The story of General John I. Rinaker’s life is one of eastern thrift and
business sagacity grafted on western energy, enterprise and adventure. The
early death of his parents threw him upon his own resources and not one in a
thousand who have enjoyed his modest advantages have turned them to such
excellent account. The wisdom, energy and success with which he pushed his
way along are a study for American youths. He was born in Baltimore,
Maryland, in 1830, and in 1837 became a resident of Illinois, residing in
Sangamon county until 1840. Agricultural pursuits next claimed his attention
through the summer months in the vicinity of Franklin, Morgan county, while
in the winter seasons he attended the public schools. Thus time passed until
he reached the age of nineteen years and, thinking that he could make no
better use of his earnings than by using the sum for the attainment of
better educational advantages, he matriculated in the Illinois College at
Jacksonville. While farm labor at a previous date enabled him to partially
meet his expenses, he added to his financial resources by teaching school
ere his college course was completed. In 1850 he enrolled for the scientific
course in McKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois, and was graduated in 1851.
In the fall of the succeeding year he came to Carlinville and took up the
study of law with John M. Palmer as his preceptor. In the year 1854 he won
admission to the bar, permitting him to practice in all the courts of
Illinois, and from that time until the inauguration of hostilities between
the north and the south his undivided attention was given to a growing law
practice, his work in the courts demonstrating his ability and the
thoroughness with which he prepared and handled his cases.
With the
outbreak of the Civil war, however, all other interests were put aside and
in 1862 General Rinaker raised a regiment of men, which was organized in
August of that year at Camp Palmer and became known as the One Hundred and
Twenty-second Regiment of Illinois Infantry. He was elected and commissioned
colonel and on the 4th of September, 1862, with his regiment was mustered
into service and ordered to report for duty at Columbus, Kentucky. Thence he
proceeded to Trenton, Tennessee, and in December following with his command
moved to the defense of Jackson against Forrest. A contemporary biographer
has given the following account of his military service:
“The
command marched in pursuit of the enemy to Lexington, Tennessee, after which
they returned to Jackson. On the 27th of December they went in pursuit of
Forrest, who had attacked the hospitals at Trenton, and captured the sick
and about sixty enlisted men of the regiment. At Parker’s Cross Roads they
met the enemy and a fight ensued, in which they, in connection with other
troops, drove the enemy from, the grounds, and captured seven pieces of
artillery and five hundred prisoners. In this engagement Colonel Rinaker was
severely wounded. The command to which the regiment belonged moved in
February, 1863, to Corinth and from that time to the close of the war it
constituted a part of the Army of the Tennessee and shared the fortunes of
the Sixteenth Army Corps, either with the right or left wing. In January,
1864, a part of the regiment was stationed at Paducah and a part at Cairo.
Colonel Rinaker was then assigned the command of the post at Cairo and
remained there until June, 1864, when he was ordered with his regiment to
Memphis and thence to La Grange, where it joined the forces under General A.
J. Smith, who was then commanding two divisions of the Sixteenth Army Corps,
and became a part of The First Brigade, Second Division, Sixteenth Army
Corps. Colonel Rinaker commanded the regiment in the battle of Tupelo,
Mississippi, on the 14th of July, 1864, where his regiment lost nine killed
and twenty-four wounded. His regiment held the most advanced and exposed
part and - center of the federal line and held it successfully against
repeated attacks of the rebel enemy under S. D. Lee and N. B. Forrest. The
rebels were utterly defeated at Tupelo. After the battle he went with his
regiment to Missouri and took part in the hardships of the campaign against
Price’s command in the fall of 1864. After the campaign closed in Missouri
the command returned to St. Louis and embarked for Nashville, Tennessee,
where they arrived November 24. They were still a part of General Smith’s
command, then known as a detachment of the Army of the Tennessee. In
December following they fought and assisted in annihilating Hood’s army and
followed in pursuit of the enemy as far as Eastport, Mississippi. In
February, 1865, he was placed in command of the First Brigade, Second
Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, and with his brigade embarked for New
Orleans and then took part with the forces in the campaign against Mobile.
In April they were a part of the command that stormed the works of Fort
Blakely. And here it would be proper to state that the responsibility of
making the assault on the works was thrown on General Rinaker. As Canby, the
general commanding, had given orders that no effort should be made to
assault, General A. J. Smith, commanding the Sixteenth Army Corps, desired
that General Garrard’s division should assault the enemy’s works, yet was
not in a position to issue an order to that effect; so it was agreed that if
that division would attack General Smith would back it up with Carr and
McArthur’s divisions if necessary; and at General Garrard’s headquarters it
was agreed that if Rinaker would make the attack with his brigade he should
be supported by the rest of the division. Rinaker held a position nearest
the enemy’s works, so led the assault, and his brigade carried the works in
its front and broke the enemy’s line, capturing twenty-two pieces of
artillery and a large number of prisoners, when the movement was taken up by
the rest of the line and Blakely fell, and a way was thus opened so that,
without firing another shot, our ships moved unvexed into the wharves of
Mobile. For this meritorious service he was recommended for and received
promotion. From Blakely the command was ordered to Montgomery and thence to
Mobile, where the One Hundred and Twenty-second Regiment was mustered out of
the service July 15, 1865, and was finally discharged at Springfield,
Illinois, August 4, 1865. General Rinaker was breveted and promoted
brigadier general for gallant and meritorious conduct to date from March 13,
1865. During his career in the army he made for himself an honorable record,
being distinguished for that cool courage that always wins. Well may the
soldiers of that war who bravely defended the stars and stripes look back on
their military record with pleasure. They have done a noble service; and,
living or dead, a grateful country will honor them.”
While ever a
faithful soldier, General Rinaker gladly resumed the practice of law with
the return of peace and throughout the intervening years has remained a most
prominent member of the Carlinville bar. He never seems to neglect a point
which will bear upon his cause and at the same time he gives due relative
emphasis to every point advanced. His gift of oratory is an element of his
success and it is employed with equal force on the political hustings, for
he has long been regarded as one of the effective speakers of the state. He
has served as presidential elector for the district in which he resides and
in 1876 was one of the presidential electors for the state at large. He
voted with the democracy until 1858, when with the growth of new issues and
the discussion of more vital problems, he joined the ranks of the republican
party, which, however, at that time did not constitute a third of the voting
population of Macoupin county nor of any county south of Springfield.
General Rinaker felt, however, that the democratic party was used simply as
the bulwark of slavery and that it no longer held to the tenets of Jefferson
and Jackson but advanced the ideas of the slave propagandists and the
advocates of nullification and secession. He, therefore, did not hesitate to
sever his allegiance with the party which he had hitherto supported and
joined forces with the organization formed to prevent the further extension
of slavery and the suppression of the secession movement. In 1874 the
republican party nominated him for Congress but he was defeated. However,
his popularity was evidenced in the fact that he ran three hundred and fifty
votes ahead of his ticket in Macoupin county. In 1894 he was more
successful, as he was returned by his district as a member of Congress and
served in that body with commendable zeal and credit.
On the 16th of
October, 1855, General Rinaker was married to Miss Clarissa Keplinger, who
was born in a log cabin on a farm near Franklin, Morgan county, Illinois,
July 18, 1834. Her parents were Samuel and Permelia (Green) Keplinger, the
former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Ohio. John Green, the
maternal grandfather of Mrs. Rinaker, left Virginia in order to get away
from slavery influences. He was born in Virginia and was of English descent.
He was both a farmer and preacher and filled the office of justice of the
peace. He married Susanna Winter, whose father was of Holland Dutch descent.
Susanna Winter was born in Maryland and was married in Rockingham county,
Virginia, whence a removal was made to Knox county, Ohio, in 1805,
occasioned by the opposition of John Green to slavery. In 1822 they became
residents of Morgan county, Illinois, settling on a farm near Jacksonville,
where they built the first brick house in the county, it remaining their
home until their death. They had ten children, including Permelia, who
became the wife of Samuel Keplinger. He was a son of John Keplinger, who was
born in Maryland and was both a farmer and miller, operating a mill in
Maryland, Tennessee and Illinois. He hired a substitute for the war of 1812.
He married Elizabeth Rubel and after rearing several children they passed
away in Morgan county. Both the Keplingers and Rubels were of German
descent. This couple were the paternal grandparents of Mrs. Rinaker. Her
father, Samuel Keplinger, was a blacksmith by trade and about 1828, when
eighteen years of age, removed from Tennessee to Illinois. He purchased land
near Franklin and followed farming and at the same time conducted a smithy,
being an expert blacksmith. He eventually gave up the trade, however, to
devote his undivided attention to agricultural pursuits. He was born June
22, 1809, and died on the old home place in 1886, at the age of
seventy-seven years. His wife was born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1811 and
died on the home farm in Morgan county, Illinois, in July, 1884, at the age
of seventy-three years. Both were members of the Methodist church. Of their
family of twelve children eight lived to adult age and five still survive,
namely: Mrs. Rinaker, who was the eldest; Hardin G., a banker of Franklin,
Illinois; Lewis W., who practices law in Kansas City, Kansas; Martin Luther,
a lawyer of Carlinville; and Ella, the wife of John W. Smith, of Kidder,
Missouri.
Mrs. Rinaker was reared in Morgan county, was a student in
the Illinois Conference Female Academy and began teaching when not quite
sixteen years of age. On the 16th of October, 1855, she became the wife of
General Rinaker and unto them were born five children, of whom the eldest,
Mary Virginia, died in infancy. Thomas, the second in order of birth, now in
partnership with his father in the practice of law, married Fannie Kelly, of
Kankakee, Illinois, and they have four children, Clarissa, Harriet, Thomas
K. and Janet. Samuel Rinaker, also a lawyer now residing in Beatrice,
Nebraska, married Carrie Mayo and has two children, Samuel M. and Carrie.
John I., an architect of Springfield, wedded Nellie Otwell and they have two
children, Dorothy S. and John I. Lewis, a lawyer of Chicago, who for four
years was county judge, married Olive M. Vancil and they had six children,
of whom four are living, Virginia, Winifred, Isabel and Robert.
Throughout the period of his residence in Illinois General Rinaker has held
a high position in the regard of his fellowmen. His political position has
never made him social enemies and, although others have differed from him in
opinion he has ever had high appreciation for the genuine worth of his
fellowmen. He possesses fine conversational powers and above all his sense
of justice and high principles have gained for him his present position in
public regard — a position that any might well envy.
Extracted 18 May 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 58-64.
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