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. Born in Tennessee, Rains moved to Missouri by 1840, and was a farmer, politician, judge, and militia officer. He also served as an Indian agent from 1845 to 1849, and participated in the 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 Wilson's Creek, Lexington, and Pea Ridge in 1861 and 1862. Despite being a militia officer and not part of the Confederate States Army, he commanded Confederate troops in late 1862 before being removed from command for incompetence and drunkenness. After his removal from command, he moved to Texas, where his brother, Emory Rains, resided. In 1864, he recruited in Missouri during Price's Missouri Expedition, taking his men to Arkansas after that campaign failed. After the war ended, he remained in Texas, where he gained prominence as a farmer and was involved in the 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, within the state of Tennessee. Historian Bruce S. Allardice believes that his birthplace was most likely in Warren County. Alexander Duncan was his uncle, and Emory Rains was his brother. By 1840, he resided in Newton County, Missouri. He took up farming in Newton County and Jasper County, and spent much of his life near Sarcoxie. He served in the militia and was a judge in Newton County from 1840 to 1842.
Having a significant interest in politics, Rains was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1844 as a Democrat, from a seat representing Newton County. The following year, President of the United States James Knox Polk appointed Rains as an Indian agent. Originally assigned to the Neosho Agency in what is now northeastern Oklahoma, he was transferred to the Osage River Agency in Kansas Territory in 1848. Rains was part of the Missouri delegation to the 1848 Democratic National Convention. Early in the following year, he was removed from his position as Indian agent because of alleged misconduct at the Neosho Agency post. Traveling to California in 1850, he helped organize state militia, as well as participating in the California Gold Rush. He became a general in the California militia.
Returning to Missouri in 1852, he re-entered politics. Rains switched his political allegiance from the Democrats to the Know-Nothings, as he believed that secessionist former Whigs were taking over the Democratic Party. In 1855, he was elected to a seat in the Missouri Senate, and was re-elected in 1858, although he lost a bid for election to the United States Congress in 1860 running as a Unionist. He broke with his former Unionist sentiments after the election of Abraham Lincoln in the 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.
American Civil War
Recruiting and Carthage
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. 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" and historians William Garrett Piston and Richard W. Hatcher refer to him as "the poorest commander in the Missouri State Guard". Historian Thomas W. Cutrer described Rains as "manifestly incompetent".
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. Rains was in overall command of the column southbound from Lexington, as he had recruited the majority of its men. The troops marched to Lamar in the southwestern portion of the state.